The first World Inline Cup race in Asia this year attracted huge numbers, with reports of over 10,000 participants. The womens race got underway at 9.30 am under reasonably clear skies and like every year in Incheon warm weather. The course was the same as in 2007, two laps of the road running along the coast and then branching off for the final finish straight. The last 2km of the race was held on reasonably new road that was smooth and very fast, however the rest of the course was the total opposite. The road that ran along the coast was rough and bumpy. Heading out away from the start we had a head wind and heading back towards the finish a tail wind.
The womens pack kept the pace steady for the first quarter of the race. With a head wind heading out to the turn around point no one was keen to push the pace or attempt to breakaway. After the turn with the wind now behind us our team decided to test the water and see if a breakaway was viable. Tamara, Alexandra and myself all made a couple of attempts each but none turned into anything serious. The Alessi Powerslide team didn't hesitate in sending Nathalie Barbotin to chase us down before the gaps had time to grow. Sara Ervetti from Bont Bacata and a few Korean skaters from the Anyang Club were the only others that tried to instigate breakaways.
With about 3km to go two Korean skaters tried to breakaway. With the pack going quiet slow and the two skaters coming through from the back with pace they easily created a sizeable gap. Alessi Powerslide were the first team at the front of the pack, they hesitated and didn't chase. After we saw this our team reacted quickly before the gap grew any bigger, Alexandra went to the front and reeled the two Korean skaters in. At this stage we were leading the pack and it was a position we did not plan and did not want to be in that far out from the finish. Our team reposition ourselves in the pack behind Alessi Powerslide ready for the sprint. Many skaters were fighting for our teams wheel in the end Sara Ervetti got it. Brittany Bowe was behind Sara and then the Rollerblade MPC team. With about 1500m to go the Alessi team took the lead passing the four Korean skaters in the front and started winding up the pace for the sprint. With 500m to go the Alessi team broke their formation and started spreading across the road. We knew we had to make our move soon so we didn't get trapped in and have teams coming over the top and swamping us. At 400m to go Alexandra found a gap between the Alessi skaters and our team hit the lead. With around 300m to go I passed Alexandra with Cecilia on my wheel and Tamara protecting her. Cecilia came through with around 150m to go to take the victory. I hung on to take 2nd place, Tamara 5th and Alexandra coming in 11th (not official) after doing a lot of good work in the final kilometers of the race. Rounding off the top five was Sara Ervetti coming in 3rd and Brittany Bowe in 4th. It was another great result for our team and another World Inline Cup victory making that the 4th so far this season.
After the race to finish off a great day Alex, Soo and some of the Korean Bont crew took us into Seoul for a typical Korean meal.
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