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The Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome once again played host to the Scottish Senior Track Championships over three days of electrifying racing. Everyone converged on the track on late Friday afternoon in preparation for the evening’s events. The Coms were in place, the riders warming up, mechanics and riders checking over equipment and the volunteers helping to make sure everyone had what they needed.

A full programme had been arranged and the evening kicked off with the Open Keirin event. The track specific team of Glasgow Sprint Track CT was looking mighty bringing young guns Jonathan Mitchell, Jack Carlin, Jonathan Biggin, Christopher Barr and Andrew Louis to the event but they were up against that long-established team with the racing pedigree, City of Edinburgh RC headed up by Ivor Reid and including Commonwealth riders John Paul and Bruce Croal. There were other clubs represented including www.Dooleys-Cycles.com, The Bicycle Works, Edinburgh Road Club and VC Glasgow South, a great tribute to the late John Davies.

It came down to the expected shoot-out between the two main track teams with John Paul showing a fantastic turn of speed to win the final from Jonathan Mitchell and Jack Carlin with Bruce Croal in fourth. Ivor Reid took the minor final from Andrew Gillies and Andrew Louis. So Gold to John Paul, Silver to Jonathan Mitchell and Bronze to Jack Carlin.

Into the Veteran Mens Individual 3000m Pursuit and this was always looking like it would go to Peter Ettles from Sandy Wallace Cycles. He posted a 3-42.640 in the rounds to have a three and a half second advantage over his nearest rival, his clubmate Stephen Davidson. In the final he posted a time of 3-43.013 to Davidson’s 3-48.356 to take Gold with the Silver also heading to the Inverkeithing-based club. The run-off for Bronze was between Graham Barclay of Leslie Bike Shop/Bikers Boutique and David Whitehall of Glasgow Cycle Team with Barclay posting a 3-51.761 to Whitehall’s 3-52.095 to take the remaining step on the podium.

The Veteran Womens Individual 2000m Pursuit saw a welcome return to track racing for event organizer, Scottish Cycling’s own Janette Hazlett (Glasgow Ivy CC) and she was joined by colleague Fiona Walker (Walkers Cycling). This was always going to be about the fast women and none was faster than the French ‘pocket-rocket’ Peggy Series riding for Team Thomsons Cycles. After a summer spent riding in France and racking up a host of silvers at the French Masters Track Champs she was looking very serious about getting Gold here in Glasgow and posted a time of 2-46.621 in the heats. Nearest rival, Fleur Stoops (Glasgow Green CC) came home in 2-52.675 to set up a great final. Series then outdid herself and posted a PB time of 2-44.831 to Stoops’ 2-50.512 and the joy was evident as she high-fived her helper Dave Urquhart at the trackside. It just remains to be seen whether there’s a cycling discipline that this rider, who only took up cycling a few years ago, can’t excel at. We don’t think there is! Bronze went to Kathleen McCormac (Glasgow Wheelers) from Gillian Anderson (VC Astar Anderside) with times of 3-3.258 and 3-7.852 respectively.

In the Womens Keirin we saw the first of the track specialists with Eleanor Richardson (ERC) taking the first heat from Flora Gillies (Project 51) and Louise Haston (TORQ Performance). In Heat 2 Robyn Stewart (Glasgow Sprint Track CT) triumphed over Rebecca Dornan (The Racers) and Emma Baird (ERC) and this set up a great final with the powerful Stewart taking the win, and Gold, from Baird, Richardson and Haston in that order.

In the Womens 10K Scratch race, we had some of our most accomplished road racers taking to the boards with the win going to Louise Borthwick (Project 51) from Ellen McDermott (Team WattCycle) in Silver and Flora Gillies (Project51) in Bronze. Altogether, some hard racing in this event and an excellent result for the Project 51 team riders.

So that took care of Friday and we were all up bright and early for Saturday’s events. They started with the Flying 200 qualifier for the Open Sprint and again John Paul was looking in great form. He posted a 10.252 and went on to take Gold from Jonathan Mitchell in the final with Jack Carlin triumphing over Christopher Barr to pick up Bronze.

In the 4000m Individual Pursuit, Angus Claxton (Glasgow CT) set a top time of 4-37.966 but it was incredibly close between Phil Trodden (Moda-Anon) and Fraser Martin (Spokes RT) who set times of 4-39.563 and 4-39.597 respectively. Into the final and Claxton was in control setting a time of 4-39.956 over Trodden who faded a little and came home 7 seconds later to take Silver. Fraser Martin finished 2 seconds up on his Spokes RT teammate Ruari Yeoman to clinch the Bronze spot.

In the Womens 500m TT Eleanor Richardson climbed onto the top step for Gold by setting an impressive mark of 36.002 over nearest challenger Robyn Stewart in 37.474 in Silver and Emma Baird close behind in 37.538 for Bronze. Another milestone for SC staff as RDO Morven Brown (Dales Cycles) took to her first ever track race and posted a time of 44.552…room for improvement but it set her up well for getting on the podium at the Scottish Mountain Bike Championships at Badaguish. We’re trying to get her involved in time trialing so watch this space.

So now we were onto the Womens Team Sprint and the big sensation was when Ellie Richardson and Emma Baird blasted around the track to set a new Scottish Competition Record of 35.487. A fantastic achievement from the Edinburgh RC riders and it gave them the victory over their Glasgow Sprint Track CT rivals Robyn Stewart and Neah Evans who finished in 37.007 to take Silver. Bronze went to the SC West Region B pairing of Jessica Lee and Rebecca Dornan who ran out ahead of Project 51 duo Louise Borthwick and Flora Gillies.

End of Part 1, stay tuned for Part 2 covering the rest of Saturday’s racing and all the events from Sunday.

Full results at the end of Part 2.