Category: News

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/news/article/20230123-scottish-static-Scottish-Cycling-Provisional-Events-Calendar-0

DTCC AGM and Social – Friday 20th Jan 7pm.

Indian food and drinks provided.
Come find out the latest with the club.

We have a number of changes to be discussed which members can have their say on.
Just as important, come join fellow members to discuss all things cycling and what your plans are for 2023!

Please click going on the facebook event for those on facebok and email Sandy on knockies@deeside.org and let him know if you and any family members will attend!

The Scottish National Cyclocross Championships took place at Camperdown Park in Dundee this afternoon. DTCC fielded riders across many of the age groups and brought home several medals with three riders claiming the national title in their age group – DTCC riders took 1st place in the U14 girls, 1st and 3rd in the U16 girls and 1st Junior Woman.

The second round of the National Trophy Cyclocross series took place at Callendar Park . DTCC youth fielded 10 riders in the U14 and U16 events. Melanie and Olivia took first and second place in the U14 girls while Arabella placed second in the U16 girls. Two Deeside boys rode in the Race the Stars floodlight event which took place on Saturday evening.

DTCC youths were on fantastic form today at the Scottish Youth Crit Championships in Fife, with the girls taking the Scottish Jerseys in all three age categories (U16, U14 and U12) – an amazing achievement. Alongside other results from the day this meant that DTCC took 6 out of the 18 medals available in the day.

Annual General Meeting Your club’s AGM will take place on-line this Friday 14 January 2022 from 7.00pm. Papers for the AGM will be issued later today. Click the following link at the time to join the AGM: https://deeside.us17.list-manage.com/track/click…This is your opportunity to get involved with the running of your club. If you are keen, let us know by contacting knockies@deeside.org.

Event Overview

In 2019 the course had to be shortened on the day due to ice, this year we plan to use a course very similar to the full planned 2019 course.

Race categories and timings will be similar to the Scottish Championships the following weekend, so a chance for a trial run of race day. Advertised start times are not finalised, confirmed schedule will come in the race manual.
Parking will be in the field next to Knockburn, parking here overnight into Sunday will be possible but there will be no facilities.

U12 races will be run on a separate course to the main course. There is an option when entering to select U8/U10/U12 and boys/girls. The plan is to run separate races for these categories as much as time and helpers allow.

Helpers!

Reqired help on Saturday for Course build from 10AM.

Required help for marshalling, sign on and other roles during all or part of the Sunday 9am -4pm.

This is a great day to volunteer just to see this race in action!

please contact neil.d.scott@outlook.com to get your name down to help.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/250460/DTCC-Knockburn-Loch-CX

UK School Games Report – Last weekend,Elliot Rowe, Arabella Blackburn and Evie White represented Scotland in the UK School Games finals held at Loughborough University.They flew the flag for Scotland and our club with impressive displays over a multitude of events. See here for a full report.     Kelvin White

“The Youth British National Criterium Championships were held at Redbridge Cycling centre in London. It was a fast and technical course with a final hill climb in each 2km lap. I felt nervous before the race because I was really hoping to do well and I knew I was up against a strong field of riders. On the first lap coming over the hill I tried to attack with a small group, but it failed, and we continued as a bunch. Every time we came up the last part of the climb, I accelerated to a higher pace so no attacks could be made up the hill. The next attempt for an attack was made with 4 or 3 laps to go by Mabli Phillips which considerably shrunk the size of the bunch by a third, but there was no break away.

With two laps to go, one of the other riders noticed I had punctured my back tyre. Although I was very worried that the tubeless tyre wouldn’t re seal, I knew not to panic and within half a lap the leak had stopped and I was able to continue.

On the last lap the pace increased again, and it was very intense because all riders were trying to push to the front.

I wanted to come first out of the last corner before the hill and to do this I had to continuously accelerate. I started sprinting out of the last corner leading to the finishing climb straight. I didn’t know how close the other riders were at this point and although the pain in my legs was so intense, all I could think was “keep going, get to the line”. When I crossed the line and realised that I had won the race, I could barely belief that my dream and goal of the year had come true.

