Heading to Canberra city with my Coach Daz, his nice wife, Liz, Eva from Switzerland (Assistant Coach) and a team mate, Zita, I started to reflect a bit about my race.

I can't realise yet what I did, where I took Chicka....it's just unreal for me, I guess I didn't expect it so soon. For me to get a podium this year it could be a awesome achievement, something that I have been dreaming about for a long time. Last night when I got to my friend Ainhoa' s room, it was the first time that I saw some race photos and especially the finishing one. It was unreal, seeing my happy face stamped in the home page of the ITU screen. I will never forget the emotions that I felt at that moment. I don't like to be egocentric, however during last night I couldn't stop seeing this winning picture in my mind, especially as it was such a close sprint finish where I knew that I was not in my area of strength.

Briefly, I will tell you about the race. However the finishing photo on the screen of the ITU website home page already describes the courage with which Chicka believed in herself without any affair ..with out limit

Number 19 I was called to the pontoon. Heading down, I could hear some friends from Wollongong who came to watch me, like dear Fernando and Hugo from Uruguay, Luis Cortes(a very good friend), my old training squad plus Lisa(a crazy Swiss friend haha) and my lovely old flat mate with a new member coming up in September. While we were waiting for the the call of the last athlete the potoon was moving a bit, but nothing as bad as some Tour Rench club races where the middle of the pontoon was under water. The water was roughly 21ºC which concerned me, as I know that I never perform at my best when my body is in colder weather. Although I guess it was not as bad as I felt at the Gold Coast grand final last year, where I finished in 36th place.

Getting off 46 seconds behind the leader, I knew that I was not in a great position, however it was not too bad as well. So I said to myself ´Come on Chicka, the leader of the pack is just there: fight for it, you can make it.` I jumped as fast as I could and with Lisa Netherland, Peterson USA, and Felicity Abram AUS, we caught the front pack in the 2nd lap. Quite happy to be there for my 2nd time of my life, I kept calm and started to focus on getting the right amount of fluid and food. During the 6th lap the pace was quite steady and I thought that someone might try to break away especially if you have the best rider in the front.. In the 6th lap we tried to break away with Ashley ZIM, Lisa SWE and I, however we got caught by Sarah Haskins.

Big down hill, tight roundabout, some corner and T2....Hey Champions, it was quite dangerous on the down hill before the T2. Choosing the right position and taking off the shoes at the right time would be the perfect combination if you can do it; and I did so I could get off my bike and exit from T2 in 3rd place!

Lisa Norden , Kathy Tremblay CAN and Moffatt who caught us in the 1st up the hill from 4th took the lead.

I was feeling quite comfortable and maybe I could pick up a bit the pace however my coach told me to be patient because he wants to see me holding the same pace for the 4th of them, that was the key in this race. "DON' T BURN YOURSELF SO EARLY"..Darren said. So I kept myself calm and tried to focus on a good rhythm between my legs and arms. In the down hill I relaxed my body without any resistance and I noted that in the first 3 laps I got free meter from the other. 1 and half laps to go I checked my shoulder and I saw that we were 4th in the lead, so the real chance to make one of my dreams come true, which was make a Poidum in an WCS was not 100% concrete. So I talked to myself " Chicka , come on , you can do it, just focus, your dream is there, depend on yourself" . I made a surge, trying too break away from the pack and ran away from Hewitt , Moffatt and Adachi JPN but they were still close behind me.

Finally my last chance approached and it was before leaving the Expressway. I knew that if I made a little gap between myself and the rest before getting to the round-about, I could get it. So I talked to Chicka..."Come on Chicka believe in yourself, show to yourself the good work that you had made the last couple of months...." A really tight corner before the finish line, I was just hearing that the commentator was saying Hewwitt and Moffatt ...don´t look that , look the Chilean girl, for the first time in history a Chilean woman. She is looking like she will get it...WOOOW she did.....

- I looked over my shoulder and I knew that the race was mine......,With courage and disbelief i squeezed my fingers strongly and raised my hands to the sky crossing the finish line in 1st position.

I LOOKED TO THE SKY AND I WAS GRATEFUL FOR THAT UNREAL DAY, MY FIRST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES RACE AND I WAS IN THE 1ST POSITION. 6 MONTHS EARLIER I CROSSED THE FINISH LINE AT GOLD COAST 36TH PLACE.

Okay dear friends I just want to tell you that I am grateful for all of your lovely word of Congrats. You don't know how grateful Im feeling. THANKS MATES...

HOWEVER this is just the beginning so I MUST TO KEEP WORKING EXTREMELY HARD, BECAUSE I KNOW THAT I´M STILL VERY IMMATURE IN MANY POINTS IF I REALLY WANT TO BE A WORLD CLASS ATHLETE....LAST SUNDAY IT WAS MY DAY, EVERYTHING HAPPENED WELL-

Okay crazy Bobby.., keep well!

The best wishes travel around the world haahh

With Love

CrAZY CHICKA DANCING ROCK AND ROLL