ViaStrada entered both a men's and a women's team in the three-person team category of this year's Le Race, the iconic cycle race from Christchurch to Akaroa. And both teams brought home first prize in their categories. Congratulations!
At ViaStrada, we like to keep a good work-life balance. So we go out and do fun things together. Seven of us plus two of our clients competed in Le Race. And the two three person teams came first in their category.
The female team "ViaStrada Femmes Rapide" made up of Helen Woodhouse, Jeanette Ward and Megan Fowler finished the 100 km trip in 4 hours 17 minutes and 57 seconds.
The male team "ViaStrada Velocipedes" made up of Andrew Macbeth, Axel Wilke and John Lieswyn finished their race in 3:52:54. John had to ride the middle section and having been a professional bike racer in his previous career, he did the first section over the Port Hills with the leading bunch 'just for fun', then waiting at the change over point for Andrew to catch up.
Granted, the men's success is a little less impressive when one considers that they were the only team that had entered that particular category. The time was good, though. But we are most proud of our "Femmes Rapides", who managed to leave three other teams behind. Results for the Relais 3 category are online.