Six of Scotland’s best young riders are heading to Trinidad and Tobago to represent Team Scotland at the 2023 Youth Commonwealth Games.
With Road and Track events taking place over the six days of competition from the 5th-10th August, it’s set to be an exciting experience for our Scottish riders in action.
After the opening ceremony on Friday 4th August, the racing action commences the following day with the Time Trials for Men and Women with Joe Cosgrove (Anexo Group RT), Elliot Rowe (Anexo Group RT), Evie White (Alba Road RT) and Millie Thomson (Deeside Thistle) all in action.
A day’s rest before the quartet takes to the roads of Trinidad again for the Road Races on Monday 7th August, with all the road events taking place at the venue of many great sporting moments – the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium.
Counting down the days to Trinidad, Cosgrove said:
“It’s a proud moment for me and my family to be selected to compete for Team Scotland, especially at this stage of my career. It will be a great experience for me, and I am really looking forward to it. My target this year was to settle into junior racing having made the step up, so it’s a great privilege to be selected for the Youth Commonwealth Games.
Rowe, Thomson and White will also be in action alongside sprinter Calum Moir (Zappi Junior RT) and Sarah Johnson (Edinburgh RC) in the track events taking place for the three days after the road events.
The endurance riders will look forward to the individual pursuit, points and scratch races over the three days of competition. While the individual sprint, keirin and 500m/Kilo time trial will be where the sprinters will be competiting for medals.
After making selection for Trinbago 2023, Team Scotland’s Sarah Johnson said:
“Scottish Cycling has done so much for me so it will be lovely competiting in Team Scotland colours for the first time. Being selected has given me more confidence as a rider and make me more excited for what is to come.”
The track sprinter is keen to test herself against the best:
“I’m really looking forward to meeting new people from different countries and learning about different cultures. I’m looking to gain more experience and adjust to the challenges of racing abroad.
“I competed at the Future Track Stars event in Apeldoorn in January, which was my first international competition, so competing at the Youth Commonwealth Games will give more experience of racing at a high level.”
Scottish Cycling’s Endurance Coach Evan Oliphant will be the Team Scotland Cycling Coach for the Games and said:
"It's great to be heading to the Commonwealth Youth Games, and what a fantastic opportunity it is for our riders to compete for Scotland against some of the best riders in the World. We can't wait for August, where I'm sure our riders will do themselves and the country proud."
Team Scotland squad:
- Joe Cosgrove, 17 (Road)
- Sarah Johnson, 17 (Track)
- Calum Moir, 18 (Track)
- Elliot Rowe, 17 (Road and Track)
- Millie Thomson, 17 (Road and Track)
- Evie White, 18 (Road)
- Team Manager: Isabel Sloan
- Team Coach: Evan Oliphant
The concept of the Youth Games was created by Scotland in 2000 with the aim of developing young athletes and giving them an early experience of an international multi-sport environment. The event now has a proven track record of uncovering future champions at senior level, and it has been integral to the development of Commonwealth Games athletes, such as Scotland's s Grant Ferguson, Australia's Caleb Ewan and Wales' Elinor Barker.
The athletes, aged between 15-18 years old, will compete for Team Scotland alongside athletes from the five other sports on the Trinidad and Tobago programme: Rugby 7s, Beach Volleyball, Triathlon, Athletics, and Netball. Both Cycling and Swimming competition will take place on Trinidad.
How to Follow
We’ll keep you up-to-date as much as possible via our social media channels @ScottishCycling. Be sure to keep up to date on Team Scotland and Trinbago’s social media channels for all the multi-sport developments from the week of events.
A full schedule of events can be found here. More details on the Team Scotland squad can be found on their website here.
We’re glad to share that the Track races will be live streamed with more details coming soon. We’re also aware of scammers posting fake links, so please don’t click links on the comments section of Facebook unless its from a trusted source (Scottish Cycling, Team Scotland, Trinbago 2023).
