We were now onto the final day of the three-day Scottish National Championships with a full day of events. The day consisted of the Women’s Sprint 200m, the Open Kilometre TT, Women’s 3000m Individual Pursuit, the Visually Impaired Tandem 1000m TT, the B Competition Women’s Sprint, the Open Team Sprint and the Senior and Junior 30K Madison.
First up, the Women’s Sprint Qualifying TT with the times getting quicker with each rider. Eventually it was Robyn Stewart (Glasgow Sprint Track CT) who topped the standings with 11.750, 0.2 seconds over Eleanor Richardson (Edinburgh RC), with Brit Jackson (St Kilda CC) just behind with 12.070.
The Quarterfinals draw was announced with Robyn Stewart against Lauryn Dawber (Swinnerton Cycles), Eleanor Ricahardson against Amber King (Glasgow Sprint Track CT), Brit Jackson against Emma Baird (Glasgow Sprint Track CT) and Jessica Lee (Glasgow Wheelers) against Louise Haston (TORQ Performance).
Robyn Stewart took the first sprint against her opponent Lauryn Dawber and sealed her place in the semis. In the next heat, Amber King led from the bell but Ellie Richardson outstretched her in the home straight and also booked her spot in the semis.
Heat 3 saw Brit Jackson up against Emma Baird and the St Kilda CC rider was ducking and diving, trying to catch her opponent out but Emma Baird pushed from the bell only to be passed on the home straight…and Brit Jackson was through.
In the final Heat 4 Louise Haston remained icy cool to outsprint the Glasgow Wheeler in the first match but in the second Jessica Lee fought back in dramatic style to set up an third ride-off. Forced to lead out Louise Haston kept it together to win and go through, but Jessica Lee had made her work for it.
So we now had our Semi’s draw with Robyn Stewart lining up against Louise Haston, Eleanor Richardson against Brit Jackson with Lauryn Dawber, Amber King, Emma Baird and Jessica Lee fighting out the minor final.
In the minor final it was straight shoot-out with Jessica Lee taking it from the front from Emma Baird with Amber King in third and Lauryn Dawber finishing off.
Robyn Stewart against Louise Haston was first off in the semis and the Glasgow Track Sprint rider led it out and held Louise Haston off to win the first run by half a length. In the first run between Brit Jackson and Ellie Richardson the Edinburgh RC rider played it cool and kept to the back forcing Brit Jackson to lead out. Ellie Richardson came back at her and just overhauled her in the run to the line…a close-run thing though.
In the second run Louise Haston was three lengths ahead at the bell but Robyn Stewart smoothly pulled her back in and overtook her to win and proceed to the Final.
In the second run between Ellie Richardson and Brit Jackson it was a clearer decision with Ellie Richardson leading and countering every move by Brit Jackson to finish ahead and move into the final with Robyn Stewart. Brit Jackson and Louise Haston would ride-off for the Bronze.
In the first heat for the Bronze Brit Jackson led Louise Haston and despite the TORQ Performance rider pulling back a little, Brit Jackson was clear across the line.
It was pretty much a repeat in the second heat and this gave the rider from Melbourne, who flew in on Friday morning, the Bronze medal to take back to Australia.
In the first Final heat with Ellie Richardson and Robyn Stewart the Edinburgh RC rider again played it cool and forced the other to lead, coming back at her up the home straight and finishing clear by half a wheel.
Second match in the Final and Robyn Stewart decided to move past her opponent at the end of lap 1. At the bell she took off and Ellie Richardson pulled her back all the way to the line but it was not enough as Robyn finished half a wheel up, forcing the final to a third heat.
It was to be the final race of the Championships and the two sprinters touched wheels a lap and a half out but kept going as Robyn Stewart led out. Ellie Richardson started to pull her back on the back straight and final bend but then Robyn Stewart kicked again and kept the Edinburgh RC rider behind to take the third and deciding heat…Gold was hers with Silver to Ellie Richardson!
In the B Competition Women’s Sprint, we had two heats with Lucy Grant (Peebles CC) and Natalie Hunter (Fullarton Wheelers) in Heat 1…winner going through to the B Final and the other rider to the Minor Final. In Heat 2 it was Rebecca Dornan (The Racers), Gemma Penman (Glasgow Sprint Track CT) and Emily Ireland (The Racers).
Lucy Grant won the first heat in convincing style and progressed. In the second heat Emily Ireland's front wheel slipped away on the first banking and she slid down only to be run over by the others as they had nowhere to go. No harm done and the race was restarted quickly, the two Racers riders working against Gemma Penman. At the bell lap the Glasgow Sprint rider took off and was chased down by Dornan but she wasn’t to be caught.
The final in the B Competition was between Lucy Grant and Gemma Penman with the young mountain bike star sprinting into the lead at the bell lap. Gemma Penman started to come back at her but Lucy Grant easily held her off to take the win in the B Comp.
