Everything you need to know about the Scottish Youth Circuit Series

The Scottish Youth Circuit Series consists of five rounds of circuit races for young riders aged under 16 across Scotland. The series is a great place for young riders to hone their skills and develop their race craft. Each race is no longer than 45 minutes in duration, with riders competing amongst their own age categories Scottish Youth Circuit Series rankings are maintained for Under 16 (Youth A) and Under 14 (Youth B) categories, and all rounds also include racing for younger age groups.

Series Dates

• Round 1: Sun 23^rd Mar – Edinburgh RC Ben Forsyth CRY Youth Race Day, Fife Cycle Park
• Round 2: Sun 6^th Apr – West Lothian Grand Prix, Linlithgow
• Round 3: Sat 7^th June – Kames Motor Circuit GP, Ayrshire
• Round 4: Sun 17^th Aug – Ellon Town Centre Races, Aberdeenshire
• Round 5: Sat 6^th Sep – IGNITE, Scottish Fire HQ, Cambuslang

Entries are open until 5 minutes before midnight on Sun 16th March for the series opener in Fife. Enter Here.

About Ben Forsyth

The race day is in memory of an ERC member who became British Youth Circuit Race champion in 2013. Ben suffered from a heart condition which stopped him from riding and later proved fatal. His parents, Keith and Margaret, donated a cup in memory of Ben for YA boys. Many of our up-and-coming open champions have their names on the trophy.

Cardiac Risk in the Young (C-R-Y) is a charity that aims to prevent young sudden cardiac deaths through awareness, screening and research, and supporting affected families. We raise funds at the event to support heart screening sessions in Scotland for young sportspeople.

Under 16s and 14s ride in the afternoon. Their races form the first round of the Scottish Youth Circuit Race Series. There are two races, one for girls and one for boys, with the winner of the boys’ race holding the Ben Forsyth Trophy for a year.

For U12 riders

The event adopted a stage race format in 2024. This has enabled U12s to have more track time and a mixture of races.

Over the morning, all under 12 categories will have a mini stage race.  Stage 1 is one lap time trial, with each rider starting at 30 second intervals. The TT time is used to seed riders in Stage 2, the street-sprint, i.e. a 400 meter 4-up knock-out race. Each rider progresses to another round to provide an overall ranking. Stage 3 will be a traditional mass start race of between 10 and 30 minutes depending on the age category.

The final positions will be determined by the highest positions in each stage with ties broken by the most wins.

Other Racing Opportunities

If you’re still unsure about racing and think that the Youth Circuit Series may be a step too far, why not dip your toe in the water of racing by one of the many circuit events across the year.

Under 12 riders will have the ability to race on the streets of the Fair City on Sunday 13^th April with the Perth Grand Prix – which supports the Youth Tour of Scotland. Enter Here.

Through the summer months there is a Tuesday evening circuit race series at the West Lothian Cycle Circuit hosted by the WLCCA. These are due to take place on 22^nd April, 13^th May, 17^th June, 22^nd July and 12^th August – look out for the event listings here.

Scottish Cycling also run Youth Cluster sessions throughout the year – with dates to be confirmed in the coming weeks – which is the perfect training opportunity to test yourself and receive some expert coaching and tuition in a traffic-free environment.