Scottish Juniors Take on the World

Report by Paul Newnham - SC Olympic Talent Coach

Posted on 10 August 2010

Seven Scottish Junior riders will be representing Great Britain in 3 different disciplines this year at the Junior World Championships. With the teams just released for the Junior World Championships in Track and Mountain Bike, Scottish riders will fill seven places in the disciplines of Track Sprint, Mountain Bike XC and Mountain Bike DH.

Trying to emulate Sir Chris Hoy in the sprint disciplines will be City of Edinburgh Riders Callum Skinner and John Paul who are both members of the British Cycling Olympic Development Programme (ODP) have showed their class this year with strong consistent results cumulating in 1st and 2nd place in the last round of the British Sprinters League.

The Track World Championships are taking place in Montichiari, Italy from 11 - 15 August, and results can be followed on the British Cycling Website. From the smooth boards of the velodrome to the rough and tumble of World Championship Mountain biking Kenta Gallagher and Grant Ferguson will represent GB in the Olympic discipline of Cross Country. Again Kenta and Grant are members of the British ODP and have been riding the World Cup Series all year with their best results being 6th and 4th respectively. On the gravity assisted side of Mountain biking Scottish Cycling investment in a Downhill Academy programme has paid off. With Coach Chris Ball's guidance three junior riders will head to one of the worlds most technical tracks at Mont St Anne Canada to do battle with the world's best.

Leading the charge will be Innerleithen local Lewis Buchanan whose recent 16th Overall at the last World Cup singles him out a strong contender to follow in fellow Scot Ruaridh Cunningham's foot steps and become World Junior Champion.  Ruaridh himself has been selected to ride the Senior World Championships and will hope to retain his current excellent form that has seen him gain a top 10 result at the Champery round the World Cup.

The World Championships can be watched live on Freecaster TV via the British Cycling Website.

On the success of selection over three different disciplines Scottish Cycling's Performance Manager, Gary Willis commented:

"The selection of seven Scottish Juniors to compete for Great Britain is great news for the athletes as they strive to achieve success on the world stage. It is also great news for Scottish Cycling and our youth members, with such positive role models that our youth members train and race with in their clubs, they are showing that Scottish athletes can compete on the world stage. With a Junior World Track Championships planned for the Glasgow Velodrome in 2013 I hope more will be inspired to strive for World Championships by this crop of outstanding talented junior athletes and I wish then all the best in Italy and Canada."

sportscotland, the National agency for sport, have continued to support Scottish Cycling through their investment, in the development of a performance pathway for the sport over the last 4 years. sportscotland's contribution has been further bolstered by sponsorship from Scottish Power Renewables, who have contributed to the investment in the Downhill academy and in increasing competitive racing opportunities for youths. The majority of the Junior riders competing at the Worlds have come through the Scottish Power Renewables Youth Series. Keith Anderson, Managing Director, ScottishPower Renewables commented:

“We are delighted to see so many young cyclists making the transition from the Youth Series to competing at such a high level.  Our support of the Youth Series always had the aim of growing the sport and the development of young riders and it is very rewarding to see our sponsoring having such a positive effect.”