Report: Snowdon Sports

James McCallum (NFTO Pro Cycling) won the 2014 Kilmacolm Kermesse, run over eight laps of a course near the Renfrewshire town on Sunday.

The 35-year-old from Edinburgh was near the head of the 63-mile race most of the time, and after he had broken away with three rivals in the closing few laps he attacked alone on the final circuit to take the win by nine seconds from KTM Road and Trail rival Gary Hand, with Scott McCrossan just a few inches further back in third place.

“It’s a tough course because it’s up for four miles, then down for four miles, and it’s never easy, because there’s a crosswind and not much shelter,” said McCallum. “The race was splitting and coming back together time and again, so I just waited for see what happened.

“Eventually a break managed to stick, and the ten of us split again into four and then eventually three. I waited until the final corner and then attacked, and I was pleased to get a good gap on the line.”

McCallum was the man in form going into the race, having won the Crit on the Campus in March and also finished third in the Gifford Road Race. More recently he took a superb fourth in the Rutland-Melton CiCLE Classic last weekend.

From a field of 54 starters the exposed farm tracks proved too much for some as a cross wind and squally showers battered the riders, and only 30 actually finished.

The conditions contributed to the decisive split in the race on the second lap where it broke into three groups. With three laps remaining McCallum attacked alongside Hand, McCrossan and Andrew Whitehall (Glasgow Wheelers).

The pace eventually proved too much for Whitehall and he dropped back to an eventual tenth place, while the trio powered on to contest the win.

Results:

1 James McCallum (NFTO Pro Cycling)
2 Gary Hand (KTM Road and Trail) at 9sec
3 Scott McCrossan (Paisley Velo) at same time
4 Peter Murdoch (Paisley Velo) at 24sec
5 David Anderson (Granite City RT) at same time
6 David Lines (Starley Primal) at 1:12
7 Philip Trodden (Rigmar Racers)
8 Bradley Stokes (Pedal Power)
9 Steven Lawley (Rigmar Racers) all same time
10 Andrew Whitehall (Glasgow Wheelers)