KIRSTEN Howard was a late entry for the women’s division one Bathurst Criterium on Saturday, but when it came to the final sprint she was right on time.
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Bathurst-based Howard, riding for New South Wales Institute of Sport, was first across the line at Kings Parade, beating out Canberra’s Lucy Bechtel and Illawarra’s Chloe Heffernan.
In fourth was Bathurst Cycling Club member Emily Watts, who was the first to attack on the final lap of the 560 metre circuit and the most aggressive rider throughout the race.
“Home town, home win – it was good,” Howard said.
“It was good to see Bathurst girls off the front, really good.”
While Howard had previously contested the Bathurst criterium, this year saw the event move to Kings Parade in an effort to further promote the Blayney to Bathurst cycling festival.
It added to the degree of difficulty for the riders, but Howard said it was not as testing as she had originally anticipated.
“It was really good. I had in my head it was going to be this really sharp, technical race, which it was, but it actually wasn’t bad. You could get a real good flow on it, I surprised myself,” Howard said.
“You have sort of got to pick your line into that second corner to get to that last corner to get into the straight. Sometimes you might be a bit off your line, but there was enough road there to recover.”
A field of 17 women faced the starter for the race, which ran for 30 minutes plus three additional laps.
It was Watts, who had won her division of the New South Wales Hill Climb Championship earlier in the day, who was the first to attack.
She led for a lap before being joined by other riders, but her effort split the peloton and gradually riders withdrew.
Howard won the first sprint prime and Watts the second as the two Bathurst riders were part of a group of five off the front.
Joining them in the lead bunch were Heffernan and a pair of Specialized Women’s Racing riders in Bechtel and Ella Boor.
Howard was nervous about the team-mates and whether they would work together in the final sprint, but she need not have worried.
“I was a little bit nervous because those girls are really talented, I thought if they went one-two it was going to be difficult, but it ended up working out really, really well,” she said.
Howard backed up on Sunday to be the first female to finish the 70 kilometre Blayney to Bathurst short course. Her time of one hour, 50 minutes and eight seconds ranked her 19th overall, while along the way she shared the female king of the mountain honours.
