Established

1981

Angie McDonald 25, Deeside APR,  Bealach & Fred Whitton - 10/11 May 2008

Elgin Cycling Club was represented in several events far and wide last weekend. Furthest travelled were Kenny McIver and Mark Houliston who took part in the Fred Whitton Challenge, a gruelling 112 mile sportive ride for charity around the Lake District. With the many hills, some of them at 30% gradient, both riders completed the course in around 8 hours. Meanwhile, George Findlater, Ian Young and Jim Morris took part in a similar event on the west coast—The Bealach Challenge, taking riders from Sheildaig around the Applecross peninsula via the 6-mile long notorious Bealach-Na-Ba pass. Closer to home Gareth Luce and Dan Sowter competed in the Deeside Thistle 38-mile handicap road race at Garlogie. A quality field made light work of the hilly terrain and at half distance the backmarkers were in contention with the rest of the field. Two riders, Ray Wilson, Sandy Wallace Cycles and Velli-Matti Raikkonen, escaped the field in the closing stages with Wilson holding off Raikkonen in the sprint to take victory. Both Luce and Sowter worked hard in the chasing group and should be pleased with their performance. This group too splintered towards the line and finished just over a minute behind the leaders with Luce in 8th position and Sowter 17th. The final event, the Angus McDonald memorial 25-mile time trial at Invergordon attracted another batch of strong riders and Elgin fielded Duncan Gillies, Kenny Philpot and Kevan Sturgeon. The riders benefited from a strong tail wind for the first 13 miles but then had to battle home. Kevan Sturgeon, now back to full fitness, was the best of the Elgin trio producing his fastest time ever on a north course with 1.01.14. Contrastingly, Philpot was below par but still posted a very creditable 1.02.25 whilst Gillies was not far behind in 1.03.22. Former Scottish champion Mark Atkinson, Sandy Wallace Cycles produced a storming ride to take the honours in a time of 54.08 well clear of Peter Ettles of Forres in second with 55.30.

 

 

Jason MacIntyre Mem. 10 & Moray Firth 10 + APR - 26/27 April 2008

Elgin Cycling Club riders took part in three different events last weekend and came away with the spoils in the handicap road race at Culloden. Gary Reid represented the Club in the Jason MacIntyre Memorial 10-mile time trial at Fort William. Despite suffering with a virus lately and riding against doctor’s orders Reid’s time of 28:51 was reasonable given the unfavourable conditions. Arthur Doyle, Dooleys Cycles won in a remarkable 20:49. Closer to home the following day Moray Firth Cycling Club promoted another 10-mile time trial in the morning and a 28-mile handicap road race in the afternoon. Peter Ettles, Forres Cycling Club won the time trial in 22:22 from James Millar, Dooleys Cycles with 22:28. Best of the Elgin riders was George Findlater, 26:35, winning the veterans award, and also in the money was Mark Houliston, winning 2nd handicap with 27.08. Gary Reid recorded 29:03 and young David Hutcheson put the previous week’s mechanical problems behind him and showed great promise with an excellent 29:45 on a tough course. It was however in the afternoon that Elgin scooped all the awards bar one in the road race taking in 5 laps of the Culloden Moor circuit. Elgin fielded 9 riders across the 4 ability groups and looked strong on paper. Dan Sowter and Jimmy Boyd are still classed as novices and accompanied Reid in group one. Mark Houliston, George Findlater and Alastair Van Der Vlies were in group 2 at 6 minutes with Michael Van Der Vlies, Kenny Philpot and Kevan Sturgeon in group 3 at 9.5 minutes. The scratch group were handicapped a further 3 minutes. Sowter and Boyd made the most of their advantage while Reid, still suffering, pulled out after the first lap. Shortly later Sowter escaped with John Green, Perth United, and pulled out a healthy lead. Behind, Houliston also began to suffer as Findlater and Alastair Van Der Vlies drove on group two. Sturgeon, Philpot and Michael Van Der Vlies made several attempts to break up the third group whilst the fast moving scratch riders took 3.5 laps to pull back group 3 to form the largest group on the road. Up front with half a lap to go Sowter attacked his compatriot and held off to the line taking a well deserved victory. Findlater finished in 4th spot and won the prize for first veteran. Sturgeon, Philpot and Michael Van Der Vlies  finished with the main group a couple of minutes back with Van Der Vlies collecting the award for 2nd veteran. Son Alastair struggled over the final two laps but won first junior making it a very successful day for the Club.

 

 

Garlogie 25 & Sheriffston 10 - 19/20 April 2008

The time trialing theme continued last week with a further two events. On Saturday, Kevan Sturgeon was Elgin’s only representative on the 25-mile exposed sporting course between Garlogie and Torphins and was pleased to see a return to form and record 1.03.43. Shetlands Carlos Riise won with 55.52. The following day Elgin promoted a 10-mile event on the Sheriffston course. Many Elgin riders were involved in an official capacity but were still represented in the race. Peter McLean made a vast improvement from the previous week with an excellent 27.47. Also, making his debute for Elgin was 15-year old David Hutcheson in what was his first ever race. Hutcheson has been training hard all winter and was keen to find out how he faired against competition. However, disaster struck after only 20 metres when he broke his chain and had to abandon. Ian Black, Sandy Wallace Cycles, won the race in 22.03 marginally ahead of James Millar, Dooleys RT, with 22.13. After the race a special presentation was made to Peter McLean. The Skelly Cup was not awarded at the 2007 North of Scotland prize presentation due to confusion over the exact circumstances regarding the eligibility. This was resolved only recently and the Cup went to the highest placed North of Scotland rider in the Scottish Cycling Senior BAR based on the best average speed recorded over 50 miles, 100 miles and 12 hours. McLean finished top of the North and 8th overall and was a deserved recipient of the award. (see separate story)

 

 

Forres CC Time Trial Weekend - 12/13 April 2008

The road cycling season finally got under way last weekend when Forres Cycling Club promoted a series of three time trials. The first event, over 10 miles based at Kinloss attracted over 50 riders, many of whom were competing for the first time. In far from spring like conditions Mark Aktinson, Sandy Wallace Cycles, made light work of the weather to take a fine win in 21.57 from Peter Ettles, Forres CC by only 7 seconds with 22.04. Kenny Philpot was best of the Elgin riders with 24:41 whilst Gary Reid and Peter McLean, both struggling with early season form, recorded a respectable 27.21 and 29.40 respectively. The Sunday morning dawned chilly but bright with the ever-present north wind still blowing. Peter Ettles fell into second spot once again this time beaten by Ray Wilson, Sandy Wallace Cycles in a time of 56.39. However, Ettles had a bitter pill to swallow realising that if it had not been for a 25 second penalty incurred for a late start, he would have won the event. His official time was 56.58. Kenny Philpot remained best Elgin rider recording 1.02.19 whilst Kevan Sturgeon, recovering from illness, produced a fine 1.05.01 and Gary Reid completed the team in 1.14.03. In the afternoon riders lined up once again to test a new hilly course taking riders from Forres towards Dallas, over to Pluscarden and returning to Forres via Edinvale. Ray Wilson repeated his morning's victory by taking top spot in a time of 41.50 from James Millar, Dooleys Cycles in 45.25. Elgin's Gareth Luce made the top ten. His 45.56 good enough for 9th whilst Dan Sowter won his category with 51.43 and junior Alastair Van Der Vlies performed well with 57.28. Meanwhile Peter Ettles dropped to 5th in 43.26 but his consistency was rewarded by winning the overall series.

 

 

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As reported in The Northern Scot