The domestic racing scene was back to full strength this week with the return of the SDA Series at Glencoe and Scottish Youth Circuit series in Ellon.
British Downhill Series
The final round of the Scottish Downhill Association series doubled up as the fourth round of the British Series at blustery Glencoe on Sunday.
With a number of top domestic riders in action combined with some of the top riders over in Andorra preparing for the next World Cup round, the fight for the podiums were wide open.
Two-time Scottish Champion George Gannicott has won on the trails of Glencoe before, claiming a victory as a Youth rider, but had yet to make the top step as an elite rider, his time in the final of 3:01.8 looked to be enough to claim victory as he was the quickest on course by four seconds, but Welsh rider Joe Breeden just pipped the Scot to the victory by half a second, with Gannicott taking home second place in the elite men’s category.
Beth McCully (Creation Cycles) came home in third place in the elite women’s field. In the female youth and juvenile field, Scottish and British champion Heather Wilson (Muc-Off Young Gun) dominated, storming to victory by a comfortable 17 seconds – her eighth win of the season so far. Katy McGowan (Scott UK) came home in second place.
In the always uber-competitive youth boys’ field, Alexander Pervan (West Highland Wheelers) claimed a strong third place on home soil.
Scottish Youth Circuit Series
Sunday saw the fourth round of the Scottish National Youth Circuit series in Ellon with the Town Centre circuit race organised by Ythan CC.
James Sweeney (Edinburgh RC) rode away from the field to claim the Youth A boys victory by nearly a minute over teammate Elliot Speedie with Alasdair Easton leadubg the sprint for third, over two minutes down.
Hope Thomson (Deeside Thistle) pipped Kayla Dinnen (Dumfries CC) to take the Youth A girls win, with Deeside Thistle's Zara Main winning the Youth B girls from Ava Luce (Deeside Thistle), with Millie Boothman (Glasgow Riderz) in third.
Andrew Levinson (Edinburgh RC) lapped the field as he claimed the win in the Youth B Boys from Reueben McLardie (Johnstone Jets) and Innes Long (Deeside Thistle).
Ryedale GP
The British national road series was back with the Grasscrete Ryedale Grand Prix in Yorkshire with may of Scotland’s best road riders making the journey down south.
Finn Crockett (Saint Piran) was on strong form, as part of his Cornish outfit that scored a 1-2-3-4-5 – with Crockett taking fourth spot.
Jacob Smith (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) was the top non-UCI Scot with a 12th place finish, and teammate Logan Maclean came home in 17th place.
Tour of Mendips
Newly crowned and kitted-out British junior road race champion Finn Mason (The Cycling Academy) impressed at the Fenwick’s Junior Tour of Mendips over the weekend. The Scot claimed two top tens over the three stages. Teammate Ahron Dick claimed sixth place on the final queen stage and finished in 12th place overall.
Scots Abroad
Calum Johnston (Caja-Rural) looked strong in the Volta a Portugal with the Glaswegian scoring a top ten finish on a medium mountain stage in the Algarve.
Sticking in Portugal Alex Ball claimed a first win for Maglia Tecnosylva Bembibre this season as he claimed victory in the Circuito da Curia – a Portuguese National Elite race.
In Belgium, rising star Erin Boothman guested for Tofauti-Everyone Active at the prestigious Vermarc- 2 day race.
