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With some of last year’s Championship winners missing from the race due to World Championship commitments or injury, Glencoe was an opportunity for some riders already on the cusp of making the podium throughout the DH season to make their breakthrough. With a packed field of talented competitors and eight Championship categories to decide, it was a day of thrilling racing.

The dry conditions meant fast times down the technical DH track with just a few muddy section throw in to test the riders skills as they worked their way down the course.

First of the Championship Classes to tackle the course were the Juveniles. Daniel Aitken set a first run time of 3:03:773, which was good enough to keep him in first place until last to go, Andrew Georgeson (OrangeFox Bikes), set a superb 2:30:665.  On the second run, Lewis Duncan (Black Isle Mountain Bike Club) had a much better run, crossing the line in 2:51:780.  Georgeson’s first run time was good enough to secure him the Gold Medal, Duncan taking Silver, and Aitken the Bronze.

Next up was the Youth category.  Archie Gilmour (2 Wheel Care) set a first run time of 2:35:672 which immediately put him in the hot seat, but not for long. William Brodie (Leslie Bike Shop/Biker’s Boutique) came down a minute later, shaving over 10 secs off Gilmour’s time with a 2:25:450.  Brodie’s teammate, Ryan Brannen  put himself into second place with a time of 2:27:842. Second time down the hill all three riders improved their times, with Gilmour setting a time of 2:34:162, Brodie with 2:23:560, and Brannen with 2:25:362. With their finishing positions unchanged despite the faster times, Brodie took the gold, Brannen Silver and Gilmour bronze.

In Junior Men, the seedings looked to be spot on, with Torin Moffat (OrangeFox Bikes) setting a first run time of 2:40:452, followed by Connor Ogg in 2:32:973, but last man Shaun Sangster encountered some problems and limped home in 3:18:433. On their second run, Torin Moffat improved his time with a 2:33:929, but this still wasn’t enough to dislodge Ogg who was in the gold medal position.  Any hopes Sangster had of gold hinged on a clean second run. Fortunately it all went to plan with Sangster crossing the line in 2:28:408 to take the gold, dislodging Ogg, who had to settle for silver with Moffat taking bronze.

Aimi Kenyon (Black Isle Mountian Bike Club) was first in the hot seat for the junior women’s race with a time of 3:23:787.  Phoebe Gale quickly unseated her with an impressive time of 3:06:457 to put her in pole position. Tea Jensen’s  (Leslie Bike Shop/ Biker’s Boutique) first run down placed her in silver position with a 3:19:944. She improved her time on her second run shaving a good 8 secs off her time but it wasn’t enough to unseat Gale who took gold retaining her Championship title for another year, Jensen silver and Kenyon bronze.

Shona McKinnon, was unfortunately the sole contender in the senior women and posted her quickest time of 4:33:959. 

Fastest Male vet John Young took gold with a time of 2:37:454 shaving nearly a second of his first run to hold off rivals Stephen Cousins who did all he could to topple Young but had to settle for silver with a time of 2:47:853.and Johnpaul Cunningham who despite an improved second run took home bronze with 2:52:151.

The Masters category had three riders chasing gold in the Championship.  First down was Robin Gray, his first run time of 3:46:778. was quickly beaten by Lewis Crolla, who set the time to beat with 2:40:371.

Last man down of the 3 main contenders was Matt Sinclair who had a disappointing run of 2:51:055.  There was still all to play for as the second runs got under way.

Gray improved his time to a 3:39:474, but this wouldn’t be enough to trouble the two top spots. Crolla could do nothing to improve his first run and watched as Sinclair stormed down the hill only to finish outside Crolla’s fastest time, securing the win for Crolla, Sinclair silver with Grey in bronze.

Last of the Championship categories was the Senior Men, a mixture of race classes; Senior Men, Expert, and Elite .  First Expert rider to hit the track was Drew Carters, who made his intentions clear with an impressive first run of 2:28:912. Carters would stay in the hot seat until the last Elite rider Sam Herd crossed the line, narrowly edging him off top spot, with a time of 2:28:301. 

Carters improved his time on his second run to reclaim the hot seat, with a 2:25:357. until Elite rider Calum McBain, who had a first run he’d rather forget, blitzed the course in a time of 2:21:525 to take the hot seat which he held till the end taking home gold, with Carters in silver and Herd, bronze, narrowly missing out on the silver by just tenths of a second.

Thanks to the SDA team of volunteers, the Marshals, Commissaires, and all those who helped ensure the day ran smoothly and it was an exciting day watching the younger talent emerge. All in all a good day’s racing was had by all.