British Cycling XC National Series Rd 3 – Lochore Meadows 

The start (and finish) was a large grassy straight with a big, very wide turn at the bottom. More wide straight before hitting the singletrack of one of the built trails. Like Newcastleton then, a good start was important in order to get your position before the singletrack. Few wiggles through the woods, out onto the field under the pit head and back into the woods before the climb. There was a lovely ribbon of singletrack through the flowering gorse and broom just before a grassy climb. Not just any grassy climb – this had the addition of fresh cow poo for an extra something. The SXC lot do like to treat you. Then the climb continued on a firmer track to the start of the lovely descent. Through the trees with plenty of roots, a few rocks and a couple of (small) drops. So many lines to choose, so many trees to have a quick hug with on the way through. Then a fun section on one of the man-made trails which brought you back to the grassy field and the finish. Fast, flowy and with nowhere obvious to make an attack, it was going to be a race about energy management, and we reckoned there were going to be a few sprint finishes. 

SXC have a great tradition of supporting the younger riders at all of their rounds so the U8s and U10s had a skills session out at the skills area, and the U12s had a race round an adapted course. If you want to know why there are so many good, technically able riders coming through the ranks from Scotland, just have a look what they do to encourage their kids to ride anything and everything. Plus they give great prizes – everyone got a medal and some freebies which meant everyone had a big smile on their face. Full of win. 

Racing for the bigger folk got underway with the Open and Men’s Sport category. The Open race really is that – no race licence needed, you can enter on the day or beforehand, and if you just fancy a go this is the race for you. 

Lauren Johnston (Hervelo Cycling) took the win in the Female Open with Zoe Allsop in second after she’d decided to enter on the day. Louise Allen took third to make up the podium. David McKee had a convincing win in the Men’s Open race. Behind him however, there was a right battle between Richard Frickleton, Fergus Hill and Stephen Glover. Richard and Stephen were together for a few laps before Fergus Hill joined in the pointy end of the race. Richard held on for second, Fergus got third and Stephen just slipped off the pace but still took fourth. A special mention to Duncan Jones who isn’t really a cyclist but was supporting his daughter at the race so decided he might as well enter. If you saw a slightly bewildered looking bloke in full enduro kit checking out plants in the woodland, that was Dunc. 

And as ever in the Men’s Sport category we had another competitive race. Sadly Tom Stephenson (Lakes RC), who has been up there in every round so far, had a mechanical and had to retire. First his dropper stuck down and while he and his dad were trying to sort that in the pits the shim for his seatpost dropped into the frame and refused to reappear quickly. Game over. With Tom out of the picture it was Jared Linden (Livingston) battling with the ever-consistent Marco Ruggeri (Rapha) at the front with Jared just managing to get away on the final lap. Sam Stephenson (Lakes RC) managed to outsprint Neil Scott for third place. 

Onto the Sunday. News came from Bumblebeans Coffee that they’d managed to get a further supply of oat milk for the day after they’d sold out on the Saturday afternoon. It may sound like a cliché but it’s true – the English were ripping through the non-milks in their lattes and the Scots were all asking, “How do you milk an oat? Can I just have a normal coffee with some coo juice in it, please.” By the way, big shout out to Bumblebeans who not only do fantastic coffee but kept the commentators sorted throughout the weekend. There was also a bacon butty/burger van, plus on Sunday the Burrito people were in town. One thing I deeply admire about Scottish cuisine is the ability to add more carbohydrate to any dish, for example, a tattie scone to a bacon sandwich, but also their ability to get haggis into anything. Do not knock the idea of haggis burrito until you’ve tried one. 

In the Female Youth category Daisy Taylor (Royal Albert) continued her domination of the class with a third win this season. However, it took a sprint finish to decide between Florence Greenhalgh (Pine Sport) and Bethany-Anne Jackson (WXC) in second and third. Madeline Moorhouse Smith (Shibden) had a great ride to take fourth, and there was another sprint for fifth and sixth between Evie Strachan (RR23) and Tulsi Bakrania (WXC). 

The Male Youth race was also full of close racing with the lead constantly changing throughout the race, but Nathaniel Henderson (Hetton Hawks) took the win ahead of Ben Coppola (Four4th), with Alfie Davies (Clee Cycles) in third, just outsprinting Innes McDonald (Edinburgh RC) who was only just ahead of Alex Hart (Mid Shropshire Wheelers). Good to see the depth of racing on the youth cats. 

It was also a sprint finish in the Female Juvenile class with Zoe Roche (WXC) pipping Aelwen Davies (RR23) to the line. They’d been together all of the race, having dropped Maizie Harper on the last lap. And it was a delighted Daisy Wilkinson (Edinburgh RC) who out-sprinted a not quite so delighted Maizie to the podium place. Racing is a cruel mistress. 

Leon Atkins in the Juvenile Males didn’t need a sprint finish to win, he just rode off the front showing exactly how he got his champs jersey. Curtis McKee (Scott Bright Motor Group) was second and Arthur Limb (Matlock) third. Then the sprints started. Gus Lawson (Pentland) nipped ahead of George Cooper (Sherwood Pines) for fourth and fifth, and then Cameron Annable (Derwentside) beat Jacob Steed (Sherwood Pine) for sixth and seventh. Finlay Barr (Royal Albert), Teddy Taylor (Newport) and Xander Graham (Jukebox) then sprinted in to complete the top ten. 

