Scottish Hill Climb Championships
Female
Lauren Dickson (Handsling-Alba) defended her Hill Climb title on Saturday as the Tak Ma Doon climb played host.
The defending champion, who will next season be riding for FDJ-Suez in the WorldTour, was the last rider up the climb in the senior female category and produced the fastest female ascent of the 3.28km climb to take the Scottish bands with a time of 8:35.
There was an excellent ride from Ellen Crombie (Edinburgh RC) to come home in second place and take the silver, with 9:35 – bettering bronze medallist Arianne Holland (Handsling-Alba) by just three seconds.
In the youths, Eve Fairbairn (Discovery Junior) won out from Lucy Sweeney (Edinburgh RC) and Izzy Barbour (Edinburgh RC) was in third place; while Youth B Isla Reekie produced the quickest youth time of 11:14, with Boo Williams taking the silver in that age group.
Open
In the senior open, Angus Toms (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT) would follow Dickson’s example and go on to win in dominant fashion. Mungo would also record the fastest-ever ascent of the climb with his time of 7:45.
Silver would go to the Ahron Dick (Equipo Finisher) with his 8:13. The battle for third would be extremely fraught as Laurence Fryer-Taylor (Macclesfield) and Ciaran Savage were both tied on 8:19, as the defending champion Sam Carrotte (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT) would be the last rider up the Tak. As the rain came on at the end of the event, the Broughty Ferry rider would be just one second outside of the medals in fifth place – with Fryer-Taylor and Savage sharing bronze.
Raphael Jacquemet-Ross (West Lothian Clarion) would take the junior title with 8:50, with James Burnett (Edinburgh RC) in silver.
Youth A winner Arran Drackford (Falkirk Junior BC) would break nine minutes with an 8:55 with Fraser Gemmell (West Lothian Clarion) in silver and Hamish Mayes rounding off the podium. There would be victory for Youth B Gregor McNaught with an excellent time of 9:09 from Leo Mullen in second and Ethan Kidd in third.
A great afternoon of racing in Lanarkshire – organised very astutely by RC Cumbernauld & Kilsyth on one of Scotland’s most renowned climbs.
UCI Road Worlds
You may have missed it with all the Scottish National Championships over the weekend, but there was the small matter of the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda.
After Callum Thornley’s fifth place ride in the under-23 time trial; Erin Boothman also scored fifth place in the junior time trial. The Glaswegian rider had a frustrating week in Kigali, after clipping out in the pedals in the time trial and cramping up in the road race – Boothman can still leave with her head held high after claiming two Track World titles, and three World records this year. Arabella Blackburn came home in 27th in the junior race.
Eilidh Shaw and Oscar Onley were both on domestique duties for Cat Ferguson and Tom Pidcock, respectively. Shaw worked hard throughout the early part of the under-23 race, to keep the pace high and deliver the rest of the Great Britain team. Onley had the thankless task of chasing down a rampant Tadej Pogacar – not for the first time this season – but the Scot was able to support Pidcock admirably and set up a top ten finish for the Yorkshireman.
Scottish Enduro Champs
The first officially-sanctioned Scottish MTB Enduro Championships were held in Tayside over Saturday and Sunday with two prologue stages and seven full stages testing the 195 riders in action, with Polly Henderson and William Brodie coming out on top.
Inch Park Cyclocross
Saturday saw Edinburgh RC’s Inch Park cyclocross run in fast dry conditions, with a full day of racing action.
The day began with a women’s CX coaching session while the course was being assembled. Their subsequent race was won by Marie Meldrum of Nevis Cycles Racing Team followed by Ailsa Curtis (West Lothian Clarion CC) and Sasha Baggaley (Edinburgh RC). British Champion Cameron Mason helped out and supported the young riders on their sighting laps – as well as set the fastest time in the one-lap challenge.
In the Youth races FJBC’s Lilly Wright, Salt Ayre Cog Set’s Leo Walsh claimed theunder-14 wins and Imogen Hammond from Glasgow Riderz and Josh Stewart of SteppingStanes won out in the under-16.