Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013 – Iain Grant Two In A Row!

-

HomeRaceRace ReviewsScottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013 - Iain Grant Two In...

On one of those grey Scottish mornings where it looks like the sun might just break through – but it never does – Dooley’s Iain Grant successfully defended his Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship title on the rolling A90 dual carriageway east of Laurencekirk on Sunday morning with a sparkling 50:46 course record.

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Iain Grant successfully defended his 25 title this morning. Photo©Martin Williamson

Second was ’10’ champion, Ben Peacock (Paisley Velo Race Team) in 51:12; with a tie for bronze – Peter Murdoch (Paisley Velo) and Sean Childs (Royal Navy) both on 52:37.

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Ben Peacock heads for the silver medal. Photo©Martin Williamson
Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Sean Childs, tied for third place. Photo©Martin Williamson
Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
There’s no denying the Peter Murdoch deserved his bronze medal today. Photo©Martin Williamson

Beaten by Peacock in the ’10,’ Championship, Grant was in a class of his own in this race; nudging down towards the magical 30 mph barrier – which on a warmer morning may have been achievable.

It was cool and grey when VeloVeritas arrived at the Strathcathro flyover turn to set up shop.

On this grey morning on a grey, featureless dual carriageway the turn offered the best photo opportunities.

The turn marshall advised us that we should; ‘try and bide oot of the way of the riders.’

That sage advice duly digested we commenced snapping.

Traffic flow was light and the air cool with a drift off the west.

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Sandy Wallace’s evergreen Steve Beech # 58 was one of our first subjects – looking only a little older than when he used to ride the Milk Race. Photo©Martin Williamson
Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
The first renner to look the part to us was Stephen Cairns of the Perth United. Photo©Martin Williamson

Cairns avoided the trap which many of the field feel into – taking the left hander on to the flyover in too high a gear and ‘bogging down’ over the top.

The next name to catch our eye was a well kent one if you raced in the 70’s and 80’s – son of road and track star, Davie; Andrew Whitehall off No.77.

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Andrew Whitehall. Photo©Martin Williamson

Dooley’s mentor, Bob Taylor was looking cool on his Giant but team mate Gavin Shirley was breathing down his neck for four minutes.

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Bob Taylor. Photo©Martin Williamson
Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Gavin Shirley. Photo©Martin Williamson
Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
By 10:30 the traffic flow had risen, but there were big gaps in the field with Drew Sharkey (the bicycleworks) the first to gain our approval. Photo©Martin Williamson
Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Norman Skene (Granite City) off #88 was on his usual big fixed ratio; we reckoned that he’d welcome the tailwind back. Photo©Martin Williamson

But in the post race dissection Skene would tell us he found it OK in both directions with his final ’56’ – his best in seven seasons endorsing that.

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Sean Gray (Dooleys) was labouring a little on a ‘big one’ over the fly-over but soon had the over-drive rolling down from the slip road and back towards the finish. Photo©Martin Williamson

By now it was cold and the wind had risen with the traffic count varying by the minute.

At the busy periods it looked very scary from our vantage point to be slipping on and off the dual carriageway into the cars, buses and artics – but as Martin said; ‘it’s probably less scary than it looks, when you’re on the bike.’

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
The traffic became pretty heavy for the second half of the field. Photo©Martin Williamson

That drag to the turn saw many riders struggling, with shoulders rocking, catching the wind and rather defeating the point of riding a five grand bike.

If you check out the top guys – Wiggins, Martin, Zabriskie, Phinney then you’ll see they’re rock-solid on the bike keeping their frontal area as compact as possible.

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Dooleys’ Dave Gibson looked good as he sprinted over the flyover and was quickly back up to speed off the entry slip. Photo©Martin Williamson

We didn’t know it at the time but Peter Murdoch (Paisley Velo) was headed for bronze off N.129 having put a minute into Neil Walker (Walkers Cycling Club) with his physical style he was obviously getting the job done.

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Neil Walker. Photo©Ed Hood

The wind was variable by now as our ’10’ champion, No. 140 Ben Peacock blasted past.

Purely on visuals he looked fastest; strong, focussed and very determined – but on a course like this one we think a rear disc wheel wouldn’t have been a bad idea for him.

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Davie Millar (Glasgow Couriers) was still on his faithful Hotta and ‘getting into it’ despite having been caught and distanced by Peacock. Photo©Martin Williamson

Chris Smart was the next ‘flyer’ we expected – but was a ‘no show.’

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Jim Cusick (Glasgow Couriers) was as smooth as ever but 48 seconds down on Peacock. Photo©Martin Williamson
Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Peter Ettles (Sandy Wallace Cycles) looked the part too, riding gears now instead of his habitual fixed; but couldn’t challenge Peacock. Photo©Martin Williamson
Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Carlos Riise (Shetland) was in his usual over-drive and moving smoothly but not attacking the turn as the eventual medallists all did. Photo©Ed Hood
Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Robert McLean (Angus Bike Chain) was out of the picture, 1:34 down on Peacock. Photo©Martin Williamson
Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
But former champion and course record holder, Arthur Doyle (Dooleys) was well in the frame, just 10 seconds down on Peacock and with the disc making all the right noises. Photo©Martin Williamson
Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Sean Childs (Royal Navy) was rolled up like a ball on his tri-bars as he punished himself past us; two seconds down on Peacock but eight up on Doyle. Photo©Ed Hood

Last man and defending champion Grant hove into sight way ahead of schedule and looked every inch the champion, tidy, compact and dropping the gear to maintain cadence over the turn – 54 seconds up on Childs.

Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2013
Visibly the fastest and smoothest on the ramp at the turn. Photo©Ed Hood

Barring disaster, the race was for silver.

We managed to catch the last four riders on their way in to the finish.