Yet more sprinting in the Male Vets. Chris Buchan (Pentland) had tried to get away early but had been caught by Marc Chamberlain (Hunt Bike Wheels). They rode round together for the rest of the race and it came down to the closest sprint finish of the day with Marc just taking the win. Alan Gunner (Verulam) managed to get away from Philip Holwell (Peak Road Club) to take third. Also of note was Stu Thomson, ex-DH and the guy who does that video stuff with Danny MacAskill, in sixth looking remarkably comfortable for a rider who is not all that used to pedalling while racing. 

In the Grand Vets it was once again Nick Craig (Scott Racing) on the front, and once again he was busy picking off the vets in the race in front of him. Douglas Cameron had a cracking race to take second with Ian Taylor (Shibden) in third. Sadly Paul Nutton who has been up there previously this season is recovering from a nasty crash so was absent. Heal well, Paul. 

Grant Johnson continued his winning streak in the Super Vets with Bruce Rollinson (All Terrain) in second and local boy Brendan Roe (Ryan’s Bike Surgery) coming third. There was a sprint finish in the Supers though: Mick Spiers (Kendal) and John Shirley (West Highland Wheelers) showed that the competitive instinct never goes away even when you are over 60 and battling for ninth and tenth. 

In the female experts, Christina Wiejak (St Piran) took another win. Despite being new to XC she seems to be getting the hang of it ok. Natalie Munro (MGC RT) was second and a delighted Heather Shanks (North Argyll Cycle Club) third. In female vets Ruth Fraser-Moodie took the win with Karen Heppenstall in second and local Nadine Reilly (Dundee Thistle) in third.

Meanwhile in Super Vets there was an act of civil disobedience.

In Grand Vets Virginia Roberts (Albion) dominated, so much so she beat all the vets too, with Lindsay Newman (Pedal Power Loughborough) in second. Caroline Mansfield (Morvelo Magspeed) took the third. Meanwhile in Super Vets there was an act of civil disobedience. Let me tell you a story. A few years ago there was no Super Vet category for women (usual misogynistic reasons we’ve all heard so often before) but Carolyn Spiers (Kendal) fought for equality until the category was created. This season she’s been asking to do the same number of laps as the grand vets because she wants a full race. She has been told no (usual misogynistic reasons we’ve all heard so often before) despite the fact she’s the only one in her category and usually finishes mid-pack grand vets anyway. So this week she just kept riding – she did her three laps, didn’t stop, added an extra lap to her race, and still finished ahead of some of the grand vets. Way to go. Sometimes things need to be prodded to be changed. And Carolyn is a prodder. 

In the Female Elite it was great to see Isla Short back racing in the UK. She’s been recovering from illness and felt a National round was a much more sensible testing ground for fitness than the Worlds. She took a few laps to shake off Elena McGorum (Peebles) in order to take the win. Jane Barr (Velocity 44) took third while it was another sprint finish between Jo Thom (Torq) and Emily Bridson (Pine Sport) for fourth and fifth. Jo is having a pretty consistent season with her fourth places. 

Emily Carrick-Anderson (T Mo Racing) dominated the Female Juniors again with Phoebe Roche (WXC) just outsprinting Evie Steed (Sherwood Pines) to the line. Daphne Jones (RR23) was on fire to take fourth with Christina McGorum (Una Forza) completing the podium. 

In the Expert Men Lewis Martin had a convincing win ahead of Sam Sayers and Flynn Gregory (Wheelbase). Richard Jones (Ribble Weldtite) had a good fourth before the sprint between Ross Thorley (Manx Viking Wheelers) and Jonathan Pybus in fifth and sixth. And it was good to see Tom ‘Big Watts’ Colley (Pro Vision) back racing after an early season wrist injury. DFL is always better than DNS. 

The battle for the top spot in the Junior Men was close for several laps. A group of seven at the end of lap one slowly broke apart before Max Greensill (Hope) got away to beat team mate Nathan Smith (Hope) with Bjoern Koerdt (Shibden) in third. Sam Chisholm (The Cycle Academy) and Tim Scott (Trek Sheffield Fox Academy) sprinted for fourth and fifth. Good to see Max returning to form after a bout of long Covid. 

With several of the men’s elite field away in Germany, Rory McGuire (Leslie Bike Boutique) made the most of the opportunity, breaking away from Rab Wardell and Jason Boutell to win. Anthony Zaragoza (Vosges VTT) took fourth and Ben Wadey was fifth. Ben just outsprinted Grant Ferguson (Hope) to the line. Nice to see Max Gibbons (Orbea) back racing after his knee injury from round one. Unfortunately, a mechanical on lap one meant his return wasn’t a smooth one and he spent most of his time chasing. Still finished eighth so that was some effective chasing. 

We also had the first female president of Scottish Cycling, Kathy Gilchrist, on hand to present trophies – many thanks to her. SXC had done a cracking job with prizes with a custom mug for all podium spots plus biscuits. It’s interesting to note Kathy has a strict hierarchy of biscuits. Chocolate covered gingers were only for winners in her eyes. 

Overall, a great weekend of fast racing with several results being decided on the line with sprint finishes. 

Our thanks to:

• SXC for organising
• All the marshals and volunteers without whom these events don’t happen
• The commissaires especially dancing Fiona
• Andy the Park Ranger, the Lochore Meadows crew, and Meedies
• The food and coffee people
• Series supporters Schwalbe Tyres
• Torq Fitness for nutritional prizes
• Vertebrate Publishing for inspiring prizes

Next round is at Cannock Chase 28-29 May – don’t forget the open class is for everyone. https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/257449/British-Cycling-National-Cross-Country-Series-Round-4&source=website-ems