words and pics: The Press Room
It’s always nice being back in ‘Monarch’ country and Cairngorm
CC had laid on a superb weekend of racing. We were there for the Sunday
afternoon races but there were already tired legs from the time trial that
morning. Rolling out at 2:30pm we had the APR but this also incorporated the
Sally Anne Low Memorial Road Race, which was also being run as the Scottish
National Veteran Women’s RR, and it was also the final event in the Scottish
Women’s RR Series…races within races within races.
The weather had been threatening in the countdown to the race
itself and, Scotland being Scotland, the heavens opened just as the race got
going. The course was out from Kincraig and along the B road towards Kingussie
where the race would turn south and head past the Ruthven Barracks, turning
east again and heading through Insh and then a left down past the Loch Insh
Watersports Centre and back into Kincraig with a sprint up the Brae to finish on
the second lap.
We’d positioned ourselves just short of the Speyside Distillery
beyond Ruthven for the first pass and the rain was bouncing off the ground as
the first group came down the hill, across the bridge and round the tricky left
hander. The men came through first with the successive APR groupings chasing
each other. We waited for the women and the first group headed by Helen Wyld
and Louise Borthwick (Edinburgh Road Club) came firing down the hill. This was
to be the break of the race and contained eight riders that had forged ahead
just after the Barracks. It contained the two ERC riders, Julie Erskine (CT
OnForm), Series Leader Genevieve Whitson (Isorex Cycling Team), Emma Smith
(Deeside Thistle CC), Flora Gillies (Team 22), Jesse Mitchell (www.Dooleys-Cycles.co.uk) and Charlotte
Anderson (Ronde CC).
Chasing a short way behind was the RT23 pairing of Georgia
Mansfield and Amanda Tweedie who later told us that once the break had gone
they just treated the race like a 2-up time trial as they knew they would never
catch the lead group on such rolling terrain. The next group contained Juli
Rourke (ERC), Alison Winship-MacKay (RC Cumbernauld and Kilsyth), Louisa
Sturrock from the host club and Amy Forbes (Ronde CC). Trying to stay in touch
was Zosia Martin (Glasgow Green CC), Natalie Taylor (Aberdeen Wheelers CC),
Pamela Craig (RT23), Michelle Highfield (Berwick Wheelers) and Jackie Donald
(Elgin CC).
We tried at this point to reposition ourselves back to Kincraig
for the second pass but the circuit is so quick that the riders were on us
before we could set up. The lead group of the APR was flying and this would
settle the race as the Scratch group was unable to catch them. We passed Danny
Hedley (RT23) cycling back to Kincraig, having fallen victim to a puncture but
he was soon changed and standing at the finish to cheer the others home.
In the women’s race the lead group had pushed their advantage
out and the 2-up time triallists of Amanda and Georgia were still doing their
own thing. Jesse Mitchell attempted to break away on the run back towards
Kincraig but at the bottom of the Brae it was between three riders…and the CT
OnForm rider is truly in form. Julie Erskine was crowned Scottish Road Race
Champion just a couple of weeks ago but she had another goal in mind.
Firing up the climb it was her head that appeared first over the
brow as she led home Louise Borthwick with Jesse Mitchell close behind.
Finishing just a little way behind was Genevieve Whitson but she had done enough
to secure the overall in the Race Series and she was duly presented with a
fresh Series Winner jersey. The prize for Julie Erskine was gaining enough BC
points to move her up to ‘Elite’ level and she was quick to offer her
congratulations to Peter Dennis and his team from Cairngorm CC for putting on
such a fine weekend of racing.
Next home in the Sally Anne Low was Emma Smith and then Helen
Wyld as she outclimbed her Edinburgh compatriot Charlotte Anderson. Flora
Gillies finished on her own and then the RT23 pairing of Amanda Tweedie and
Georgia Mansfield clasped arms as they crossed the line.
We were still waiting for our Vets champions and the next rider
was Amy Forbes but she was closely followed by Louisa Sturrock who crossed the
line to claim both the V40 and the V50 titles. Next to her was Natalie Taylor
followed by Juli Rourke and Zosia Martin with Alison Winship-MacKay finishing
off this group. Pamela Craig finished a further 3-minutes back with Michelle
Highfield and Jackie Donald coming home 6-minutes after that.
In the Men’s APR we had a fantastic uphill sprint between Dan
Saunders, Richard Harris (both Deeside Thistle CC) and Ythan CC’s Andrew Leith.
Saunders led it out and took the win but it was a close run thing between his
teammate and the Ythan rider, with Harris just edging Leith on the line.
Next home was another Deeside Thistle rider Victor Allan
finishing just ahead of Moray Firth CC’s Kevin Smith, cheered all the way home
by his sister-in-law Laura Nicolson. Riders were finishing one-by-one with the
unfortunate Alec Marwick walking his bike home having punctured right at the
foot of the Brae.
The Scratch group wasn’t far behind but the lead groups had done
well to hold them off on such a fast circuit in such terrible weather.
All credit then to the organisers and we can’t wait to come back
to race in this beautiful part of the country.