Like Mother, like Daughter at Muir of Ord
The Mowbray family made it a day to remember as Freya won the Junior Female race and Megan the V50 Female event, the highlight of a great day of racing at round two of the HUPcc Scottish Cyclocross Series at Muir of Ord.
The 250 plus riders who had made the trip to Easter Ross were met with wonderful autumnal cross conditions – a cold dry day, with a greasy top layer after some overnight frost, adding some extra challenge to a fast, flat course. And that’s not to mention the wonderful views over a snow capped Ben Wyvis.
Over the course of the day we saw a number of riders romping clear to take impressive victories, but also some extremely exciting close finishes, such as in the Female race, where despite being in different categories, Freya Mowbray and Natlie Munro treated onlookers to a brilliant battle.
First year junior Mowbray, of the SORT RT, was victorious in round one at Camperdown Park, Dundee, and set her stall out in similar fashion at round two, forging clear down the start straight to put daylight between herself and her competitors. Munro wasn’t about to settle for second though, and slowly reeled the youngster in, making contact by the halfway mark. Game on!
The duo would exchange the lead multiple times, as the Females got real value for their entry as they raced for 54 minutes, which you could say would favour Munro. Coming into the last couple of minutes of the penultimate lap Mowbray would forge clear, but the look of shock on her face when she heard the bell meant it would be an enthralling last lap. Munro soon made contact again, Mowbray paying for her effort, but the youngster showed great resilience to stay in the fight and cross the line first at the second time of asking.
Munro would cross the line second but take victor in the Senior race, with Grace Norman and Monica Anderson joining her on the podium; Norman will don the yellow series leader number next weekend in Brechin.
In the Vet categories Janine Inman would take the 40s win from Madeline Pope and Ailsa Curtis, whilst Helen Winton would take gold in the 60s ahead of Fiona Paton and Alison Brown. The two winners will retain the leaders numbers next time out. One of the stories of the day though was Megan Mowbray winning the V50 race, meaning the mother-daughter duo both topped their classes – chapeau! Trilogy’s Nadine Reilly would come home second in the 50s, Caroline Harvey in third.
The day started with a thrilling finale to the U16 Open race, Arran Drackford and Xander Graham battling all the way to the line. Drackford would lead over the hurdles and off the last bend, but Graham wasn’t going to be beaten lying down; whilst he closed the gap, he couldn’t quite catch the flying FJBC man, who’s reaction across the line showed just how much it meant to notch up his first HUPcc Scottish Cyclocross Series win. Joel Gillian would take the final podium place.
In the same race, Josh Stewart would take the U14 win – no surprise given he overcame a start straight crash at the National Trophy in Derby last weekend to take the win – the Stepping Stanes rider would come home fifth overall. Thomas MacLeod and Alexander Mullen would complete the U14 Open podium.
In the U16 Female race Emma Campbell of Deeside Thistle would take an impressive solo win, with Imogen Hammond coming home in second place, whilst Clydesdale Colt’s Boo Williams would win out in the U14 category; she would best Eilidh Scally and Ella McQueen. With Scally having won the opening round of the series, it’s all to play for in the U14s.
In the absence of series leader Lewis Martin and round one runner-up Sam Chisholm, Charles Fletcher dominated the Senior Open from the gun, moving into pole position in the fight for the series crown. In the end the Borders’ based rider won by some 50 seconds ahead of Grant Scott and Neil Scott.
In the combined Open Junior and V40 race, the elder statesmen showed their younger counterparts how it’s done, with the first three across the line coming from the Vet class. A lap two move from Brian McCardle saw him go clear of eventual second and third place riders Scott Smith and David Ogden, but he was made to work for top spot, finishing just 12 seconds clear of Smith after the 40 minute race. McCardle now leads the series heading to Brechin.
In the Junior ranks Ross Easthaugh was triumphant, improving on his third place at Camperdown, with Alasdair Easton coming home in second, whilst Edward Lindsay was third – that man second last time out, meaning it is going to be a great battle at the top of the standings.
In the V50 and V60 Open race, Douglas Cameron once again showed his class with a strong solo effort to climb on to the top step of the podium – the biggest winning margin of the day no less - with Phil Mowbray and Douglas Sharp joining him. In the 60s Neil Raitt also made it two from two, once again forcing Brendan Roe to settle for second place, with Ali Dow third.
On a separate course, as is encouraged within the SCX Series, the U12s, U10s and U8s enjoyed some great racing over a short lap course with suitable technical challenge. Results can be found here.
A huge thanks to Gordon Bathgate and his Ben Wyvis CC team for putting on a great round up north, and to all the riders and volunteers for supporting their efforts.
Entries for the next round at Brechin next Sunday close at midnight on Tuesday 15th October – you don’t want to miss out. Click here to enter.
