Spectra Racing’s Anna Flynn claimed the biggest win of her career on Sunday, taking the British elite title in a very wet and windy Gypsies Green. The reigning Scottish Champion found herself alongside fellow Scot Grace Inglis (Team HUP) at the front of proceedings at the end of the opening tour.
Inglis’ had lead throughout the first lap, but the Flynn would come to the front of the leading group on the second lap – a position that would not be rescinded.
The former Edinburgh RC rider would press her advantage throughout the midpart of the race, opening a gap of around 15 seconds to the chasers – a gap which would only be extended in the succeeding laps.
Behind Inglis dropped to fifth place but recovered back into second heading into the final lap. Xan Crees, however, would continue to put the pressure on the former Scottish champion around 20 seconds in arrears.
As Flynn came across the line in the velodrome, the new Handsling-Alba recruit put her hands a loft over a minute ahead of the chasers. But who would cross the line in second?
Away from the television cameras, Crees was able to overtake Inglis into second, with the Scottish rider taking a commendable bronze. It turned out that the Innerleithen-based rider has suffered a mechanical on the final lap, causing her to drop to third.
The story of the day, however, would be Anna Flynn – having never scored a podium at a British Championships before – to now becoming British champion in dominant fashion. After the finish she told British Cycling:
“I still feel a bit shocked. I did it a bit different this year with a lot of training for road but I think it’s come in quite well, I’m coming in quite fresh to these races and I’m really happy with how I’ve done.”
Cam Mason made it four British titles in a row after a tough race in the elite open field.
The Seven Racing rider was joined at the front early on by Toby Barnes. The Spectra racing rider would lead through the opening salvos of the race – and pull himself and Mason clear of the rest of the field.
Mason would break clear of the elder Barnes brother halfway through the race, with a gap of around 25 seconds to his rival. The Scot would struggle in the muddy conditions, however, asking his pit crew to change tyre pressures in order to make it easier to get power down on the sodden course.
The Linlithgow rider would lift his hands aloft in a far trickier race than previously expected, just 21 seconds clear of Barnes. Sam Chisholm (Team HUP) would ride well to finish tenth.
Mason told British Cycling afterwards:
“It was really tricky, probably one of the trickiest wins I’ve had. Toby [Barnes] pushed me all the way, and I just couldn’t stay on my bike for some of those laps. I put together a few good laps in a row and managed to find the gap.
“There’s so many corners, there’s not many places to put the power down, then for the other parts of the lap I was under pressure and the wind was absolutely savage.
An excellent performance in the juniors on Sunday morning from Freya Mowbray (Scotia Offroad RT) saw her maintain touching distance with eventual winner Peggy Knox early on, trailing only by around four seconds going into lap three, and creating a healthy gap to the rest of the field. Mowbray would consolidate her position and go on to take a brilliant silver in only her third race of the season
Invernesian Oliva Poole (Specialized) rode to a strong bronze in the Under 16 race, and there would be a medal too for Helen Winton, the Vanelli Project-GO rider claimed third in the Masters 60 race on Saturday morning.
Sticking with the Under 16, in the open event SteppingStanes’ Josh Stewart would be top Scot in seventh, with Gregor McNaught (Falkirk Junior BC) in ninth.
In the Under 14 races, Eilidh Scally (Johnstone Wheelers) would come home in fourth and Falkirk Junior Isla Reekie in seventh, while Sam Kingan would finish tenth for Pentland Racers.
Apeldoorn
Across the North Sea, some of the world’s best junior riders were in action at the NextGen meeting in Apeldoorn, with a strong Scottish team in action.
The senior Scottish Team Pursuit Record was broken by the quartet of Fraser Gemmell, Colin Johnston, Sam Martin and Brodie Duncan. The four set a time of 4:05.630 breaking the seven-year-old record set by a Scotland squad of Alfred George, Joseph Nally, Kyle Gordon and Matti Dobbins back in 2019.The quartet came home fourth in the team pursuit competition.
Sam Martin, himself, had some success in the scratch race coming home in second against a quality field. Colin Johnston claimed fifth place in the points.
The female squad was mostly comprised of youth riders, riding an age “up” with Eve Fairbairn the sole junior – that quarter finished seventh in the team pursuit. The team of Fairbairn, Zara Main, Izzy Barbour and Millie Boothman recorded a time of 4:49.273. There was also a seventh for Barbour in the elimination race.