Race Report: 2026 Land Park Criterium - Women’s P123

Date: March 14, 2026

AVRT racers: Sophia Hu, Steph Hart, Katie Monaghan, Louise Thomas, Sue Lin Holt

Top Result: Sophia 9/18

Course: Oval course with a chicane, starting with a tight left hand turn. North to south winds resulting in a headwind leading into the chicane, and tailwind towards the finish. 

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17725354681 

Written by Katie:

Lately I feel like this is the only course I race, but it is a good one. Our 123 squad had a good result at Cal Aggie where Rachel and Steph broke away for 1st and 2nd and the rest of us had fun controlling the peloton and sitting second wheel to let the gap grow. This was basically the plan again for Land Park. One: try to get Steph in a break with at most one other rider. Two: set up Sophia for a sprint (even if we got Steph away). Then Louise, Sue Lin and myself get to chase attacks, throw attacks and be generally annoying. Great, my favorite way to race. 

Terun had brought out a stronger crew than Cal Aggie, so our plan was to sit in for a few laps and see how the race was shaking out before making it more dynamic. Well my boredom in this lasted a whooping lap and a half before I started the attacks. I always end up thinking to myself, “ya know, I’m here to play the game of bikes so heck let’s just get it going.”

There were a bunch of hard attacks and counter attacks for the first 30ish minutes of the race. Nothing was really sticking. Terun was doing a great job countering soon after our attacks that at one point both Louise and I were almost dropped and had to chase back on. Sophia had gotten herself to the front of the peloton at this time and slowed it down to a more reasonable pace. Thank god for that or my race might have been done early. 

Around the 30 minute mark, I’m sitting mid pack in the peloton behind Sarah F. I can tell she's ramping up to attack and I yell loudly “I’ve got it”. I follow Sarah’s wheel with all my effort from the back stretch through the left turn and chicane. Once we’ve gotten through all the corners, Sarah and I both look back and see we have a 20 second gap on the field. I have a complete moment of panic. “Omg I am the WRONG girl for a break. I’ve never not had someone be able to follow my wheel. This should be Steph. What the heck do I do?” Sarah tries to flick me through but I stay on her wheel figuring one, this is probably going to be hard enough for me and two if I make her tired and the peloton comes back to us, honestly great. 

I sit on Sarah’s wheel for what felt like maybe only 10 seconds and suddenly Camille (another Terun) breaks away from the peloton and attacks so hard that even Sarah starts sprinting to chase her. At this point, like I anticipated, I’m immediately done and fall back to the peloton.

We begin to try to chase Sarah and Camille who were both off the front but not really working together. Steph is spending a lot of time on the front of the peloton both trying to bridge and chase them back down. I yell at the various individual riders that they should start helping us or they are racing for third. This sort of inspired some help but not as much as I wanted. I then do a final death pull and come around in front of Steph to see if I can help close the gap. I put in a very hard effort but I only had maybe 45 seconds in me. After that, I was pretty done for the race. In retrospect, I should have gotten in front of Steph but put in a more sustainable effort so I could loop back into the peloton and be useful. 

From there Camille stayed off the front and eventually Shannon Pidd was able to breakaway from the peloton to Sarah and out sprint her second. This was not the race we wanted as an AV team but I have to give it to Terun that they played it smart and it was a good hard race. I like when things happen and I like when I leave 60 minutes feeling exhausted.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that bike racing is an incredibly cruel sport where multiple people line up to the start and yet only one person gets to truly walk away feeling like it was a “success”. If you only focus on results, your longevity in the sport will be short. I’m proud of Sophia for racing this course like a champ for our top result despite previously not feeling confident on the corners. I’m proud of Louise for burning matches unselfishly again and again for the team. I’m proud of Sue Lin for winning her sprint in a reduced peloton. And I’m always in awe of Steph, but like what’s new there? Time for Cat’s Hill. We hope you come to support! It’s a super fun day! 

(The bunch finish from Sophia’s perspective) The last few laps of the race were uneventful. Steph asked me how I felt with 2 to go, and I realized that I had probably done too much work between attacking in the early half of the race, getting caught behind splits and bridging, and my one attempt to bring back the break. Steph sent an early attack on the last lap which was a smart move, and took the field by surprise. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any matches left and just rolled it in for 6th in the bunch, 9th overall. In retrospect, once the break established a sizable gap, and the independent riders didn’t seem keen to chase it back, the correct strategy would have been to sit in until the field sprint. I’m still pretty happy with being able to try this course again after not feeling great on the chicane during Cal Aggie. I think the crit at Tucson helped me improve at the chicane this time, which was huge for me :) 

Photo Credit: Evan Lih

Photo Credit: Evan Lih

Photo Credit: Evan Lih

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