First up in the championship races was the Open championship for Youth riders. And what a sensation the result turned out to be. Five teams lined up to face the starter and set out to cover 60 laps of the track…15 kilometers.
The teams were staying tight until the first sprint which was taken by the Red team of Andrew Levinson and Micah Myles, closely followed by Reuben McLardie and Melanie Rowe in Pink.
Fast and furious from this point on the Fraser Gemmell and Lee McQueen rose to the top of the standings in the Chequered kit after the second sprint played out. By the time the third sprint had been completed the lead had passed to the pink duo of McLardie and Rowe.
Sprint 3 and it was change around again as Gemmell and McQueen rose to the top of the leader board on 11 points…exactly the same as Levinson and Myles with the Pink duo of McLardie and Rowe back in third place on 6 points.
Sprint 5 and the Pink duo got to the line first and now it was all down to the final dash for the line…and what a sensation as McLardie and Rowe sprinted to victory to place them on 23 points to Levinson and Myles also on 23 points…the win going to the Pink team by dint of better sprint placings overall.
A mixed team taking the championship showing the strength of Melanie Rowe and Reuben McLardie…fantastic win!
This was followed by the championship contest for Youth Girls
And again it was five teams that reported to the starter to contest the championship. Right from the off it was Millie Boothman and Zara Main showing that they wanted this title. But it would be hard fought with the team in Black of Eve Fairbairn and Ava Luce, and the team riding in Red of Izzy Barbour and Kasey Park, making them work for it.
First honours in the sprints to Boothman and Main in White. And they consolidated their lead through the next couple of sprints with Black and Red teams vying for second spot, just one point apart. Emma Campbell and Lucy Sweeney in Green and Eleya Mold and Freyja Shackley in Pink slipped back a little bit unable to hold onto the hot pace set by the front runners.
And now Boothman and Main set about taking the field apart and going for a lap. Four sprints down and they were well ahead of the field with the Black and Red teams still closely fighting for the second spot.
And Boothman and Main consolidated their destroying of the field by taking sprint 5 but in the final sprint the other two teams restored some glory with Eve Fairbairn finishing ahead of Kasey Park. Finishing points positions saw Boothman and Main on 49, Fairbairn and Luce on 2 and Barbour and Park on -5 to fill out our podium.
Worthy winners!
And finally the Open Championship itself, some big hitters lined up for this championship this year, including past winners. From the starter’s gun Logan Maclean and Ross Birrell set about building a lead. Their closest challengers were the Wheelbase pairing of Tim Shoreman and Aaron King but hotly pursued by Alex Ball riding with Liam Scott-Douglas, and Keir Gaffney partnered by Calum Moir.
Keeping them all honest was the Junior team of Zach Barbour and Colin Johnston. Sprints were decided between the leading teams and by the time we’d got down to 36 laps still to run Birrell/Maclean were on 42 points to Shoreman/King’s 23, with Ball/Scott-Douglas also on 23 points.
The racing was fast and strength-sapping but no team had managed to gain a lap yet despite some spirited attacks. Sprint 13 and the leading duo let the others claw a little bit back but still maintained a 16 point lead over Shoreman and King.
Inside the last seven kilometers and the teams were happy to gather their remaining strength for the final assault on the championship. A wonderful sprint for number 14 saw the leaders just triumph for the maximum points and now the heat was on.
Penultimate sprint and Aaron King finished just ahead of Birrell, perhaps content to save the legs for the last minutes of the race.
Double points for the final crossing of the line and the race looked to be going in the direction of Birrell/Maclean to push the defending champions of Shoreman and King into silver.
Shoulder to shoulder, there was no stopping Birrell as he bested Shoreman in the final sprint to end 45 minutes of racing and take the title with his racing partner Logan Maclean. Final positions had Birrell/Maclean in Gold, Shoreman/King in Silver and Ball/Scott-Douglas in Bronze.
Just the podium presentation to go and the winners stepped up to take their medals presented by Scottish Cycling President Sandy Gilchrist to end a wonderfully strong Scottish National Madison Championships.
A big thank you to the organising team, and stay tuned tomorrow for the rest of the Glasgow GP, wrapped up in our round-up on Monday.