Race Report: 2026 Berkeley Streets Criterium: Women’s 3 and Women’s Master’s 40+, 50+, 60+, Collegiate 3

Date: April 19, 2026

AVRT racers: Katie Monaghan

Top Result: Katie 3rd and 3rd in the omnium 

Course: A short ~1km rectangle, with a slight uphill on the long side and corresponding downhill on the backside. Wide turns allowing for smooth but technical cornering due to very harsh pavement 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18177650673

Written by Katie:

The Berkely omnium is one of my favorite weekends and it didn't disappoint again. I went into the crit with a good amount of nerves because I had surprised myself in the road race the day prior. I finished 8th overall in the field which placed me third in the women’s 3s. The two other 3s who placed ahead of me were 7th and 2nd overall so I knew I had a good shot at the omnium. 

To be honest for once I don't actually have too much to say about this criterium. Unfortunately our field was relatively small (only 8 total riders with only 1-2 riders racing with teammates.) Therefore basically no one wanted to pull or make the race interesting. This is actually my absolute least favorite way to race. We spend so much time riding and preparing to then just sit in, play mind games and soft pedal? Honestly the worst. 

I played the game a little because I knew I wanted to do well but in reality, I still also would pull and throw attacks. I started to use my various attacks to play my own little Katie mind game of okay how do I win this race. I noticed when I was on the front and took the last two corners at my own comfortable speed, I would pretty easily gap the group. Occasionally I tried a little solo breakaway on the uphill but it was always caught. Okay first mental note made: likely you're not out-sprinting everyone here. 

Because just cornering more aggressively than the rest of my field seemed to be my most likely way to win, this was my plan entering the last lap. Because I didn't want to go from soft pedal to sprint, I slowly ramped up the speed starting at the line for the last lap for the first two corners. I fully took off on the downhill after corner 2. No one was passing me and I was able to take a good outside, inside, outside line to cut off the people attempting a pass on the outside. I put in my best sprint but it got me 3rd to the line. This also secured me for third in the omnium. But ya know the plus side here is that third gets a bottle of rose and I’d rather get rose than red or white wine anyway. Take your wins where you can get em. 

It’s funny because I’ve gotten a lot of congratulations for this weekend since I podiumed twice but in reality I’ve had a lot more fun in races where I’ve fully shelled myself for a teammate. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to podium but I truly believe the top spots on the podium sometimes tell you very little about the race. 

Huge shout to Berkeley bicycle club for a very well put on race. It was well advertised and well organized. They also did a really good job making it as safe as absolutely possible despite the relatively pitiful east bay pavement. 

See rose in a twist off cap. What else could you want?

Shout to Steph Hart for coming out to support <3