Words and Images: The Press Room
The rain may have been battering down outside but the temperatures were rising inside the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome as it hosted the final day of the three-day Scottish Track Championships 2018.
There had already been some great racing over the previous two days (see recap below) but we still had a mix of individual and team titles to be decided.
Women’s Sprint
Seven women in this competition with the clever money being on Lucy Grant (Peebles CC) although Lusia Steele (Glasgow CT) was last rider off. Each rider was going progressively faster than the one before but Lauren Bell (Peebles CC) broke the trend by qualifying just ahead of Lusia Steele and her teammate Lucy Grant.
Eventually it came down to four riders: the three mentioned above and Rowan Andrew from the Glasgow Riderz. The final was set for a match between Lusia Steele and Lauren Bell with Lucy Grant and Rowan Andrew competing for the final place on the podium.
In the Bronze ride-off Lucy Grant just proved too powerful for Rowan Andrew and she took both the first and second heats to claim her medal…consistent times in 12.91 and 12.89 in each heat.
In the final Lauren Bell was up against Lusia Steele, home from Manchester for the championships. Lucia’s right in the middle of a strength training block so she was surprised that she was going quite so well.
However, it wasn’t enough as Lauren Bell powered home in 12.33 in Match A and then went even better to finish in 12.21 in Match B and seal the Gold medal position.
Open Kilometre Time Trial Final
It was a battle between light and dark…helmets, that is, in the Open Kilo. Huub Watt-Bike were sporting their black versions of the POC Star Wars helmet while Kyle Gordon (RT23) had his white version, borrowed from Steve Davidson of Synergy. Reversing the usual outcome of typical Westerns, the black hats won the day with Jonathan Wale covering the distance in 1-2.231 to Kyle Gordon’s 1-4.566.
This sorted the Gold and Silver medals but the big victory was in the Bronze medal ride as it was taken by Alfie George (Discovery Juniors) in a new Scottish Junior Record for the distance…1-5.312, 55.1kph.
Superb performances and a sub-competition to see who could pull the weirdest face during the starting effort!
Men’s Team Pursuit 4000m
In the first heat of the finals it was VC Glasgow South up against Lomond Roads, with VC Glasgow South taking an early lead. This advantage grew and they caught their opponents at 1700metres in 2-04.3.
This sorted the Bronze medal position with VC Glasgow South on the third step.
In the major final, it was another case of a catch. Last year’s champions, Pro Vision Scotland, have morphed into Bioracer-Project Go and while John Archibald’s place in the squad has been taken by Tim Shoreman, they proved just as effective in catching their opponents.
They were up against the Glasgow Green CC team of Murray Souter, Corin Halliday, Calum McVie and Liam White…with Doog Carruthers walking the line for the team. Good though they were, they proved no match on this occasion to the Bioracer team who caught them in 2-13.01.
So Gold to Bioracer-Project Go and Silver to Glasgow Green CC.
Open Team Sprint
Seven teams in this event with VC Astar’s, and Glasgow Life cycling coach, Ali Ogg bringing a team to race. It wasn’t to be their day however as there were some young guns present…and a welcome return to racing for Jonathan Mitchell with his Billy Bilsland teammates Jeremy Franks and Kallum Stewart.
They were the team to beat but Jack Cruden had an equally strong team from Glasgow CT with Lewis Stewart and Jamie Penny.
Bioracer-Project Go had also dipped into their pool of riders and produced a team comprising David Griffiths, Rob Friel and Cameron Richardson. The final team to be in with a chance of a podium spot was the VC Glasgow South squad of Karl Farmer, Jim Barr and Ian Barton.
It came down to these four teams with Bioracer-Project Go and VC Glasgow South having to fight it out for Bronze. It went the way of the men in blue and red who finished in 51.196 to VC Glasgow South’s 52.824.
Into the final and both teams were looking mighty but the Billy Bilsland squad triumphed on the day completing three laps in 47.952 while Glasgow CT posted 49.006. Great to see Johnny Mitchell being (literally) squeezed into a skinsuit and back racing once again.
Women’s Points Race
A big field in the women’s points race but there were several riders who were seriously vying for a medal position by the end of the race. Laps were gained, riders were dropped but fought their way back on and sprints were won and lost over the 25km race.
The result of the first sprint would eventually reflect the final medal positions as Sophie Lankford (Cardiff Ajax CC) won ahead of Zoe Watters (Sprockets CC) and Anna Shackley (Team 22).
Anna Shackley looked to get stronger as the race went on but crucially she missed out on three of the sprints altogether and had a low score in the first couple. Sophie Lankford also missed a couple of sprint opportunities but was higher up in the ones she did contest. Zoe Watters only missed out on one but with all three of these riders gaining a lap, it would come down to the final sprint for the line.
Double points were on offer and Sophie Lankford was sitting on 41 points with Zoe Watters on 42 and Anna Shackley on 39…it could have gone any which way but the final dash was taken by Gemma Penman (Glasgow CT) and this took her total to 25. Second in the sprint was Sarah Walker (Boompods EDCO NRG) and she finished on 22.
Coming off the final bend and Anna Shackley was out of it but Zoe Watters was trying desperately to overhaul Sophie Lankford…but she had a bike’s length advantage and held it all the way to the line. There was confusion for a little while before the final result was announced with Sophie Lankford claiming Gold with 45 points and Zoe Watters Silver with 44 points.
A thrilling race to watch and tactics playing a very large part in this running of the event.
All that was left was to watch the medals being presented by Scottish Cycling President Tom Bishop.
A super-successful championships and kudos to Ben Procter for organising his first national championship. A very special mention for the traditional rendering of ‘The Last Post’ during the Remembrance Day two-minute silence.
