Gateway Cup- Tour of Lafayette Square

The Tour of Lafayette Square was the first twilight crit I have ever done. I was really nervous because I didn't know what to expect, except I had, however, heard that this race was a crash-fest, with all of the shadows and darkness. It was hard to tell if someone was next to you or behind you. It was about a mile each lap and the race was 45 mins + 5 laps long. When the race before us ended I thought that everybody was going to take a lap so I go around,but when I came back to the line, everybody was already lined up. The race starts and it takes me 3 laps to get to the front. By then the sun has gone down and it is completely dark, except for the single light on each turn, which created a weird shadow effect. I sat at the front for a few more laps and went for a prime, and took a chance off the front for a few laps. With all the teams here though, nothing was getting away. That still didn't discourage me form going off the front a few more times. But in the last 10 laps I kept a good position in the front about 5 riders back. With 4 laps to go there was a crash on the second corner, leaving a rider out cold. They had to bring an ambulance on the course while our race was still going on. On the last lap there were at least 3 crashes, but coming into the last 2 turns I got swarmed and just sat up. No need to lose skin for 30th place.