Scottish Champs '08, Glencoe

13th July 2008


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By Alasdair MacLennan

After two attempts, the less bloody minded may well have given up but that is not in the nature of the SDA. In 2006 the venue was switched in advance as it was thought, quite correctly, that the venue would not hold up to 300 riders hurtling down it over a race weekend. Then we had 2007. September 2007 to be precise and this was perhaps partially responsible for the downfall of the track for two years in a row... onto 2008!

However, torrential rain and howling gails can be found throughout any Scottish summer as many a mountaineer will tell you and so it is perhaps unfair to blame the timing solely for last years Sunday morning cancellation. In the space of 6 hours the burn running down the hill following a similar route to the track had gone from an insignificant trickle to raging torrent and the track itself had not faired much better, turning very quickly from being fresh to a boggy and rutted mess. Great fun and a great feeling of achievement if you got it right and without anybody crashing in front of you but that occurrence was ultimately rare due to the extremely steep and technical nature of the course. Perseverance, bloody mindedness and a huge amount of time and effort from a large number of the SDA and other riders alongside the ravages of a Scottish winter has led to a change in the course. Where last September we were still cutting through the peat to the gravel below and getting swallowed by the boggy mass, this year we were already down to the gravel and rocks below which meant that whilst things got cut up, it never got to the point where it was unmanageable.

From the start the track appears innocuous enough but having been carried up in the open chairlift you know not to be fooled. A mellow gradient down a vehicle track leads very quickly into some newly crafted rocky berms and jumps, a stream crossing (better put a tear off on just in case) and then into the track proper. The gradient now steepens and the pulse quickens as you head towards the rocky slabs and you begin to wish that you had taken the time to take those worn Minions off the bike! Sweeping turns lead down the hill and into the aforementioned slabs and boulders, quickly coated in a layer of mud and which would easily have you off if you weren’t awake. Narrow, steep, slippery; Peter Pollock really knows how to test a riders abilities to the limits. I don’t think I have ever seen so many red flags on one day and on one section in all the time I’ve been racing. That is of course aside from the event here last year! Most tracks are features linked together by bits of trail but this, like Aberfeldy, is very much one feature after another. Hard, and thought provoking, you needed to be on top of your game to get down this course in one piece. Forget grace, that was for someone else. Pumping the bike to keep yourself moving whilst at the same time trying to be sensitive to the lack of grip that had the tyres sliding over everything in sight, you picked your lines carefully. On many courses you can miss braking points and lines and all you will suffer are a few lost tenths. Here however, you screwed up at your peril. A foot missed under braking was a sure fire way to miss the corner and sail down the hill off piste and into one of the many bogs lining the course. Carnage was the name of the game for most of Saturday as the rocks, covered in slimy peat, spat riders everywhere but where they wanted to be going. These rock slabs and steep, boulder encrusted chutes all interlinked to provide a wonderfully challenging yet thoroughly enjoyable course. Perhaps not every rider felt the same way but in progressing the sport in this country, sometimes you have to move in the way you feel benefits the majority and by speaking to a wide cross section of riders in the car park, most felt that it was a step in the right direction and a welcome addition to the Scottish calendar. The lowest third of the course was as distinct from the steep mid section as that itself was to the upper reaches. The speed picked up again from the more controlled mid section as you literally pinballed down the gulleys in the heather, being as careful as possible so as to avoid the rocks lurking underneath. Hit one of those and a mech could be heading to the parts bin, a disc turning into a taco or a few more lost pins from your pedals. This wasn’t a time to feel that you were home and dry; even the final bridge crossing the river was taking prisoners and there were a lucky few riders who were very thankful for the catch netting either side to help save cold dunk into the river below.

On Saturday there may have been a chill in the air but the lack of any real rain meant that as practice progressed, the track began to dry and the mud more claggy. And with this, the track began to rut up nicely, adding some much welcomed flow to certain parts. It was still a major challenge but a few sections now allowed more speed to be carried and this really improved things although there were some mightily big holes on some corners and it was clear that by close of Sunday things would only be worse! By the time Sunday dawned, the trail fairies had been hard at work overnight and there were a fair number of changes to get into your head. Rocks had been added into the soft edges of the track and loose rocks had been removed from many sections whilst many of the holes had been filled in. There were two different points of view on this after the first couple of runs on Saturday. On one hand you had the thought that it made things better and improved flow for the majority whilst the other side felt that the track (and all tracks) should be left well alone. People ride and learn a track as it evolves over the course of a Saturday so making changes at the end of the day, whilst improving it for some, can make it worse for others whose lines have perhaps been removed. The odd hole being filled does not seem to bother many riders but the consensus was that the changes on Saturday night had actually damaged the flow of the course. This isn’t to say that people don’t appreciate the effort that went into doing this, more that it could perhaps have been focused better.

