The morning saw the Kilometre Time Trial with 2022 National Champion Bruce Croall (EH Star) set the early pace and was knocked out the hotseat by Adam Murray (Glasgow Track RC) by the slenderest of margins: 0.011. However, it was Calum Moir (Brocar-Rali AIA) who would snatch gold with an excellent 1:03.418 to take the first title of the day.
The team pursuits opened with Dooley’s Cycles topping the timing sheets early on with their solid ride of 4:36.6
A time of 4.23.5 saw the Scotland Development squad of Ahron Dick, Calum Moir, Struan Shaw and Evan Marsh usurp the dooley’s foursome – despite a messy ride in qualifying as Ahron Dick made a small error in the opening stages reducing the quartet to trident in the opening laps of the 16-lap effort.
There was a shock in qualifying as after a mechanical mishap and a false start Vanelli Project GO ended their medal hopes in the competition.
Glasgow University would claim bronze in the ride for third in a thriller against VC Glasgow South – with the quartet of Kyle Thomas, Cormac McConville, Finn McHenry and Kenneth Fraser producing a much more composed display from their first-round ride.
In the Gold Medal final, a small spill from Evan Marsh on the back of the Scotland Development quartet in the early stages left the Young Team down to three. The trio were able to make the catch of the Dooley’s team (Aidan Quinn, Kevin Barclay, Ross Clark and Ian Fraser) – also down to three with five laps remaining.
Just after lunch we saw the race of the weekend.
An early attack from Bruce Croall caught the rest of the Keirin field napping. His early attack from the front, after drawing position one in the draw, saw the EH Star rider gain large advantage over a quintet of Glasgow Track RC riders.
None of the Glasgow five were willing to commit to chasing down Croall, with 200m to go Croall held onto his advantage over the bunch but it was a late surge from Luthais Arthur and Anthony Young who were both able to pip a suffering Croall on the line with Arthur claiming the gold by a whisker.
In the test against the clock Kate Richardson showed her class to take the 3km Individual Pursuit title. After a sensible qualifying ride of 3:42.5, the newly-announced Hess rider was joined in the final by Lauren Dickson (Alba Development) who clocked a 3:54.1 in her first ride.
The duo would compete for the major medals, with both riders improving by several seconds, Dickson would hold off the catch to clock a time of 3:45.9 in her first event over this distance – which would be enough to claim silver.
Niamh Campbell Williams (Velo Bavarian) started the stronger over the opening 2km of the bronze medal but Solas’ Millie Thomson was able to bring the advantage back and build a small lead into a thrilling final 500 – which saw the Solas rider extend her slight lead to claim the bronze by 1.2 seconds.
Richardson would double up with points race victory – a classy ride – would ensure that all the challengers would be outwith the 10 point barrier by the time of the final sprint. Dickson would again be the closest challenger to Richardson – sticking to her wheel throughout. Another bronze for Thomson would compliment a strong weekend for the young rider.
A competition throughout Sunday’s racing was the Female Sprint – which is always fiercely contested. Ellie Stone (Back Line) topped qualifying from Kirsty Johnson (Edinburgh RC) by just under a tenth.
The two semi finals saw straight victories, Ellie Stone was able to power away from Christina Smith (Glasgow Track RC), while Kirsty Johnson progressed by holding Maddie Silcock on her hip round the final bend to hold on in race one and followed it up in the second race.
The gold medal final saw two identical races, in both races of the gold medal final Johnson led out the sprint and managed to hold off Stone who attempted to come over the top of the Edinburgh RC rider but fell just short – for the Keirin winner from yesterday to make it a double of titles.
Maddie Silcock was able to power away from Christina Smith in both Bronze finals to take the third step on the podium.
The open 15km scratch race was always poised to be a tough contest, off the back of yesterday’s antics in the points, Ahron Dick (Huub BCC) was a marked man by a field full of talent.
A number of moves tried to force their way off the front of the bunch, with Alex Ball (Project1) the most promising, but concerted chases annulled every attempt. After a few laps near the rear of the field, Dick managed to force his way clear with a textbook move – in the closing stages – a tired field were either unwilling or more likely unable to chase the young rider down as he rode away to a classy finish.
A fast finish from Calum Moir was enough to win the bunch sprint for silver – with bronze heading to Struan Shaw (Tofauti Everyone Active) to round-off the day’s competition.
We were fortunate to have a number of support events across the weekend with today’s Paracycling Scratch Race providing an exciting race. There was also a great programme of racing supported by Scottish Disability Sport – to provide inclusive racing opportunities for riders in timed events.
Mark Bruce completed his final of a dozen Everests in the Track Centre all-day riding the Alp du Zwift on his turbo trainer – raising money for Tiny Changes.
You can donate to his fundraiser here.
Finally, we’d just like to add a massive thank you to all the volunteers and commissaires for supporting this weekend’s racing, without them weekends like these are simply not possible.