Round 5 has been and gone, indeed like the
grains of sand falling through the hourglass this years Ridley SCX
series is drawing to a close. With only Cross at the Castle and all its seasonal joviality to come, its been emotional.
Irvine Beach is of course a well
established feature on the Scottish cross scene and under the careful
management of Neil Walker and the Walkers Cycling team it has matured with age
into the classic it was last Sunday. There are few weekends that I have heard
folks say, “yep I could race that course every week” maybe next year Neil
should look to a weekend of racing with double points up for grabs, I for one
would certainly be up for that.
“The cure for anything is salt water –
sweat, tears or the sea”
Isak Dinesan
Irvine if you are unfamiliar, lies on the
west coast of central Scotland, in the heart of Ayrshire, where it is gently
caressed by the Firth of Clyde and the occasionally brisk westerly winds. The beach
offers a classic links terrain which drains exceptionally well and for the
benefit of us makes for a great race venue whatever the weather.
The day started with one of those fairly
brisk winds and some near zero temperatures but it picked up as the sun opened
its sleepy eyes briefly around midday.
Of course the racing can't wait on the
weather so first up were the women and V50. Maddy Robinson has been on some
pretty formidable form of recent and it was expected that today would see here
clinch the series title. No one told Isla Short (Thomsons Cycles) and Kerry MacPhee (Rock and Road) about this
however. Isla went on to win proving how capable she is and still a junior,
ouch, and a great ride too by Kerry who has been showing promise all season and
finally reaped the rewards. Congrats all round.
“Are you tired of sand being kicked in your
face? I promise you new muscles in days!!”
Charles Atlas
Old Dudes on Dunes
V40s up next and numbers slightly down for
this round which was a surprise. Still it didn’t stop the red mist descending
into one of the most terrifying starts of the season. The sound of mature men,
carbon fibre, expensive wheels and hard sand dunes colliding is not one I particularly like and
fortunately I avoided both of the pile ups within the first 100 metres. I’ve
said it before and I’ll say it again, most of us in this category are racing to
perchance sneak into the top half, it sorts itself out, very quickly, be careful young old men! Anyway off we went,
with myself, Russell, Simon, Davie and Gavin flying the VCM flag. I got a
reasonable start and then got passed by what felt like hundreds of people on
the second lap, nuff said, Russell and Davie worked their way strongly up to
within a baw hair of the top 30 while Gavin and Simon once more chasing the top
ten and finished 14th and 15th respectfully. Good riding
giving the conditions and the speed of this race.
 |
| the candy coloured clowns, they call the sandmen |
The course wound its way around the hard
sand dunes above the beach, it makes for super fast racing with good traction
and no real let up. Added into the mix is the long straight of soft sand which
throws up different lines every lap, a new climb had been added which really
worked well and was a welcome tweak to the course. Fast and furious.
Seniors last and the big guns are starting
to flex their muscle. Rab Wardell took the early lead and seemed to have it in
his pocket but behind him there was some super aggressive racing going on that
ultimately led to Davie Lines getting a sniff of Rabs wheel, the rest as they
say is history, well done Davie, that was some strong riding. For VCM we had
Steve, Ian and Simon here today. Steve never quite made the jump with the Colin
May group but eventually overcame James Fraser Moodie for 6th place.
Behind that, Ian was on another flyer and looked to be claiming some scalps for
his collection but inexperience got the better of him and he was Rogered on the
line eventually coming in 16th and Simon a couple of places behind
in 18th. Great racing once more.
 |
| Ian on a mission |
As usual, lots of praise for the organisers,
it is a fairly thankless (and insanely time consuming) task but we all do
really appreciate the work that goes into putting on a race. And there we have
it, one round left for another year, bah humbug. Scottish Championships up next and looking at the pre-entries its going to be a humdinger.
pics by the sidelined Fraser Waters
“To see a world in a grain of sand
and heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour”
William Blake
how we all did
Maddy. 2nd
Simon M. 14th
Gavin. 15th
Russell 32nd
Davie 33rd
Chris 43rd
Steve 6th
Ian 16th
Simon F 18th
No comments:
Post a Comment