Words by Nick Boreham
Today saw the third and final world cup race to take place in Banja Luka. The third race of the world cup series was a mass start classic race which provided some exciting if unforgiving racing.
Adrenaline ran high as the first race of the day the WK1 lined up on the start. Competitors were held behind a rope that spanned the river. On go the rope was raised on and chaos ensued. Unfortunately Kerry Christie, one of the favourites for the race, was spun out in a collision down the first rapid dropping her into last place. However the plucky Brit didn’t let this get her down.
“Obviously it was incredibly disappointing to get spun out like that. But I do love a good chase, so I just grit my teeth and powered on,” said Kerry.
Kerry made an excellent recovery storming through the 42 strong field to finish 10th. However it was her younger sister Emma Christie who led the Brits home in 8th place. Freya Pryce also placed strongly in 16th while Vicky Murray and Junior Ada Czarnecka battled through to finish 26th and 34th respectively.
Freya Pryce doubled up in C1 securing a 12th place after tough back to back races. A position that was matched by Andrew Crowhurst in the MC1.
The MK1 also saw a chaotic start, however it was sprint specialist Freddie Brown who got the best launch, breaking free of much of the carnage riding on the wash of the race winner, France’s Maxence Barouh. Freddie finished 21st overall, just beaten by fellow Brit Leon Tomlinson (18th) who caught him on the final strait.
After the race Leon said: “I had a tough start but I managed to slowly pick my way back through the group“.
The next group on MK1 was led by Eddie Mackintosh finished in 24th while Nick Boreham in 27th, Jacob Holmes in 35th and Alex Sheppy in 44th.
However it was once again in the C2s where the British team shone. Phil Dean and Andrew Crowhurst rallied home in 10th place despite getting boxed in off the start, but it would be the Christie sisters who would bring home the silverware.
Kerry and Emma had an extremely close race the whole way down the course against their rivals Hannah Mueller/Mona Clavadetscher from Switzerland. The race came down to a sprint finish where the Christies narrowly missed out on the gold medal position. However they will surely be happy with this addition to their trophy cabinet.
The world cup series will conclude in September with the next races taking place in Skopje, North Macedonia.