It was always destined to be a battle for supremacy between the three fastest men in Scotland. In a way, the fact that the Scottish National 25-Mile Time Trial Championship had been postponed until the late Summer meant that all three riders had already proved themselves against the clock…and now just had to prove themselves against each other.

In the Women’s race, it’s been a season-long battle between two of the most talented riders to come out of Scotland in recent years but on Saturday they were outfoxed by a rider from England who had headed north to claim the victory.

After the Storm

Friday night saw the first really torrential rain to hit the west of Scotland for a while, and a betting man might have put money on the event being cancelled a second time. However, they would have been betting against all of the hard work put in by Mhairi Laffoley and her team and the fact that she was giving up part of her wedding anniversary weekend meant that the race was always going to happen.

Mhairi knows how to call in favours and she had assembled a superb crew of marshals to ensure that everyone made it around the course safely…including a former World Champion as Mr Obree helped to see the riders down the right road.

The weather, as it turned out, was excellent with only a stiff breeze to contend with. The nature of this course based at Irvine is such that riders end up travelling in every direction of the compass so what they gain in one direction is taken away going the other way.

First rider away from the starter was Ellie Park (Johnstone Wheelers CC) and she put in an excellent time of 1:07:18 to lead the Youth category where both she and Anna Shackley (Glasgow Riderz) were getting some practice in for the Youth TT the following day.

In the Youth Male category it was Fraser MacDougal (Glasgow Riderz) who posted a very respectable time of 1:05:38 to lift that position.

With two Junior Female riders going off line-astern the title went to Georgia Mansfield (Forres CC) from Emma Borthwick with a time of 1:05:56. Georgia (possibly the most popular name at the moment for Female riders in Scotland) has been getting better and better all year and has now developed a taste for standing on podiums.

In the Junior Male category it was always going to be a hard-fought out contest but in the end the title went to the very fast Max McMurdo (SSLL RT) in 57:11 with the Glasgow Cycle Team having to settle for Silver and Bronze…but there wasn’t much in it as Calum Shackley wasn’t far behind McMurdo in 57:38 with Innes Johnston in 58:40.

Now it was the battle of the women riders with Neah Evans (Glasgow Wheelers CC) the penultimate rider and Lynsey Curran (www.DooleysCycles.co.uk) running last on the road. It was always going to be close…starting two minutes apart there was always the prospect of a catch but in the end Evans posted a time of 57:38 to Curran’s 58:48. However, neither rider had reckoned on Vicky Smith (Aerocoach) who had travelled up from England and was already running eight minutes ahead on the road.

She came home with a superb time of 57:03 to take the title by 35 seconds and looked fast all the way round. Expect to see more battles between the Scottish Women next season, especially as Dooleys Cycles RT have strengthened their squad with the addition of Laura Nicolson…she’ll just need to change the colour of her new red helmet to match the rest of the kit.

The Women’s team prize went to Ayr Roads CC with the fourth overall rider Toni McIntosh pairing up with Janet Erskine to take the title and the medals. It’s been a long, hard season and Toni’s happy to have made it through without major injury.

Onto the Men’s race and we had a full field with Gavin Laffoley (Fife Century RC) leading them out. It was to be the number 7 rider who would have the longest wait of the day though as Pro Vision Cycle Clothing’s Rob Friel came back in a superb time of 51:48. He would have to wait for almost 1 and ¾ hours before his time was bettered.

Some would come close with 24 riders going inside 55 minutes. The ever-consistent Alan Thomson (Sandy Wallace Cycles) came home in a time of 52:51 to equal the Army Cycling RT’s Mark Robertson. This would have been good enough for the win in years gone past but there’s a new crop of fast men to contend with and Alan Thomson is just happy to get to the end of the season…especially as he was riding with a broken toe, an accident that had only happened a couple of days beforehand.

Angus Claxton (Glasgow Cycle Team) returned a time of 52:48 to take 7^th spot overall and be the first U23 rider…he’s hoping that the selectors within BC will begin to take notice of his performances.

Kenny Armstrong (Carrick Cycling Club), who had been out the previous evening in the torrential weather putting out the signs, posted an excellent 52:21 to be the 6^th fastest rider on the day.

Getting towards the sharp end and it was Douglas Watson (Icarus Racing Team) who came closest to the 52-minute mark with a 52:07 and this put him in the 5^th spot overall.

With Rob Friel ending up 4^th it was all down to the three riders who have been sweeping the boards all season. Running first on the road was Jon Entwistle (Team JMC) and he was coming off the back of recently breaking the Scottish 100-Mile competition record. He’s just come back from a grueling week in the Alps but having already posted a 19-minute 10-miler just a few weeks ago, he’s a composite all-rounder.

