British Champs
Coming off the back off an excellent vain of form over the kersteperiode in Belgium, Mason was the favourite heading into Sunday’s elite men’s race – but with a plethora of strong riders from the British domestic scene and UCI World Cups, it was set up for some exciting racing.
The start would prove similar to that in his Falkirk victory last year, Alfie Amey (Trinity) and fellow World Cup rider Thomas Mein (Hope FR) taking up the early pace at the front of the field.
Mein, who had bettered Mason on a few occasions earlier this season, would take the lead with Mason in tow on the second tour of the Kent facility, which had defrosted to make conditions extremely slippery, the claggy mud meaning riders were changing bikes every half lap.
It looked to be the battle that many had predicted between the two top-ranked British UCI riders, but on the third lap , just as Mason had started to gap his rival, Mein would suffer bike problems after a fall at the top of the staired section, ultimately retiring from the race.
Mason continued to power away from the field, careful not to make any mistakes and take the title by over three minutes – to make it a hat-trick of national titles for the Linlithgow rider.
Speaking after his win, the Mason said:
“Every single one feels a bit more pressure to do it again but in a way it’s easier because I’ve done it twice before – I knew what was required, I knew how to get the best effort out and do my best race. I’m really proud of my race today and executed it how I wanted to.”
There was a strong ride too from Sam Chisholm (Team HUPcc) to claim ninth spot in the men’s elite, and fifth in the U23 category, in which he has one more year.
The elite women’s saw an excellent race, with Scottish champion Anna Flynn (Spectra Racing) claiming a fine fifth place, and winning the team prize as part of the Spectra squad. Team HUPcc’s Ishbel Strathdee came home in 11th place, battling for a top 10 down the home straight.
In the junior race Arabella Blackburn (Trinity) claimed an excellent bronze medal, battling the toughest conditions of the day, as the top layer of frost started to defrost leaving exposed icy patches, the big banking on the course barely walkable never mind rideable!
There was plenty of strong performances in Saturday’s Youth races when the weather was at it’s coldest. Olivia Poole (Deeside Thistle) off the back of her exploits in Belgium last week, claimed the silver medal in the under 16 female race, whilst in the under 14 open there were two medals for the Scots, with Guy Rorke (Pentland Racers) and Josh Stewart (SteppingStanes) finishing second and third respectively, with a solid ride from Pentland’s Sam Kingan in eighth place too.
Apeldoorn
The Scottish junior track team made their annual pilgrimage to the Netherlands for the The Next Generation track meet in Apeldoorn. Teams from across Europe and North America were racing in Gelderland, with a both Scottish and British squads in attendance.
Erin Boothman, riding for Great Britain, swept the field away with a quintet of bunch race victories in the scratch race, points race, elimination race, the madison and tempo race. Against the clock, Boothman would claim two more wins, first in the kilo, then riding in the rainbow bands in the team pursuit, to round off an excellent weekend.
There was more success with Discovery Juniors’ Eve Fairbairn scoring an excellent third place in the points race, as did fellow Scot James Sweeney in the British colours. Melanie Rowe guested with a British pursuit quartet who came fourth in a very competitive field.
There were strong team pursuit performances from Scotland’s two junior male teams, with the A squad of Brodie Duncan, Fraser Corfield, Zach Barbour and Colin Johnston finishing ninth with a time of 4:17.6, a performance that saw the team in touching distance of Denmark and Wales, and ahead of squads from Canada, France and Turkey. A B squad of Evan Marsh, Sam Martin, Struan Shaw and Elliot Speedie riding to a time of 4:24,5 over the 4000m – with plenty to build from throughout the next 12 months.
Domestically, it was great to see Round Three of the Monsters of Track Series take place at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome on Saturday. Entries for round four are open here.