Track Cats

By Jamie France
Clemson, South Carolina

Ladies with team logos featuring cats took 3 of the top 5 places on Saturday, 10 May at the Dick Lane Velodrome! Is it a coincidence? I think not! I think it's because cats rule the track! Meow!

1. Leigh Valletti -- Vanderkitten

2. Olga weeks -- Velo Bella

3. Lesli Meadows

4. Robin Pace

5. Jamie France -- Velo Bella

There were five races and a field of 13 women. First we had Scratch Heats to qualify for a Handicap race later in the evening with the men. Olga was one of the four who qualified. That was followed by a 15-lap Snowball in which Olga got 3rd. Next was a 30-lap points race which didn't go so well... in lap 5, a wreck took out 3 women. Luckily Olga and I were in front of the crash, so didn't get tangled up in it. (It was a pretty bad wreck -- an ambulance had to come for one woman who had a broken collarbone.) Instead of restarting the 30-lap, they had us do an Unknown Distance. Olga took 2nd and Jamie took 3rd in that. Last open women's race was the Miss-n-Out; Olga again took 2nd and Jamie took 4th. In the Handicap, Olga picked up another 2nd.