Douglas F Shearer

SXC Round 2 - Fort William

Round 2 of the Scottish Cross Country series was held on the World Cup course, Witches Trail, near Fort William. For a change the weather decided to be nice, and there was only a slight breeze to chill spectators.

Again I was racing Expert/Elite, but was unsure as to my form after a huge ride on wednesday, and racing at Ingliston Crit 2 on the Thursday. The race got off the the usual fast start, with the Pedal Power boys taking on the Rockhard boys in some sort of 3 man team event at the front. The pack split up on the later part of the climb, with Euan Cartlidge (Rockhard MBC) closely followed by eventual winner James Fraser-Moodie (Pedal Power RT). Euan finished in second, with Ruskin Burnett-Godfree in third place.

My race was pretty steady, with a few changes of places as to be expected. I finished in 4th, not feeling all that bad considering the week’s exertions. The course totally rocked, with the steep climb playing to my strengths well. The long flat section towards the end was where I was getting passed, but I was making the places back up on the climbs.

Full results can be seen on the SXC website, along with photographs.

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.