A smashing week for Scottish riders at both home and abroad was topped off by a fantastic start to the British Cycling National Cross Country Series at Parkwood Outdoor Centre, Tong; as five Scots were victorious.
British MTB XC Series – Tong
Scottish National Cyclocross Champion Anna McGorum (Edinburgh University CC) took a sabbatical from racing Cross Country in 2022, and has come back with a bang in 2023, to claim her first XC win in three years, and first at UCI level, as she bested younger sister Elena (Peebles CC) by over five minutes, who came home in second place. There were also strong rides from Jo Thom (TORQ Performance), Mieke Kalmijn and Jane Barr (Velocity 44) who finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
Despite being among the best Cyclocross riders in the world, and having ridden Cross-Country for years it may be a surprise that Cameron Mason (Trinity Racing) had never won a UCI MTB Race, but he broke that duct in style as the Linlithgow rider powered away from the field to claim an excellent victory on Sunday, in another race that was dominated by Scottish riders.
Corran Carrick-Anderson (T-MO Racing) recently returned from his road race excursion at the Tour du Rwanda finished second, five minutes behind Mason. A fourth place finish for Grant Ferguson (HopeTech RT) saw the Rio Olympian take his first podium in nearly four years; a great result for Ferguson, who put a shift in at a number of Greek race a few weeks ago to prepare him for the 2023 season. While there was another strong performance by Sam Chisholm (The Cycling Academy) in eighth, who impressed over the cyclocross season, and looks to be converting that form to the Mountain Bike.
In the juniors, Reuben Oakley (Rotor RT) rode a strong second place, with Ben Allan two place further back in fourth. While Daisy Taylor (Royal Albert CC) rode finished in third place in the Junior Women’s race.
Three wins for Scots in the Youth ranks with British Champion Innes McDonald (Scotia Off Road Team) winning in the Under 16 category by over two minutes. In the Juvenile Boys’ (Under 14) Gus Lawson claimed the top step of the podium, while Olivia Poole followed suit in the Under 14 Girls race.
The next round of the SXC Series takes place at Nevis Range on 23rd April – you can enter by clicking the link below:
Ben Forsyth CRY Youth
James Sweeney (Edinburgh RC) won the Ben Forsyth Trophy, pipping out teammate Struan Shaw to win at Fife Cycle Park, with Elliot Speedie in third.
You can read full results here
The race, organised by Edinburgh RC, was held in memory of the late Ben Forsyth and in support of CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) and its screening events. You can donate to CRY here
You can also read about Lettuce Club, the cycling club set-up by friends of Ben Forsyth and what they’re trying to achieve below.
Student TT Championships
University of St Andrews Triathlon & Road Cycling Club organised the Scottish Student Sport Time Trial Championships on Saturday morning, utilising an undulating 9.6 mile (15km) loop starting and finishing just out side the Fife town, taking the riders past Strathkinness and Pitscottie before heading back toward the coast.
Matiss Robertson (University of Highlands and Islands/Ribble Rechrg) was the only rider to break the 20-minute barrier and took the gold medal from Craig Paterson (University of Glasgow) in second and Finn McHenry (University of Glasgow/The Cycling Academy) in third.
Anna Fairweather (Dundee and Angus College/RT23) was the fastest woman on the course, clocking a 24:50, however the quickest eligible student was Yolanda Bara (University of Edinburgh) who won with a 25:19, narrowly beating the St Andrews duo of Sophie Lankford (Alba Development RT) and Mari Cole into silver and bronze respectively. While the University of Glasgow won the Team Championship Gold.
It was great to see such a healthy turnout of 54 riders for a Time Trial event, and we’d love to head back to the Eden estuary for more racing soon.
Anexo/CAMS CiCLE Classic
The first round of the British National Road Series took place on Sunday with the Women’s and Junior CiCLE Classic, and there were plenty of Scots in action in Melton Mowbray.
Women’s
An excellent performance by Alba Development RT’s Eilidh Shaw saw the Scot finish in eighth (third U23). Despite carrying an injury, the Alba rider was able to navigate through the horrendous wet weather to come in the second group on the road – a brilliant ride to start the National Road Series, in one of the most brutal races of the season.
Junior
There were some strong performances in the mud, gravel, grit and sand that Melton Mowbray provides. In his first ever road race, Benjamin Kennedy (Spokes RT) came home in an excellent seventh place, what a performance!
While Joe Cosgrove (Anexo Group RT) and Ahron Dick (The Cycling Academy) finishing just outside the Top 20. A solid achievement given that there were only 44 finishers from the 120 starters, in Britain’s premier one-day classic.
Scots Abroad
Another week, another fantastic ride from Mark Stewart. The Dundonian, who plies his trade for the New Zealand Professional Continental outfit Bolton Equities Black Spoke, recorded the team’s first ever podium at a 1.Pro level race when he finished third at the GP Industria & Artigianato in Italy. It was Stewart’s second top ten of the week, having finished in eighth on Stage 8 of the Coppa e Bartali.
Across the Mediterranean at the Volta Catalunya, Oscar Onley (Team DSM) looked strong, with the Kelso rider in the break on Stage 1. A top ten finish on the final stage in Barcelona is the first top 10 finish by Onley in a WorldTour Race.
Onley becomes the first Scottish male rider to record a Top 10 finish at a WorldTour race for a decade, when David Millar finished 4th on the frantic opening stage of the Tour de France in 2013.
Callum Thornley (Trinity Racing) was in action at the UCI 2.2 Volta ao Alentejo - his first UCI stage race - and was working tirelessly on the front, delivering teammate Luke Lamperti to victory and supporting his team's general classification hopes.
In Belgium, Callum Moir (Great Britain) was in action at the junior Gent-Wevelgem and came home in 66th place.