The sun was out on Saturday and set up some dusty trails on Ballo Hill for the opening two prologue stages – with the trails of Spicy Bits and Fast & Furious on Ballo Hill hosting the opening salvo.
William Brodie (Specialized) led from the off, taking victory in Saturday’s Prologues in the senior open – with the fastest time on both stages – which would also feature as a repeat on Sunday. Fergus Lamb (Hazard Racing) would follow the fifth best rider in the World Cup Ranking after the opening two tests.
Tomas McIntosh (Pentland Racers) would lead the juniors, while Steven Hume would be narrowly leading Neil Stewart in a masters 40 field that looked set to be incredibly tight heading into Super Sunday.
Heavy rain on the Braes of the Carse of Gowrie soften up the trails on Ballo Hill that would host the opening four of Sunday’s stages. It was a slightly more ironic case of nominative determinism with a return to Fast and Furious for Stage 1, with much slower times being set across the board due to the moist track.
Brodie would extend his advantage at the head of the event, with Ben Allan finishing second on the stage to lift him into the podium contention; the Peebles rider seemingly taking advantage of his later start time with ground that had slightly dried up. Joe Barnes (West Highland Wheelers) finished third on the stage – and now moved into second place overall.
Fergus Lamb and Brodie would swap stage wins at Murray’s Line and Vindaloo – before the Specialized rider would take his fifth win at the final stage in Ballo Forest of Spicy Bits. Leaving Ballo, Brodie led the way by 15 seconds from Lamb, with Ben Allan another ten seconds further back.
After an early mistake on Fast and Furious, where he gave up time to Fransady Keita; Tomas McIntosh would win the remainder of the Ballo Stages to extend his lead in the juniors. In the masters 40 field Steven Hume would hold on to his lead over Neil Stewart by eight seconds.
Crossing over the Coupar Angus Road to head to Tullybaccart and the very long walk to the start of Double Yolker a mistake from Lamb would see him drop out of medal contention, with Brodie taking the stage win, with Allan and Barnes following up.
The final two stages would take place over at Hallyburton, less steep than the fast and technical Ballo trails, but a different challenge nonetheless at the end of the event – with the extremely long Stage 6, consisting of a 700m power section of The Mustard which transitions in to the descent of Agent Orange followed by the short and not-so-sweet Tangerine Dream – which finishes with a fast power section to sap any last energy out of the legs.
Allan and Barnes would both take time on leader William Brodie on Agent Orange but not enough to bother the race leader – who would wrap up the victory with a final stage win on Stage 7. Joe Barnes would take silver on the final stage by just three seconds, with Ben Allan settling for bronze.
Tomas McIntosh would win the junior title from Fransady Keita by 28 seconds with Jamie Hall (Pentland Racers) in third. A consistent showing would be enough for Steven Hume to take the Masters 40 title over Neil Stewart (20TwentyStore) by 12 seconds with Tom Simpson in third. A word however for Andrew Lochhead who missed out on the medals in fourth after an early mistake in the prologues but won the final four stages. Ruairidh McRitchie won out in the Masters 30 category from Lewis Swift (Stogies) after a consitent showing throughout the weekend.
Female
In the female event, Polly Henderson swapped stage wins with Elena McGorum.
McGorum, now residing as a student in Dundee, used local knowledge to full effect on Fast & Furious to stay within four seconds of event leader Henderson at the end of Saturday’s racing.
Henderson, who claimed a British Champs bronze medal, would continue where she left off on Sunday, taking five stages wins on her way to take the senior female title. Niamh Greig didn’t finish outside the top two in the opening four Ballo Stages – and claimed a stage win by ten seconds on Murray’s Line to rise into second place.
McGorum – a former elite Cross-Country rider, used her power on the marathon Stage 6 to claim her second victory and to set up a battle for the silver with Greig heading into Tangerine Dream; but it would be Greig that would hold on to take silver by just five seconds. In the masters 40, Roslynn Newman (Edinburgh RC) would take the win from Kirsty Watson.
Youth
The youth riders would ride a slightly abridged course with the two prologue stages and only five stages on Sunday – Murray’s Line and Double Yolker both missing.
Isla Cant (West Highland Wheelers) would win all seven stages to take the Youth victory from Lexa Whyte in second and Eleya Mold in third. It was a family affair in the juveniles with Lily Cant (West Highland Wheelers) this time taking the win – and every stage with it – from Izzy Blackman (Racecraft Bikes) and Megan Sciberras (Glasgow Riderz)
In the open event, it was a similar story with Zach Buchan (Pentland Racers) winning all seven stages to take the overall win by 53 second to Ross Allan in silver, with Pentland’s Gus Lawson finishing in third – after rallying back from an issue that left him in last place after the opening prologue. Keeping with the theme Pentland’s Guy Rorke won out in the juveniles and claimed each stage win with it, while Harry Roxburgh (Dirt School) finished in second and Oscar Tanski (Edinburgh RC) in third.
A huge thank you to the team at the Scottish Enduro Series for organising such a great event, in an absolutely lovely part of the world, and to the volunteers and officials for making it possible.