In fact, all three riders have posted sub-20 ten-mile TT times and Entwistle was giving it everything as he sped around the course. Two minutes back it was GTR’s Chris Smart with the multi-champion looking as serene as he always does until the very end of the effort. And running last of this trio was John Archibald (Pro Vision Cycle Clothing) who is a rider who is only very slowly coming to believe just how good he really is. Two weeks ago he got close to the 50-minute mark for a 25…then he got even closer just last week but on Saturday he came the closest yet.

As they came home across the bridge over the river, all three riders were gritting their teeth and fighting through the pain but when the dust settled we had our top three…Chris Smart had posted a 51:19 but Entwistle had bettered this by 51 seconds. A superb time but then Archibald eclipsed the Team JMC rider’s time by another 25 seconds to finish just 3 seconds over the 50-minute mark. Superb times from all three riders who are now looking forward to some well-earned rest, a wind-down before they begin to build for next year!

We can’t wait and if this race was anything to go by, 2017 is going to be a fantastic year all round.

Men’s Results:

1	106	John Archibald	Pro Vision Cycle Clothing	S	00:50:03
2	102	Jon Entwistle	Team JMC	V40	00:50:28
3	104	Chris Smart	GTR	S	00:51:19
4	7	Robert Friel	Pro Vision Cycle Clothing	S	00:51:48
5	77	Douglas Watson	Icarus Racing Team	V40	00:52:07
6	98	Kenny Armstrong	Carrick Cycling Club	S	00:52:21
7	85	Angus Claxton	Glasgow Cycle Team	U23	00:52:48
8	37	Mark Robertson	Army Cycling Race Team	S	00:52:51
9	110	Alan Thomson	Sandy Wallace Cycles	S	00:52:51
10	96	David Griffiths	Pro Vision Cycle Clothing	S	00:53:00
11	112	Arthur Doyle	Dooleys Cycles RT	V40	00:53:14
12	15	Wilson Renwick	Parentini Test Team	S	00:53:17
13	108	Jim Cusick	Dooleys Cycles RT	V50	00:53:20
14	27	Liam Beatty	Hawick CC	S	00:53:28
15	23	Aidan Quinn	Dooleys Cycles RT	U23	00:53:29
16	94	Tom Broadbent	Elgin CC	S	00:53:33
17	80	Ewan Taylor	Velocity 44 Stirling	S	00:53:34
18	70	Calum Finlayson	Moray Firth CC	V40	00:53:50
19	30	Lewis Duff	Glasgow Couriers	V40	00:53:54
20	40	Darren Kean	Fullarton Wheelers	S	00:54:10
21	87	Neil Muir	Royal Albert CC	U23	00:54:16
22	55	Andy Brown	Glasgow Cycle Team	S	00:54:31
23	35	Joe McMillan	Synergy Cycles	S	00:54:41
24	29	Alan Dean	Edinburgh Road Club	S	00:54:52
25	50	David Reed	Granite City RT	V40	00:55:03
26	65	Paul McLafferty	Dooleys Cycles RT	S	00:55:03
27	90	Gavin Shirley	Dooleys Cycles RT	S	00:55:07
28	61	Mark Carroll	East Kilbride RC	V40	00:55:09
29	57	Andrew Scott	Musselburgh Roads CC	S	00:55:17
30	42	Iain Duguid	The Bicycleworks	V40	00:55:18
31	60	Mark Skilling	Carrick Cycling Club	V40	00:55:22
32	91	Sean Quinn	Law Wheelers	V40	00:55:31
33	81	Kyle Johnston	Pro Vision Cycle Clothing	U23	00:55:41
34	36	Jordan Stronach	Spokes RT	U23	00:55:55
35	22	Gordon Graham	Fullarton Wheelers	V50	00:55:57
36	45	Michael Robb	Carrick Cycling Club	S	00:56:10
37	26	Ian King	Velocity 44 Stirling	V40	00:56:15
38	20	Steve Davidson	Sandy Wallace Cycles	V50	00:56:16
39	73	Michael Curran	Ayr Roads CC	S	00:56:20
40	19	Graham Smith	Law Wheelers	V40	00:56:21
41	21	Gary Davidson	East Kilbride RC	S	00:56:39
42	52	Graeme Hay	Stirling Bike Club	V40	00:56:54
43	28	Jon Clarke	GTR	V40	00:56:59
44	88	Ian Anderson	Walkers CC	V40	00:57:00
45	82	Barry McGurk	Glasgow Road Club	V40	00:57:27
46	62	David Millar	SVTTA	V70	00:57:51
47	46	David Beattie	Hawick CC	S	00:57:57
48	54	Stuart Grady	GJS Racing	V40	00:58:15
49	58	Allan Duncan	Fullarton Wheelers	V50	00:58:23
50	38	Brian Nicol	Fullarton Wheelers	V50	00:58:24
51	84	Alastair McGibbon	Ayr Roads CC	S	00:58:30
52	93	Ian Thomson	Royal Albert CC	V50	00:58:35
53	89	David Nicol	Perth United	V40	00:58:45
54	4	Joe Shaw	Falkirk Bike Club	V40	00:59:03
55	32	Chris Stewart	Classic Racing Team	V40	00:59:15
56	64	Cameron Scade	Dumfries CC	S	00:59:18
57	76	Steve Beech	Sandy Wallace Cycles	V60	00:59:39
58	3	Paul Keoghan	Royal Albert CC	V40	00:59:44
59	63	Robert Kelly	Ayr Roads CC	V40	01:00:26
60	12	Paul Friel	Glasgow Road Club	V40	01:00:28
61	5	Allan Crosbie	Pedal Power	V50	01:00:31
62	39	Murray Doyle	Bute Wheelers	V40	01:00:57
63	53	Stephen Malaney	Glasgow Couriers	V40	01:01:00
64	68	Albert McLellan	Glasgow Couriers	V60	01:01:17
65	56	Jonny May	Edinburgh Road Club	V50	01:01:20
66	71	Paul Hornby	Glasgow Ivy	V50	01:01:44
67	59	Sandy Wallace	Fife Century Road Club	V70	01:02:06
68	43	Brian Cameron	Lomond Roads CC	V50	01:02:07
69	86	Derek Skinner	Fullarton Wheelers	V40	01:02:15
70	74	Alex McPhee	Dooleys Cycles RT	V50	01:02:30
71	14	Alan Thomson	Johnstone Wheelers	V50	01:02:52
72	51	Alan McAulay	St Christopher CC	V40	01:03:48
73	18	Edd Shackley	Glasgow Ivy	V40	01:03:51
74	6	Iain Binning	Stirling Bike Club	V60	01:04:07
75	9	Hector Nicolson	Moray Firth CC	V60	01:04:32
76	13	David Mitchell		V40	01:04:39
77	8	Colin Meikle	St Christopher CC	V40	01:04:44
78	34	Matthew Kerr	Velo Club Vitesse	S	01:04:55
79	66	Mike Ferguson	Johnstone Wheelers	V60	01:05:38
80	1	Gavin Laffoley	Fife Century Road Club	U23	01:09:13

