Dundee’s Caird Park Velodrome played host to the Dundee Sprint GP, incorporating the Scottish National Youth Omnium Championships for Youth B and Youth C riders.
The morning session saw the Youth B and C’s in action with the omnium consisting of a 500m TT, a Match Sprint before the omnium culminated in the exciting scratch race.
In the Youth C Girls Millie Boothman came out on top in all three events, despite having to start out in a solo 500m TT due to the odd number of riders, Boothman recorded a time of 48.0 in a blustery Caird Park.
Boothman narrowly claimed the Sprint, before winning the 4km Scratch Race by a whisker from Zara Main who pushed the rider hard in the trio of events.
The Youth C Boys saw a strong start by Micah Myles who rode a great 500m in a time of 46.35.
Myles then continued his form by qualifying for the Sprint “A final” and winning, pipping Rueben McLardie for a second time in two Omnium events. The final event saw Myles complete his hat-trick of victories and claim the gold medal. Bronze was won by Murray Alcorn, after some very decent riding in the Keirin.
In the Youth B boys, Elliot Speedie (Edinburgh RC) claimed a hat-trick of victories with Colin Johnston (Johnstone Wheelers) finishing in second – which meant Speedie claimed the gold medal to become Scottish National Champion.
In the Youth B girls, Melanie Rowe (Deeside Thistle) won all three races beating the home Discovery Junior duo of Hope Thomson and Eve Fairbairn to claim the gold medal. Silver was won by Fairbairn with the advantage of her flying 500m TT being the difference in the final standings.
Two alumni of Discovery Junior CC, Mark Stewart (Bolton-Equaties Black Spoke) and Alfie George (Vendeé-U) both looking on at the next generation of riders to come through the Caird Park track, which now bares the name of the Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
The afternoon saw the turn of the Senior Men & Women, as well as the Youth A riders. Conditions had deteriorated with short showers threatening through the lunch break.
The Seniors were able to get underway with the Men’s Flying 400m – won by Jamie Thomson (Spokes RT) with an impressive time of 27.02 seconds. The Men’s 8km Scratch Race was next with early attacking from Andy Bruce (Vanelli-Project GO) kyboshed with strong riding from a trio of Spokes riders. Thomson again coming out on top from Bruce in second.
The Keirin followed the same order in the top two, with Simon Arnot (Andrew Allan Architecture) in third.
The Youth A girls and Senior Women were combined into one race, and it was the young guns showing them how it’s done with Mille Thomson (Deeside Thistle) winning out in the Flying 400m with a strong 29.38. Thomson rode clear to win the Scratch Race by two seconds from Flora Gillies (Torvelo) and Coralie Arthur (Wahoo-Le Col). Thomson made it a hat-trick by winning the Keirin final, from Gillies in second and Anna Fairweather (RT 23) in third.
The Youth A boys, Harrison Dainty (Cystric Fibrosis Race) was the rider to beat, with an excellent 27.24 to claim victory in the 400m flying lap. His decision to race with a disc wheel in the blustery conditions, was a wise choice as Dainty rode clear in the final lap of the shortened Scratch Race to make it a brace of races victories.
Like Thomson and Thomson, the hat-trick was completed in the Keirin with an excellent sprint to just pip past Scottish Cycling Young People’s Panel member Jake Speed in second.
Unfortunately, the heavens, which had threatened all day, finally opened, kyboshing any further racing action in the Points Race.
A massive thank you to Discovery Junior Cycling Club for hosting today's #SCNatChamps and all the volunteers, commasaires and marshalls for making it all possible.