The end of the year is fast approaching and we now only have two more opportunities to become a 2018 Scottish National Champion. Grab your partners by the hand and sling your way to a medal at the Scottish National Madison Champs on Saturday December 1st and then end the year in the usual mudfest at Fife College for the Cyclocross Championships the following day!
See below for a recap of the racing on Friday and Saturday at the Scottish National Track Championships.
Friday
The championships kicked off with Women’s 500m TT…and Lauren Bell made her intentions known for this meeting by being the only rider to top 50kph and complete two laps in 35.869. Not far behind in 36.033 was her teammate Lucy Grant with Stirling Bike Club’s Elizabeth Winton claiming Bronze in 37.886.
In the Veteran Men’s Individual 3000m Pursuit Andy Bruce (Leslie Bike Shop/Bikers Boutique) surprised himself, if not anybody else, by clocking over 50kph for 12 laps of the track and finishing in 3-33.107. He was up against Bioracer-Project Go’s Jason Roberts who posted 3-36.705 to claim Silver while Glasgow Nightingales’ James Cooper bested RT23’s Peter Ettles to take Bronze…3-42.622 for Cooper and 3-43.803 for Ettles.
In the Veteran Women’s Individual 2000m Pursuit nobody could live with VC Astar Anderside’s Patricia Baird as she won Gold from Stirling BC’s Carole Dick in 2-42.199. Bronze was won by Carol Scott (Peebles CC).
In the Open Keirin Lewis Stewart (Glasgow CT) stunned everyone by finding a gap that didn’t exist and shooting through to victory. Kyle Gordon (RT23) had never ridden a Keirin race and he later told us that he had resorted to watching Youtube videos to see how it was done. Lessons to learn though included not missing the number draw as he was still on the rollers so the others gave him the rider 1 spot.
In awe of riders like Jack Cruden who can ride a lap while looking over his shoulder and never deviating from the black line, everytime Kyle tried to do the same he would find himself moving up the track. As he looked over his shoulder, and drifted, the others moved up and he thought they were attacking so he went early.
Coming from high up and with no obvious way through Lewis Stewart was committed and all of a sudden the seas parted and he shot through and across the line. The crowd and riders were stunned by the move and a very well deserved Gold medal to the Glasgow CT rider with Kyle Gordon holding on for Silver and Jeremy Franks (Billy Bilsland Cycles) claiming Bronze.
In the Women’s Keirin Lusia Steele showed her strength by winning Gold from Lucy Grant in second and Lauren Bell in third. There was a lengthy delay during this event as Natalie Hunter (Sprockets CC) crashed heavily and the organisers would like to thank Jason Roberts and Donna Clayton for their medical expertise in assisting the First Aiders whilst waiting for the ambulance. We understand that Natalie has been released from hospital with no major injuries and we wish her a speedy recovery.
In the Women’s 3000m Individual Pursuit, Sophie Lankford was head and shoulders faster than her opponents covering the distance in 3-40.715 to take Gold while Anna Fairweather (RT23) posted 4-16.329 in Silver and her teammate Aileen Clyde claiming Bronze with a 4-16.430 ride…just a tenth of a second behind!
This just left the Open Points Race and Huub Watt-Bike’s John Archibald was in superb form winning 5 of the sprints and the final dash for double points. He also gained a total of 5 laps to end on 142 points. In second was Andy Brown (Metaltek-Kuota RT) who gained 4 laps but only took one of the sprints to end on 90 points.
Finishing in the Bronze medal position was Alfie George on 68 points with 3 laps gained.
Saturday
In the Open Sprint competition Lewis Stewart was once again in commanding form and it came down to a run-off for Gold between the GCT rider and Alister Fielding (Slingshot). Stewart took the first heat in 11.18 and then bettered it in the second by posting 11.16 to take Gold.
Bronze went to Rory Oliver (Black Line).
Individual 4000m Pursuit now and it was an inter-team battle between John Archibald and Jonathan Wale for the top position. In the end, it went to John Archibald as he caught his teammate in 2-40 and took his second Gold of the championships.
It was a battle between RT23’s Kyle Gordon and the Veteran World Record holder over 3000m, Rob Friel of Bioracer-Project Go. However, the man with more 2018 National Titles to his name than anyone else caught Rob Friel at 3-10 to claim yet another medal.
In the Women’s Team Sprint it was the usual names in the Gold and Silver spots with Stirling Bike Club claiming the final step on the podium. Gold went to the Peebles CC pairing of Lauren Bell and Lucy Grant in a time of 35.177 with Silver to the Glasgow CT duo of Lusia Steele and Gemma Penman in 40.505.
Bronze to Christine Fischer and Helen Paxton-Steele of Stirling BC.
It was just the Scratch Races to go now and in the Women’s event it became obvious that talent always shines through. With very little racing in her legs it was great to see Louise Haston (TORQ Performance) back on track but she was up against some strong riders.
Sophie Lankford had come to these championships to leave her mark and she did so by winning out in the Scratch and taking the title. Louise Haston finished in second, and Silver, with Boompods EDCO NRG’s Sarah Walker taking third and the final medal position.
In the Men’s race, John Archibald was once again in supreme form and took the victory from Andy Brown with a delighted Kyle Johnston (Unattached) in the Bronze medal spot. Just back in 4th was Alfie George and it’s easy to forget that he’s still a junior so he must have his eyes on all of these titles when he reaches the senior level…all of the other riders will need to watch out!
Did you race the Scottish National Track Championships? Make sure you tweet @ScottishCycling and use the hashtags #SCNatChamps #SCResults to let us know how your race went.
