Described as a symbol of excellence, prestige and victory, the yellow jersey is worn by the leading racer in the Tour de France.
Today, we found ourselves up north at the Warden Law race track, more by chance than by design. I wanted to book some track time for Kate whilst we were visiting grandma in Darlington. A quick Google revealed a smart looking track near Sunderland called Karting North East, so I booked a 30 minute practice session and a Grand Prix race. It was only when we searched for hot laps on YouTube that I realised that Karting North East and Warden Law were one and the same thing.
What's this got to do with the Tour de France? Well, the winner of a race at Warden Law gets a jersey, a smart karting wicking undershirt that says 'winner'. And Kate, driving in the rain on a track she'd never seen before, was a tour de force and she won the jersey!
And boy, it was really wet! Thank you north east. I've never seen so many karts going backwards. But Kate's super smooth driving meant she never ever span, and she finished practice with a best lap time that was 20 seconds faster than the next best driver.
In the race she qualified P2, and found herself up against regular and determined racer Matthew Kettie who went out to win. Kate was right behind him, and the pressure made him spin off on the banked bend. It took Matthew 25 minutes and some aggressive driving to catch Kate, and he snuck into P1 when Kate span after contact from a back marker. Literally just a few laps to go, and Kate recovered immediately to be just behind him in P2. Track limits as Kate flew through a puddle on the side of the track and it was Kate's turn to sneak through into P1 when Matthew hit traffic. Final lap, and Matthew was right behind Kate, pushing hard and weaving left and right to try and get past. And then it was the final turn and the final straight, and Kate passed the line with Mathew just 0.5 seconds behind.
A tour de force from Kate, and a worthy winner of the Warden Law 'yellow jersey'.
Kate's certainly looking forward to wearing her symbol of excellence, prestige and victory when she gets back home.
Fantastic result. Tour de France? Nah - Tour de Force! 💪