Then we were straight into the Open Kilometre Time Trial Final…the early riders put up excellent performances but all eyes were on the later competitors, Jonathan Mitchell (Billy Bilsland Cycles) and Bruce Croall (City of Edinburgh RC) in particular.
And these two riders proved to be the top men with hardly anything to split them. Mitchell went first and turned himself inside out, putting up a magnificent 1-4.040. Croall was next, and last, and was closing in on Mitchell’s time but by the line he had missed out by a mere 0.43 clocking 1-4.470. Jonathan Wale (Unattached) had clocked 1-6.780 to take the Bronze medal but it was close as he only finished ahead of fourth placed man Andrew Leveton (VC St Raphael) by a mere 0.210sec.
After observing the two minutes silence for Remembrance Day we were into the Women’s 3000m Individual Pursuit. The first heat had to be rescheduled as Sarah Walker (VC Astar Anderside) pulled her wheel over at the start. The fastest times from the ten riders would determine the ride-offs for Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Sarah Walker made up for the initial mechanical by catching her opponent Georgia Mansfield (Forres CC). The young Forres rider has had a great year and will be a name to watch in the future.
The times got quicker and quicker with Lynsey Curran (www.Dooleys-Cycles.co.uk) catching her opponent Ellen McDermott (Glasgow Green CC) but the outstanding performance came from Neah Evans (Podium Ambition Club La Santa). No slouch herself, Anna Fairweather (Spokes RT) was caught twice for a lap and a half by the multi-champion Neah Evans.
This set up medal rides with Neah Evans against Madeline Moore (TORQ Performance) for Gold and Silver and Lynsey Curran against Sarah Walker for Bronze. Neck and neck for the first half of the ride-off, Lynsey Curran upped the effort and easily took the Bronze medal.
In the final, Neah Evans shot away from the gate and had caught Madeline Moore with just under 6 laps remaining. The catch sealed the Gold and Silver medals and Neah Evans added another title to her year’s haul!
Onto the Open Team Sprint and The Racers put in a super performance despite Callum Watson losing his visor after the first lap. Controversy followed the run by City of Edinburgh RC as they were DQ’d with Matthew Haynes being judged to have moved above the sprinters’ line before the handover. Discussions followed but the commissaires decision was proved correct when a photograph of the changeover was produced.
The times were in and The Racers (Phil Trodden, Rebecca Dornan, Callum Watson) would compete against the Lomond Roads CC’s Gordon Dick, Stuart Donaghy and Steven Jolly for the Bronze medal with SC West A (Jamie Alexander, Andrew Louis, Jonathan Mitchell) against their club mates SC West C (Daniel Cain, Andrew Gourley, Douglas Ritchie).
Fighting out the Bronze between The Racers and Lomond Roads CC it was the team comprising Callum Watson, Rebecca Dornan and Phil Trodden that triumphed in a time 52.5seconds. Bronze to The Racers!
In the final Gold was going to go to SC West…the question was whether it would be the A or the C team. As the lettering would suggest, the A team was up at the first change but the C team managed to stop them from getting too far away…but they couldn’t save the match and the A squad took Gold in a time of 48.86. Gold to SC West A, Silver to SC West C.
The final competition was the Senior and Junior Men’s 30K Madison with some excellent pairings such as Evan Oliphant (Raleigh GAC) with Andy Brown (Glasgow Cycle Team), Stephen Dent and Grant Martin (Spokes RT) and Tom Chandler (VCUK PH-MAS CT) with Joe Nally (www.Hardie-Bikes.com) to name but a few.
It was fast and frenetic from the start, with a number of riders fighting it out for the win. The first sprint went to Chandler and Nally with the next taken by the Dent/Martin pairing. Third win went to Chandler and Nally again but the team comprising Fraser Martin and Ruari Yeoman had been quietly placing second in each one and were racking up the points.
Coming to the final sprint and Chandler and Nally had 19 points to Martin and Yeoman’s 17…but the latter pair again placed second to take them to 20 overall. Nally and Chandler placed fourth to gain one point and take them to 20 overall as well.
It was a close-run thing, with a lot of checking and double-checking but eventually Fraser Martin and Ruari Yeoman were declared the winners by dint of their placing in the final dash. This sorted Gold and Silver with Bronze going to Stephen Dent and Grant Martin. The Junior positions went to Nally and Chandler, from Dent and Martin, with Bronze going to Ewan Mathieson and Andrew Vettraino of Glasgow Cycle Team.
And so ended the three-day Scottish National Track Championships for 2016…but there was one award left to present. Olympic Gold Medalist Katie Archibald had been in attendance to present the awards today and Scottish Cycling surprised her by presenting her award for Scottish Sports Woman of the Year 2016 from the Scottish Women in Sport (www.scottishwomeninsport.co.uk). It came as a complete surprise to Katie as everyone gathered at the podium to congratulate her.
So, one final championship for 2016 to be decided…Scottish Cyclocross in December…we’ll bring you the news from Lochore Meadows on December 4th.
