Douglas F Shearer :: Weblog :: SXC Round 1

SXC Round 1 - Laggan

Sunday saw the first round of the SXC Series at Laggan. A great course, consisting of a big climb and a stunning rocky descent, and the sun making an appearance, led to happy faces all round.

Iain Nimmo (Stirling Bike Club Wheels of Callander) won the masters (>30yo) race by only 36 seconds, with Greig Walker (Edinburgh Road Club) coming in second. Prasad Prasad (C21 Multisport) suffered a mechanical, and was unable to finish the masters race. Kenny Kently (Team Velo Ecosse) continued his domination of the veteran (>40yo) series from last year, with a convincing lead of several minutes.

For the second season I was competing in the Expert/Elite category (The fast boys). After my not so stunning performance at the BUSAs, I wasn’t really expecting too much from this race. The short course meant that we had been given six laps, meaning a race time of around two hours.

I started well, sitting in the second group for the first lap. I dropped the group on the second lap, with Calum Thomas (Pedal Power RT) joining me on the third lap. By the fourth lap Calum had made the jump to the wheel of Chris Murley (Sandy Wallace Cycles) up ahead. By the time I caught Chris going into the final lap, Calumn had made his moves and was now up ahead on his own. A last lap effort prevented Euan Pope (Rockhard Mountain Bike Club) and his teammate Barry Crumlish from catching me.

I finished in sixth place, something I am pretty happy about. The race was won by Ross Creber (Evans RT), with Any Barlow (The Bike Chain) in second, and James Fraser-Moodie (Pedal Power RT) in third.

Thanks to the organisers and all the supporters at the race, especially Iain and Janet Nimmo who made me laugh going into my last lap. Oh, and not frgetting my mum for the lift.

Full results are available in PDF format”. The Next round is at Fort William, so should be another good race.

Pic courtesy SXC website.