After a couple of weeks at home it was time to return to Europe for the third World Cup round of the year in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. I had recovered quickly from the jetlag and my legs felt reasonably good but I’d only had about 10 good training days after returning home from Australia so wasn’t expecting to be at the pointy end of the field. I had a solid start, and felt quite good on the start loop and opening lap, making a concentrated effort not to push too deep early on and sitting within 30 secs of the leaders. Halfway around the second lap I got the ‘stitch’ in my stomach and had to slow right down to help it go away which lost a lot of time and places. It was all downhill from there and I eventually crossed the line in 16^th position.

One week after Nove Mesto was the fourth World Cup of the year in Albstadt, Germany. Keegan and I both woke up on Wednesday morning with a head cold which was incredibly frustrating for me as I had hoped to be able to train hard and recover well in the days building up but instead I had to take things cautiously to avoid the cold spreading into my chest. I felt a little better on race day and came through after the first lap in 4^th position with the leaders. Halfway around the second lap I started to drop back but came strong again for the last couple of laps, eventually taking 15^th place which I was pretty happy with considering my health. I am now back home in NZ for 5 weeks to complete my build up for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on the 29^th of July.