This year, the Canadian Road National Championships were held in Edmonton for the first time since 2010. Having nationals a bit closer to home was an exciting prospect, as it meant the team could drive out and have our full set up with team trailer, tents, and trainers at each event. The three events of TT, Road Race, and Criterium were spread over five days, and so the team of nine athletes buckled down for a week in an Edmontonian suburb, with support crew BG and Jamie in the attached basement suite. They were sure to let us know that the suite had no windows in one bedroom.

While the team had to deal with a lot of adversity throughout Nationals week, we also saw a lot of success. On TT day, it was thunder and rain, but that didn’t prevent the achievement of two podiums for red truck athletes. Campbell was crowned the new junior men’s TT champion, and Sarah took silver in the U23 women’s TT championship. This started the competition off on a high note.

A few days later was the road race. The women’s race was 117km, eight laps of a 14.4km circuit that featured short climbs in and out of the Edmonton River Valley. The course was beautiful, fast, and really well suited to me. I was feeling good throughout the race, and was always able to maintain position on the tough punchy finishing climb. Unfortunately I didn’t position myself well enough in the final few technical kilometres, and went into the final climb too far back. I was able to fight my way up to 11th place on the day. This was my best nationals RR finish ever, so I was happy, but also had a fire fueled inside due to the fact that I knew I had more in me and had made technical errors. Unfortunately Brenna had some mechanical problems that ultimately took her out of the race early after she had been riding very strong. Nadia rode to a strong 26th, and we had a few girls who sadly couldn’t toe the line with us due to illness. We were lucky to have BG and Jamie in the caravan during the race (thank you Brian Jessel BMW for the new race whip!), and I enjoyed going back for a bottle with two laps to go and getting some words of encouragement.

The following evening was the criterium in downtown Edmonton. The atmosphere at the course reminded me of a Superweek crit, with spectators lining the streets. Nerves and excitement were both running high as I prepared for what I knew would be a really hard race. While I thought I was well enough warmed up, I quickly became worried when the race began and my legs felt like, well… garbage. I was too far back to respond to moves and struggling to gain any positions on a course that had two very jammy corners. A dangerous break with several top riders got away, and I missed it. This seemed like it could be it, but the chase wasn’t letting them get too far up the road. I was still suffering at this point and didn't want to burn energy going all in to chase or try bridging. This is when Brenna came around me, and this was like seeing a guardian angel. Just having her wheel to follow made me re-focus and gain confidence in the fact that I could do this. She went to the front and did a heroic effort to nearly completely close the gap to the break. It was so cool! With the break now only a couple seconds away, I knew I could put in some digs to help finish closing the gap. I did, and soon the pack was all back together. I was also finally warmed up and had found my crit legs. Phew.

The pace remained fast and furious with many attacks launched, until the finish. I remained patient for the finish, and although I did still make some technical errors, I was able to get my head in the game when it mattered most. I moved up steadily through the top ten wheels throughout the last lap, and came into the final corner 5th wheel but with a ton of speed. I came out side by side with the 3rd rider, who I then drag raced to the line. I crossed the line in 3rd place, behind 2022 Road champion and track/crit star Maggie Coles Lyster, and 2021 Road champion and world tour rider Alison Jackson. I was so happy to have executed this, especially after the belief my team had in me. When I was standing at the start line before the race, Brian was there with Steve on speaker phone. He said something in his deep Steve drawl, I don’t even know what, maybe “give em hell” or “they won’t know what’s hit them”. Whatever it was, it was another reassurance of all the people backing us and believing in our potential. Thank you to everyone who supports Red Truck, as well as my family, coach, friends, and teammates. As I said to BG after the race, this medal has been six years in the making, and I am not done yet.

A medal six years in the making, and she is not done yet!