I am looking forward to wearing the champions jersey for the rest of the year, and would like to say a massive thanks to the coaches from Deeside Thistle YCC for all the support, coaching and training they have provided.”

Photo credits to Huw Williams and Grant Speed

Report from a Proud Coach

The British Cycling National Youth Circuit Race Championships were held at Redbridge Cycling Centre near Ilford on Saturday 10th August. The long journey south was made by 5 DTCC Youth riders who are becoming quite experienced travellers these days. This is the second cycling specific facility that they have raced at over the last two weeks – if you are looking for advice on how to design a road circuit (oh, how we would love to have one up here) then please consult these riders. The Redbridge circuit is approx 2km long including a short hill with the summit also being the finish line – the riders said it certainly felt hard after 60 mins of racing.

The track was great and appeared to be quite grippy even when the rain fell which was a huge relief to many of the parents there. However, along with the rain came the small flecks of flint rising to the surface of the track causing numerous punctures. The number of punctures increased with each race with the last race of the day having at least 40 riders suffering at least one puncture. It was easy to spot the locals as they had multiple wheel sets positioned around the course as this is a common occurrence on wet days. They were also very experienced with fast wheel changes allowing riders to get back onto the bunch.

Tubeless was definitely the order of the day as the sealant was doing its job for many riders. Fortunately our riders escaped without incident but came home with trashed tyres (that’s another £100 per set before the next race!!!).

The order of events was different from the usual order which kept us all on our toes. The first race for us was the Youth A girls (U16) where we were represented by Evie White and Millie Thomson. A slightly longer than usual race of 75 mins meant a rather conservative approach by many early on. The nature of the course started to take its toll as did the flint on the surface. Riders were going out the back each lap rather than riders going off the front which led to a reduced bunch as the race progressed. During the latter part of the race Millie worked hard to stay with the bunch but after several chases to get back on she succumbed to fatigue along with many others. Evie was determined to hold her position and fought hard to stay near the front of the group but this became harder towards the end of the race.

This race was much longer than our riders are accustomed to in Scotland so the effort required to ride a race of this length was starting to bite! Evie maintained her focus and came in with the bunch at a very creditable 22nd. Millie kept the effort going and finished in 32nd place.

The next race was the Youth B girls (U14) where we had Arabella Blackburn and Hope Thomson. Both Arabella and Hope have been racing other events in the British Series so they went into the race knowing what to expect. Arabella has had a great run of wins this season so was clearly the rider to watch – this was evident as nobody was prepared to ride at the front with her. Hope is riding her first season at this level and isn’t daunted by the standard of riding by the older riders in her group. She isn’t scared to work hard and just gets on with whatever comes her way – today it was a rather sharp hill every lap!! Nobody was going to let any riders get a gap and it would appear that they were all more focussed on trying to get the better of Arabella in the sprint. Unfortunately for them they did not know quite how much Arabella wanted this win!!! She kicked hard and took it all the way to the line to claim a well deserved victory which nobody could argue rightly belonged to her. So, there it is – we have a British Champion in DTCC Youths!!!!! Well done Arabella we are very proud of you and look forward to you inspiring others in the club to work hard. Hope continued to battle on and never gave up, coming in a well earned 18th place.

The last race of the day was the Youth A boys (U16) where Elliot Rowe was the sole DTCC Youth representative out of a field of 99 feisty testosterone fuelled boys – I’m sure I can smell the testosterone but that’s probably too much info! The start was fast and as often is the case there was the inevitable first crash. The race was stopped whilst the riders were tended to and the track was cleared. After a period of time waiting for the the commissaires to decide how to proceed the race was restarted with 3 laps being neutralised to calm the riders down. However, the rain continued to fall lightly but the flint was in full flow and there were puncture victims even before the real race started. For the next 75 mins (25 laps) there were attacks every time up the hill with riders desperate to get away. None of these stuck but the pace was taking its toll as riders were being dropped every lap. Elliot maintained good positioning near the front of the bunch right from the beginning and dug deep to hang on to 14th place when it kicked off for the final sprint.

Well done to all the riders, parents and long-suffering siblings.

Photo credits to Huw Williams and Grant Speed