Words by Kenny Steele and Images by Graeme Penny
The Youth races seem to have been hard hit by the weather this year so far and, with torrential conditions forecast for Saturday morning, the organisers in conjunction with Scottish Cycling were taking no chances. An initial assessment on Friday night was positive but the final call would still be made on Saturday morning and at 9pm the all-clear was sounded as there was an expected weather-window.
The Youth races seem to have been hard hit by the weather this year so far and, with torrential conditions forecast for Saturday morning, the organisers in conjunction with Scottish Cycling were taking no chances. An initial assessment on Friday night was positive but the final call would still be made on Saturday morning and at 9pm the all-clear was sounded as there was an expected weather-window.
Riders began to converge on the Green with the younger races starting at 1pm. As often happens, the younger riders find their own pace and go until they’re done, with little regard to pacing and tactics…well, they’re only young! In the Youth E race the Boys win went to Struan Shaw with Anna Birrell coming home in 5th spot to take first Girl.
In the Youth D class it was a whole different story with the boys race coming down to a sprint. The win went to Cormac McConville but it was a close-run thing with Elliot Rowe and Patrick Barnes finishing within the same one-second difference. For the girls it was Isla McCutcheon was on fine form and led the race for almost its entire length, being away on her own for most of it and finishing a fine 6th overall.
In the C race the Girls win went to Elena McGorum from a fast-finishing Imani Pereira-James who crossed the line less than a second behind with Kirsty Hay in 3rd. In the Boy’s race, Callum Reid of Rock and Road Cycles is on a winning streak. This time out he waited until the second last corner before making his decisive attack and he took the win by three bike lengths.
In the B Boys race it once again came down to the two leading riders Jack Cruden from the home team of Glasgow Riderz and Alfie George representing the Discovery Juniors. These two riders were away on their own for most of the race with Alexander Dent chasing in no-man’s land. By this time the weather-window had closed and conditions were pretty grim as the two leaders approached the final bends. Pushing hard, George lost traction and hit the deck as Cruden surged for the final bend. There were shouts of caution as Cruden tackled the left hand, off camber curve but he successfully managed to hold his line and power through. Behind, George had remounted but not before being passed by the chasing Alexander Dent who came home in 2nd spot, six seconds ahead of George. Next to cross the line was Hamish Armitt another 34 seconds back and only six seconds ahead of Callum Reid, the impressive youngster riding his second event of the day.
In the B Girls the win went to a fantastically impressive Anna Shackley riding for the home club who won ahead of Georgia Ferry and Eva Barnet and she finished almost a minute up on the chasing pair. This was good enough to give her 5th spot overall in the race which included both A and B Girls. The A Girls race, though, was all about the Stirling Bike Club with their riders again taking all three top positions. As before, the Stirling girls worked well together and stayed as a unit until almost the very end when Jenny Holl and Rhona Callander ramped the pace as each sought to take the win. It came to a sprint with the victory going to Holl by a mere 0.2 second over Callander with Amber King seven seconds back in 3rd and the first non-Stirling BC rider, Gemma Penman a further six seconds behind.
And then it was the final event with the Boys A race and like last time out Innes Johnston showed the Riderz colours by making a break with Danny Mulholland of the Johnstone Jets. An early casualty, Lewis Stewart punctured as he passed the pits and by the time he got going again the bunch had gone and so too was his chance of a high placing.
The two leaders were eventually chased down by a strong group with Struan Pryde of Deeside Thistle doing the bulk of the work. This time the main contenders were content to wait for the sprint and Joe Nally of Team Hardie Cycles showed that he can win from a bunch gallop just as easily as from a solo attack. The hammer went down as they came off the second last bend and Nally took the win by 8 thousandths of a second from the very impressive sprinter that is Stephen Dent, with Alexander MacRae a second and a half further back.
It was another fine win for Nally but Dent and MacRae made him work for it this time out.
As the riders packed up, the heavens opened once again but the weather had failed to stop this race from happening even if other events that day had not been so lucky.
Round 3 takes place on 31st May at Crichton Park, Dumfries.
Full results
See more photos of the race on the press room facebook page
