eastern ontario finals - first race

Sunday was the final race of the season, in Ottawa. Amazing how many times (almost every weekend it seems) I've been saying what nice weather we've been having.
The build up to this race was very... well non-existent. The weather hadn't been the best, so little to no riding all week, and forecasts for the weekend kept changing. So overall it was going to be an "expect the worst and have fun with it" type of scenario. No problem with that, good way to cap off the season! That being said, the weather would turn out to be great!
There was plenty of hype surrounding this race, well around the water cooler that is.. a few of the gang at work have been neck and neck all season, and another would make his debut Sunday, so the odds were posted, they hype was building, we could only hope that this wouldn't be a Superbowl style letdown.. Martin had been regularly leading the so called "group of four", Kelly has been getting faster every week, Peter hasn't raced in three weeks so hard to say how he'd feel, Phil has been right behind Peter all seaon, so was poised to beat him. Geoff is the newcomer to the race and a bit of a dark horse, so the odds slotted him mid bunch. No one would disappoint!
Geoff turned out to have a good race, despite convincing himself he had a flat early on and ran off course in a confused heap, he would get back on and in the end did quite well. Peter pulled off a great crash, almost taking me out in the process... I was taking pictures on the sidelines at the time. Phil was right on his tails and would slide past. Martin blew out his tire and would be forced to DNF. He would race the second event to redeem himself. Kelly steadily worked her way up through the pack finishing strongly and on the lead lap!
Melanie had a pretty good race, and was looking fast most times I'd seen her, although I hear she wasn't much liking "the hill". Another newcomer to the event was Matt "I'll make it out to a race sometime" McLean. He also had a really good race, finishing just in front of Kelly. He's a runner, and fast on a bike too.. just a natural athlete, but he's hooked on 'cross now (that he's finally gotten to a race) we'll get him more next year!
I missed the final couple of laps, as I had to head back to the car to get ready for the second race, but everyone was all smiles by the time they were done..
next up the second event...