A very busy first full weekend of 2023 saw Team Scotland travel to the Netherlands for an excellent racing opportunity, while there was the plenty of domestic racing, as Battle of the Bing and Monsters of the Track start the domestic year off strongly.
Apeldoorn
A Scottish Cycling squad travelled to the Netherlands for the three-day Next Generation Track event, which was back for 2023.
The squad of Erin Boothman (East Kilbride RC), Millie Thomson (Deeside Thistle), Evie White (Alba Development RT), Joe Cosgrove (Anexo Group RT), Elliot Rowe (Deeside Thistle) and Ahron Dick (The Cycling Academy) were also joined by Calum Moir (Zappi RT) and Sarah Johnson (Edinburgh RC) who were part of the Great Britain outfit.
Johnson claimed top spot on Friday, winning the team sprint with Great Britain squad, while Moir was part of a British quartet that won the team pursuit to with a great time of 4:04.
Ahron Dick and Erin Boothman both claimed third place in their respective points races, with Dick bettering the junior world champion on his way to doing so.
While Sarah Johnson claimed fourth in the 500m Time Trial with a 37.033, and top tens for Joe Cosgrove and Millie Thomson.
Overall, a great experience of international racing, each rider raced five or six events over the Saturday and Sunday against teams from all over Europe & North America. A massively positive development experience for the riders and hopefully the first of many such experiences of world class racing.
Clanfield and Gravesend
The traditional doubleheader on England’s south coast took place this weekend with the Clanfield CX and final round of the British National Trophy taking place in Gravesend.
After his storming form in recent weeks Cameron Mason unfortunately suffered a crash at Clanfield and chose to miss Gravesend, as he prepares for the British Championships next weekend, and the World Championships next month. However, there was still plenty of great performances to discuss over the weekend.
Junior Emily Carrick-Anderson (T-MO Racing) claimed the victory in Clanfield, before finishing in a strong third in Gravesend in a very tight race, only missing out by a matter of seconds on the win. Unfortunately for Carrick-Anderson, it landed her just short of what was required to claim the overall series win, missing out by one position; however, it was a great second place in the Trophy with six very consistent performances this winter.
Sam Chisholm (The Cycling Academy) was recently in action in Belgium and put the experience gained to good use, after riding to 21st place in the Men’s Elite race in Clanfield. The following day at Gravesend, the Scot produced his best ride to date claiming a 10th place finish and his first UCI point, while fellow Scot Grant Ferguson finished a place ahead in ninth.
Monsters of the Track
The first footing for the Scottish race season took place on Friday and Saturday with the return of Track League on Friday night, before the Johnstone Jets hosted the first of the Monsters of the Track events at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome on Saturday.
It was a clean sweep for both Matti Dobbins (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) and Isla McCutcheon (JRC-Interflon) winning the Scratch, Elimination and Points Races.
Battle of the Bing
Cyclocross action was back on Sunday with the Battle of the Bing in Broxburn, organised by META Bike Division and Livingston CC.
The women’s race saw a very strong field with Isla Short claiming victory from Ishbel Strathdee, while Daisy Taylor (Royal Albert CC) rounded out the podium, with national champion Anna McGorum in fourth place.
Rory McGuire (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) claimed victory in the men’s elite race from Alex Ball (Zappi RT) and Neil Scott (Deeside Thistle CC).
Scots Abroad
Over in the much warmer New Zealand, Mark Stewart (Black Spoke Racing) claimed second place in the omnium at the Cambridge Grand Prix.
RACE National
Finally, there were two RACE National sessions on Sunday, with a track session taking place at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome with a Points Racing masterclass, while across Glasgow there was some BMX action as part of the BMX Worlds Prep sessions at Knightswood BMX Centre.
