It was the final day of racing today and the overall titles were still up for grabs. Going into today I led the women's overall on 2 points and Mareike was in second with 4 points so it was down to the last race to determine the overall winner. Bart Swings led the men's on 4 points, Munoz 6 and Joey 9 so the men were in the same situation, the last race was crucial.
The relay heats were cancelled as there were not enough teams in both men's and women's so we started at 11am with the elimination races. The women's race distance was shortened to a 5km elimination so this totally changed the dynamics of the race. It was fast right from the gun and the pace was pretty high the entire race. Powerslide and Cado Motus both had strong teams and both teams were trying to control the race but in the end it was the two individual skaters that came out on top. I hit the lead with two laps to go with Mareike on my wheel. I built up my speed and coming around with one lap to go accelerated off the corner and never looked back. I wasn't challenged in the final lap but Laetitia managed to pass Mareike to take 2nd.
The men's elimination was fast and with so many strong teams out there it was always going to be tough for those individual skaters like Joey Mantia. Early on Bart Swings had a fall, his team mates dropped back to collect him but in the end he was the one towing his mates back to the pack. This guy is talented and it was fantastic to watch him overcome the odds. There were two Bont Arena skaters, two Powerslide and one Cado Motus in the final five. Munoz had the lead coming around with a lap to go and looked like he had it in the bag, Bart then passed on the back straight up the inside but Munoz wasn't ready to give up. He went high in the final corner, built his speed up and tried to duck back under Bart on the final straight. Bart had the momentum and managed to hang on to win but it was very close with both skaters lunging at the line. Rosero came in 3rd, Bastidas 4th and Scott 5th. This is what Joey had to say on Twitter "Hats off to bart swings, the kids got talent- just fell down and made the rest of us look silly".
The relays didn't count towards points but everyone was still serious and wanted to win of course. I joined up with Laetitia and Brooke to form an MPC Wheels Team, as we all skate for teams sponsored by MPC. There were only two other teams, Powerslide (Tina, Mareike, Katherina) and Cado Motus (Bianca, Mannon, Mariska). We all stayed in contact for most of the race but going into the last change Powerslide managed to get a slight lead. I came out for the final lap and we were in 3rd position. I passed Bianca off of Brooke's push and then chased Mareike. I caught her during the last corner and skated wide to get next to her down the final straight. We both lunged and it was close but I had the momentum and our team won.
They packed 8 teams onto the start line for the mens relay and the first few changes were pretty dodgy with so many skaters. Powerslide 1 (Dobbin, Munoz, Nam) controlled most of the race but the comeback kid done it again. Bart Swings got Munoz with a final lunge yet again.
I won the women's overall, Mareike 2nd and Katharina 3rd. Bart took out the men's overall, Munoz 2nd and Scott 3rd.
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