So with Saturday night moving into Sunday and a lot of nervous riders wondering what their race runs would bring, Racing started at 11.30 or so after a delay caused by the timing signal being disrupted. Most riders seemed to enjoy the extra time to chill out in the wonderful surroundings of the dramatic surroundings, looking down Glencoe to the west and across Rannoch Moor to the east. But with a little bit of work and a little bit of luck, Iain Wilkie, the timing system creator managed to get things up and running and we were off. Out of a possible total of 300, there were only 270 or thereabouts actually entered for the race and of these, only 189 actually started racing, whether that be through injury or a dislike for the track. This was a shame as the track offered a really unique challenge when it came to racing. After the first couple of hundred yards, pedalling was virtually non existent and the lack of pedalling meant that you very quickly got leg pump due to your legs just not moving in the way in which they are used to. The upper reaches of the course were also pretty rough by the time that racing was go, and by the second runs there was even the black sacking material coming through in the most abused parts. A wide disparity in the times showed just how challenging this was and, whilst the usual order wasn’t really affected, the gaps were certainly magnified in a lot of cases and there were some simply stunning times posted.

As this was the Scottish Championships, there was the race itself with the final positions being taken by riders regardless of eligibility for championship status and then from those results the champions were decided.

Juveniles saw third place taken by Greg Gilfillan with 3:18. Kona Grassroots’ Joe Connell nailed a 3:14 for second whilst taking the title was Fraser McGlone on a 3:00 which is an impressive time given the age of these guys and the brutality of the track.

In Youth the podium was the same for both races where Lewis Buchanan continued his run of form for MTBcut.tv with a third place and a time of 2:56 whilst Mark Scott was the second placed man in a time of 2:54. However, straight off the back of a dominant win in the previous weekend’s NPS at Fort William was Arran Gannicott for Santa Cruz with a 2:47 to crown him the 2008 Scottish Champion. That time incidentally was good enough to place him 5th overall!

The Juniors was another podium made up entirely of Scots which meant that it was the same for both the race and the champs. The Santa Crux/Electric rider, Scott Laughland, was third here with a 2:48 whilst Yeti/Reverse rider Andrew Philips took third. With another win to add to his tally, this time coming with the Scottish Champions jersey and title, was James Scott on his CycleJersey.com sponsored Orange which got him down the hill in 2:42, also the third fastest time of the day!

In the Women’s race, Jaymie Mart was third for BN3/Trek/Extreme Medics on a 4:19. Second was Sarah Newman for Balfa with a 3:38. First however was Helen Gaskell, not long back from injury, who took the win with a 3:20. However, for the championship title, it was Jaymie Mart who took the title whilst in second and third were Bex Reilly of the Castle Douglas Cycle Centre and Naomi Williamson of the Highland Bicycle Co.

In Masters, Zac Hubery was third placed man for Descend Hamsterley with a 3:06. After winning the previous weekend’s NPS, Mark Wilcox was narrowly edged out here into second place with a 3:00. It was still enough for him to become Scottish Champion over the English Andrew Buddin, another Descend Hamsterley rider, who was the man who took the race win with a 2:57, despite a poor first run. In second and third for the Championship were Allan Hay of CycleJersey.com and Phil Mowat with a 3:15 and 3:18 respectively.

The Vet men saw the unique Kem Avis take third with a 3:49 whilst Paul French came back and proved that you don’t forget how to ride a bike quickly, promptly taking second with a 3:17 on his Ancilotti Single Tube, almost a veteran itself! However, in first and after much dominance this season, was Alastair MacLennan of Off Beat Bikes with a 3:05 to crown him the 2008 Scottish Champion.

Whilst for the Champs, there is only one Senior category, for the purposes of the race, things are still run as three separate categories. In the normal Senior category, Andrew Smith took third with a 3:03 on the same second as next man Billy Campbell. Ross Anderson took the win however for MSC Bikes/Descent-Gear with a 3:02. Just two seconds separated the top four riders on this course.

Experts saw Liam Little in third for Solid/Electric/Knox with a 2:52. Just pipping him on the same second was Ben Cortis of 777 Racing whilst Pete Williams of Descent-Gear took the win and third place in the overall Senior Champs race.

In the Elites race, Phil Ashbridge was the rider to take the third slot for Santa Cruz/Reverse with a 2:49 in his second run. Fergus Lamb was in second, also taking second place in the champs with a 2:42 for Alpine Bikes. Joe Barnes however was the deserving winner of both the Elite’s race and the overall Senior Championship title with a 2:38, over four seconds clear of any other rider. The clean bike in the first run must have helped as he wasn’t quite able to better the 2:38 in his second run.

So with the racing done and dusted and the prizes and titles handed out for another year, what did everyone think of the event? The general consensus was a big thumbs up to the SDA for all the back breaking effort which they have put in to get a rideable course on a hill where you would least expect it and so capitalise on the chairlift in place. Racing went smoothly although practice was extremely difficult to have uninterrupted just because so many riders were struggling to make it down in one piece. Whilst there were detractors, and there was certainly an element of luck in whether you had a clean run, it showed just how hard riders were being pushed and the winners were all more than deserving of their titles. In a week’s time we have the National Championships held in Bala, mid-Wales which sees the cream of the British talent battling it out to take home the blue, red and white striped jersey. As for the Scottish Champs, well done to the SDA for an entertaining race and another course which is helping to push the series on to better things from the more mundane and heavily utilised courses normally the staple of any racing calendar.