Women’s/Juniors/Youths Results:

1	36	Vicky Smith	Aerocoach	F	0:57:03
2	14	Max McMurdo	SSLL Racing Team	JM	0:57:11
3	10	Calum Shackley	Glasgow Cycle Team	JM	0:57:38
4	44	Neah Evans	Glasgow Wheelers	F	0:57:38
5	16	Innes Johnston	Glasgow Cycle Team	JM	0:58:40
6	46	Lynsey Curran	Dooleys Cycles RT	F	0:58:48
7	12	Joseph Agnew	Edinburgh Road Club	JM	0:59:05
8	8	Alex MacRae	Pro Vision Cycle Clothing	JM	0:59:40
9	42	Toni McIntosh	Ayr Roads CC	F	1:00:19
10	35	Laura Nicolson	Dooleys Cycles RT	F	1:01:22
11	34	Mireille Capiteaux	Edinburgh Road Club	F	1:01:31
12	33	Christina McKenzie	Stirling Bike Club	F	1:03:25
13	26	Janet Erskine	Ayr Roads CC	FV	1:03:30
14	25	Catherine Logan	Fullarton Wheelers	FV	1:03:36
15	31	Sonya Drummond	Dundee Thistle	FV	1:04:13
16	30	Aileen Clyde	Fullarton Wheelers	F	1:04:32
17	6	Fraser MacDougal	Glasgow Riderz	YM	1:05:38
18	3	Georgia Mansfield	Forres CC	JF	1:05:56
19	22	Joanne Clark		FV	1:06:07
20	1	Ellie Park	Johnstone Wheelers	YF	1:07:18
21	28	Jane Emslie	Edinburgh Road Club	F	1:09:47
22	7	Ruairidh Brown	Glasgow Cycle Team	JM	1:10:32
23	4	Emma Borthwick	Edinburgh Road Club	JF	1:11:10
24	27	Isobel Fletcher	VC Glasgow South	FV	1:11:29
25	24	Val Martin	Dooleys Cycles RT	FV	1:11:55
26	2	Anna Shackley	Glasgow Riderz	YF	1:12:12
27	21	Jennifer Nicol	Fullarton Wheelers	FV	1:20:14