2007 Jamis Day Night Thriller

Race report written for the 2007 Jamis Day Night Thriller. Report written September 2007.

Wow - what an awesome and well-run event! Kudos to Event Promotions!

For me, it was my first 12 hour race which I'd taken "seriously" (meaning I wasn't a last minute ring-in who did a couple of "fun" laps like the previous 6/12 hours I'd "done"). We arrived on Saturday morning and immediately I spotted my team site which was in the process of being decorated by dozens of pink balloons! We had two womens teams on our campsite - the Pink Lady Highrollers (3 person 12 hour team), and the Pink Lady Allstars (4 person 12 hour team).

I got changed into my outfit of the day - a pink dress, with pink tights, pink fairy wings (I had children cheering for me all day!), pink helmet with pink bunnies on top and a pink veil! Not to mention my lovely XtC bike which I durasealed in pink The great thing about all my team mates was that we had gone about our own outfit arrangements individually, so there was quite a variety of pink attire and accessories!

Apart from dressing up and hanging out on a very pink tentsite, the race went pretty well! The course wasn't as flat as I was led to believe, but it was still heaps of fun! Lots of pedalling and sprinting to be had, with heaps of room for passing on most of the course. There was one particular guy who swore at me (something along the lines of "fine! go whereever the f*ck you want!!) because I didn't move out the way immediately after he called "on your right" (it was a narrowish piece of singletrack that I was picking a line through) which I wasn't impressed with, but with every bad person, there were heaps of really nice and friendly people out there all out having a good time on their bikes. Thanks in particular to the guy who gave me a little push up the hill when I was trying to pass a couple of people on an uphill section who had both come off their bikes, and for whoever picked me up off the ground when I got knocked off my bike while passing a person who was walking by someone who was trying to pass me (the track wasn't quite wide enough for a three people across at that particular point!).

Atmosphere was awesome too! Got heaps of cheers of encouragement both on the course and also when I was doing the lap around the campground! It was also great hanging out with my teammates. From early on, we knew we didn't have much of a chance for first in our category (we were racing against the Jamis team which consisted of Samara Sheppard, Nina Trass, and Michelle Bellamy!) but my team (me, Kacey, & Rita) finished in second place with 26 laps - only 3 down from the Jamis team. We also picked up the prize for most colourful team (thanks Dirty Dog!) and a spotprize for free Taupo bungys!

So yeah. Fun and games all round! Thanks heaps to Paula for organising a house for the weekend, to everyone who stayed at the house for their company, and to Kacey for organising two womens teams.

Bring on next year!