Washington takes veteran title honours
CAITHNESS Cycling Club’s Alasdair Washington was on his best form this year to take the veteran title in the North of Scotland 50-mile championships at Invergordon.
On a mild but very windy afternoon, the 75-year-old Thurso rider clocked 2h 17 min 29 sec for a 70-second win with Peter Robertson (Forres), the recently crowned British masters pursuit champion, second and Kevin Lackie third, a further 29 seconds in arrears.
Earlier in the week, Allan Sutherland posted another fast time in CCC’s weekly 10-mile time trial, clocking 23 min 38 sec.
Lorna Stanger improved her season’s best by a massive 56 seconds.
There there were big improvements too for John Sinclair (46 seconds), Dave Spencer (30 seconds) and John Falconer (21 seconds).
Personal bests came from Spencer, Graeme Morgan and Sandy Christie.
Results: 1 A. Sutherland, 23 min 38 sec. 2 D. Morrill, 24.17. 3 J. Falconer, 25.12. 4 D. Spencer, 26.15. 5 P. Cartwright, 26.31. 6 A. Washington, 26.49. 7 Lorna Stanger, 27.01. 8 S. Christie, 27.04. 9 G. Morgan, 27.24. 10 R. Broughton, 29.46. 11 N. Huyg, 29.53. 12 C. Clark (junior), 30.35. 13 Martine Hughes, 31.16. 14 J. Sinclair, 31.25.
In the handicap league, "Hamper" MacLeod is still in the lead from Falconer with Spencer moving up into third place.
Less than 10 points separate the first six riders and, with five events to go, this competition is still wide open.
Leading positions: 1 A. MacLeod (29 points). 2 J. Falconer (24.5). 3 J. Spencer (22). 4 C. Clark (21.5). 5 G. Angus (20). 6 D. Spencer (19.5). 7 A. Washington (18). 8 S. Fraser (17).
This weekend club riders compete in the Scottish 100-mile championships at Invergordon.
WEEK 16 in Wick Wheelers’ time trials saw William Gunn beat his personal best time by 55 seconds to finish on 32.19.
It was also a night for Nathan Mackay who competed for the first time and finished in an impressive time of 30.03.
Allan Sutherland pipped Velo Ecosse rider Lewis Oliphant by nine seconds to take first overall.
There was a dead heat between Wick rider Graeme Clyne and Caithness Cycle Club rider David Morrill for third equal.
Results – 1 Allan Sutherland, 23.49 (CCC). 2 Lewis Oliphant, 23.58 (Velo Ecosse). 3eq, Graeme Clyne, 24.48, and David Morrill, 24.48 (CCC). 5 Stuart Anderson, 25.05. 6 Brian Grant, 26.44. 7 Willie Sinclair, 27.09. 8 Mark Webster, 28.00. 9 Les Oliphant, 28.32. 10 Joan Henry, 29.26. 11 Steven Fraser, 29.38 (CCC). 12 Nathan Mackay, 30.03 (FT). 13 Paul Bremner, 30.43. 14 Norman Bremner, 32.02. 15 William Gunn, 32.19 (PB). 16 John Sinclair, 34.10 (CCC).
Week 15 meanwhile was a close night between the first three riders with difficult weather conditions for all.
Sutherland finished on top by 13 seconds from Clyne who managed to defeat Anderson by seven seconds to be the top Wick rider on the night.
Results – 1 A. Sutherland, 25.23 (CCC). 2 G. Clyne, 25.36. 3 S. Anderson, 25.43. 4 A. Arnold, 26.44. 5 Phil Cartwright, 27.12 (CCC). 6 C. Mackay, 27.36. 7 B. Grant, 27.47. 8 Ben Arnold, 28.13. 9 M. Webster, 28.56. 10 J. Henry, 30.05. 11 S. Fraser, 30.26 (CCC). 12 P. Bremner, 30.41. 13 Helen Richard, 31.07. 14 W. Gunn, 33.14 (PB).