They might have been racing a couple of laps less, but the way both McDonald and Mowbray caught and passed Senior winners Sam Chisholm and Ishbel Strathdee (both HUPcc) was impressive to say the least.
After a day of short track and youth racing on the Saturday, Sunday saw the best of Scotland do battle for titles on a testing track in Ae Forest, Dumfries & Galloway. The course served up plenty of climbing, followed by some steep single track descents, meaning there was no let up for would be champions. Under wheel conditions were fantastic, as despite rain in the days prior and the odd shower on the day, the racers saw plenty of sunshine and fantastic trail conditions.
Racing over six laps of the course and just shy of 90 minutes of racing, Sam Chisholm was never really challenged as he upgraded his 2024 silver to 2025 gold. 40 seconds up after the first round of the course, he would go on to win by over two minutes.
On victory, Chisholm, who has also won the Scottish Road Race title in 2025, said:
“It was hard conditions today, with a lot of hard climbing and the wind. I attacked on lap one and got a gap, and then just managed it all the way. Since getting second last year it has been a big goal to come here and try and win a stripey jersey; coming away with the road one as well this year has been amazing.”
Similarly, Ishbel Strathdee was never headed, getting the hole shot and riding away up the first climb. Never looking back, her lead would grow to some four minutes over the four laps of the Ae course, a dominant performance.
After stepping onto the top step of the podium and pulling on the Scottish Champions jersey, Strathdee said:
“This is my first senior title, so it’s super exiting and nice to be in this jersey. It was a good course, with a big climb at the start, and then a fun, technical descent. I haven’t raced all summer as I’ve been away, so it was nice to get a good hard race, and now I’ll build into the cyclocross season.”
SORT RT duo Innes McDonald and Freya Mowbray would race over five and four laps respectively, and would prove to be the two class acts on the day; not a surprise with both having excelled when representing Great Britain over the course of the season. McDonald would lead a SORT clean sweep of the podium, albeit well clear of teammates Cameron Annable and Henry O’Brien. Mowbray would be joined on the podium by teammate Zoe Blyth.
Earlier in the day the Youth & Juvenile races were also high quality, with some great battles, none more so than Xander Graham (Scott UK) taking the Youth Open title, seeing off the challenge of Ross Allan (Black Isle MTB Club), with Zach Buchan outsprinting Arran Drackford (Falkirk Junior BC) for the bronze medal. In the Female equivalent Isla Cant of West Highland Wheelers was an impressive winner, pulling on the Scottish champions stripey jersey.
In the Juveniles there was a runaway win for younger sister Lily Cant (WHW), with the two Eilidhs, Coutts (Edinburgh RC) and Scally (Johnstone Jets), rounding out the podium. In the Open race it was local rider Josh Stewart (SteppingStanes) who got his arms in the air, seeing off the challenge of Gregor McNaught (FJBC) and Guy Rorke (Pentland Racers) in a highly competitive age group.
The Masters were split across the morning and afternoon races, Sofia Christiansen (Galloway Hillbillies) winning a ding-dong battle with Jane Barr (Velocity44) in the 40 Female race, whilst there was a further second place for Velocity44 as Kenny Kentley took silver in the Open 60 category behind Damien Slorach (Leslie Bike Shop).
Gary McDonald (Nevis Cycles) was a class apart as he won the Masters 40 Open race for the third successive year, with Richard McDonald (Vanelli-Project GO) in second and Richard Gorst (Saddleback Racing) third. There was a similarly strong field in the Masters 50 Open, but nobody could stop odds on favourite Douglas Cameron (i-cycles) from taking top spot; Morgan Donnelly (Kendal) and Wayne Barr (Velocity44) would round out the podium.
In the female equivalent Nadine Reilly (Trilogy CC) showed you had to be in it to win it, as she took the title. Racing with the Seniors, Jackie Chan (Andrew Allen) would take the M30 Open, his second Scottish Champs jersey in as many weeks, whilst Rebecca Trimble was first Female across the line.
Big thanks to the SXC for putting on a great Scottish Championships, and to the marshalls who stepped forward to make the racing happen.