Glenmarnock Wheelers Road Race- 1st place

Words by Bruce Morris

Race Report, Glenmarnock Wheelers RR 2019

7 MRCC riders made the trip to Strathaven for what is becoming a home race. Ali Watt Adam Syme Greig Avinou Mk Haigh Paul Morgan Wojtek Bartkowski looking sharp in blue and gold.

The weather was pretty grim as we approached sign on. Heavy rain and lightening threatened to interfere with the day. Thankfully by the start of the race the rain had subsided although standing water posed a risk.

From the off the team were spread throughout the pack. All members stayed focused and all stayed calm..... until the turn towards the brae. Ali Watt was alive to the danger and made the front, the rest of us however were caught out. For the next 5 minutes I had on my limit to close back to the lead group. I last saw Paul Morgan and Adam Syme as I bridged through the riders and groups. Ali and I hooked up on the back straight and made the junction.

From there the other lads will have to pitch in their race. Ali was incredibly active throughout the race. For the 2nd and final lap the race follow a usual rhythm. People attacked, died and were regained by the pack.

There was some questionable riding on show. Solid white lines today were not on the officials radar. At one point we were even treated to some cyclocross style riding from one rider attacking up the grass verge on the inside. Anyway everyone stayed on 2 wheels although one rider did loose their saddle?!

The stint was set, no breaks had stuck. Roughly 25 riders hit the base of the last climb. Ali was positioned well, me not so much as last man. From here it got frantic. 1 Mile left. I bridged up the climb through the pack to 10ish. Everyone was going right and I went left. As we entered the final straight riders were spread over the whole road. People were opening sprints from 300-400 meters. Ali shot of the right and that’s the last a saw of him. I saw a gap between 2 Andrew Allen’s riders and punched through in the saddle with 250m to go. It was a frantic finish. I used the last wheel until 200m to go and kicked as hard as I could. From there it was peaceful, nobody around and my nose was in the wind. The MRCC took the white line and checkered flag.

Job done, despite trying to rip the cranks of they remain intact. Bring on the uncontrollable shivers .

Everyone rode well today. Thanks to Ali for unwittingly guiding me through today. Also James McCallum for getting me into racing shape, advising, mentoring and having fun. Priceless.