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.