Auchentoshan Cyclocross

Another cracking round of the Scottish Cyclocross series. Auchentoshan celebrated 25 years as a cyclocross venue and the course more than lived up to the challange.

The wet weather stayed in the East and it was a cold but clear day at the venue.
In contrast to last weekend the main course was in good condition, very firm and fast. There were loads of features to keep racers focused. Definetly one of the best courses.

The under 12's course had it's own challanges with a long loop around a sports field followed by a steep climb up a muddy bank, this then led into a tight series of bends through the trees. Again one of the best courses so far with a bit of everything.
Cameron didn't have the best of starts (needs to attend more coaching sessions !) but settled in well in 10th place in a large field of 39 riders. He stayed calm and picked his way through them, he also managed to ride the steep climb while nearly every other rider pushed

After 3 laps he was up with the top 5 riders but continued to push though and was soon in 2nd place just holding off Calum Shackley of Glasgow Riderz. Jamie Willoughby of Drumlanrig must have thought he was safe with 2 laps to go and a lead of 100m when Cameron pushed home his attack. Cameron managed to pull Jamie in and overtake him but he'd kicked too soon and Jamie powered past him. Cameron tried to haul him back but the older rider took first place with Cameron coming in 4 seconds later although he managed to almost crash coming up to the finish and had a blow out on his rear tyre. A great result !

Jamie kicked off on the main course just after that and after a short sprint was into the awkward double hurdle, tricky for some of the young riders. They then went into the woods for some zig zags through the trees, bomb holes and singletrack before the steep decent down to the stream and deep mud, there had to be some ! There was then a long steep banking with a dismount and carry up, which most youths found very tough, but then it was back into the saddle through the trees then another double steep decent that saw a few crashes at the bottom. The riders then had to carry their bikes back up the banking and then onto tarmac back to the race start.

Jamie finished 8th out of 15 in the under 14's.

A very slick well organised event by Glasgow United although could've done with a cup of tea for the spectators !