Derby was the venue for the Easter Sunday Sprint Futures events, with many of the next generation of track sprinters taking part in the competition at Pride Park. The meet was like an omnium for sprinters – with riders each recording a standing lap time, as well as the traditional sprint ladder and keirin competition.
Femke McKenna (Glasgow Riderz) would take a clean sweep of three wins to take the top step of the youth podium, while teammate Mairi Nicholson would claim second place after two strong rides in the match sprint and keirin. Lotte Wardrop (Glasgow Track RC) would finish fourth in the junior event.
Sticking with the sprinters, it was a very Good Friday for Pete Mitchell (Black Line) qualifying fastest in the sprint competition with a 9,985 over the flying 200 and then riding to victory in the competition down in London.
Anthony Young (Glasgow Track RC) qualified fourth in the sprint, before narrowly missing out on the medal finals, bowing out the competition at the quarter final stage.
The first round of the British National Youth Circuit Series was held in Wales at the Ride Flux 2-Day.
Andrew Levinson (Shibden Apex RT) rode to an excellent second place in the Under 16 race. The former Edinburgh RC rider went into the race lead after winning the opening time trial, and held on through the flat sprint stage. However, his third place on the final stage around Pembrey Motor Circuit would see the Scot narrowly miss out on the win by a single bonus second.
The Edinburgh RC pairing of Izzy Barbour and Lucy Sweeney would also ride to top ten finishes despite Sunday’s extremely windy conditions – finishing eighth and tenth respectively. Emma Nicholson (Glasgow Riderz) would ride to a strong sixth in the Under 14, Youth B race.
This weekend sees the Youth Tour of Scotland take place in Perthshire and, for the first time ever, Fife. If you are free to volunteer on either Friday in Comrie or Saturday in Forteviot then please click this link here.
Over in the Netherlands it was a fast and frantic Volta NXT Classic (1.2) in Limburg. The NXT Classic is best described as a miniature Amstel Gold Race – think GP Denain to Paris-Roubaix or Dwars door Vlaanderen to the Tour of Flanders.
Eilidh Shaw (UAE Development) claimed another excellent top ten finish, sprinting to seventh ahead of Erin Boothman (Liv-AlUla) in eighth. There was another strong showing from Handsling-Alba in Limburg, with Kate Richardson sprinting to 14th.
Over the border for Monday’s Ronde de Mouscron (1.1) saw more success for the Scottish riders. An excellent ride on the front by Arabella Blackburn (Handsling-Alba) to bring back the solo break and set up a bunch sprint. Eilidh Shaw made it two top tens in three days, with an eighth place finish across the line in Wallonia. Kate Richardson was once again the top Alba rider in 15th place after a solid ride.
Another weekend and another win for Edinburgh Bike Fitting, this time at the Regional A Dick Londragon Road Race in Finzean, organised by Aberdeen Wheelers.
A three man break of Sam Carrotte (Edinburgh Bike Fitting), Alan Dean (Edinburgh RC) and Mark Walker (Deeside Thistle) would establish themselves together and work well to hold off the chasing group of eight. The Broughty Ferry-native Carrotte would take the win, riding away from Walker on the final climb of the 90 kilometre race with Dean taking an excellent third place.
Over in Ireland there’s been plenty of Scottish representation at the Rás Mumham including Spokes RT-Oscar Onley Dev. who made the journey over to Munster for the Easter Weekend race.
A strong showing from the juniors, holding their own against a field with some of the best British and Irish elite riders. Fraser Gemmell and Zach Barbour particularly impressed with the two finishing inside the top 20 on the fourth and final stage. Nico Anelli (Ride Revolution) had also made his mark spending the final stage in the breakaway.
At the National B race in Capenwray, Solas Cycling’s Lydia Louw animated the racing to win the combativity award on her way to 14th place – building on a strong fifth place at Gifford last weekend.
Round Two of the Scotia Series – the Lake of Menteith APR is on 19th April – check it out here
Saturday saw the opening round of the Gralba Series – with the Carron Valley Crusher, a one-day stage race on the Gravel. Liam Scott Douglas (Edinburgh Bike Fitting) claimed the open victory, with Grace Inglis (Team HUP) winning out in the female field.
Scott Douglas had to overturn a 14 second deficit to Tom Stephenson (Hope Factory) from the opening time trial, and won out in the mass-start stage race by 18 seconds to claim the overall win by just a mere four seconds, while Patrick Hughes finished third.
Inglis had claimed both race victories from Rebecca Saunderson (Studio Velo) in second, with Ishbel Strathdee (Team HUP) off the back of her Gifford exploits last weekend in third.