Triple win for Munro in Caithness Cycling Club’s annual festival
Caithness Cycling Club promoted its annual Festival of Cycling at the weekend, supported by Sinclair Bay Subsea and Scrabster Seafoods.
The three events started with the Mack Mowat 25-mile time trial on Saturday afternoon, followed on Sunday by the Caithness “10” and the Scrabster Hill Climb.
Overall male winner was Dingwall’s Alasdair Munro (RT23) who convincingly won all three events, with team-mate Kyle Cartmell in second place.
Orkney visitor Olga Tierney was the first lady overall, with Thurso’s Lorna Stanger close behind. First local rider was Stuart Swanson, riding for Wick Wheelers.
The Mack Mowat Memorial “25” is held in memory of a much-loved Thurso cycle shop owner who was Caithness grass-track champion in the 1920s and won 41 of his 100 races despite being gassed in World War I.
He ran his gas-lit shop in Olrig Street until his death in 1980, aged 85. Today there is a commemorative plaque above his old shop.
This year the event was in doubt due to high winds but riders coped well and first-placed Alasdair Munro posted the superb time of 54 min 51 sec, followed just 46 seconds behind by Cian Leveridge from the East Midlands-based Team PB Performance.
Wick’s Mari Cole had an excellent ride to take the ladies’ prize with 1 hr 5 min 55 sec, followed by Olga Tierney and Lorna Stanger.
Cairngorm visitor Michael Morris was first in the road bike category, which disallows aerodynamic features such as disc wheels and tri-bars, to encourage riders without specialist equipment.
Although his time of 1 hr 2 min 50 sec was very good in the conditions for a 62-year-old, Douglas Morris (Fullarton Wh), aged 65, clocked 1 hr 1 min 16 sec on his time-trial bike to take the veteran on age standard award.
His age-related equivalent time (AET) was 54 min 46 sec. Second veteran was Thurso’s Alasdair Washington (88) with an AET of 56 min 09 sec.
The wind eased considerably for the “10” on Sunday morning, although there was still a brisk westerly, and again there were some excellent times. Alasdair Munro took top slot with 20 min 58 sec, an average speed of 28.6 mph, while Ross-shire’s Mark Dryburgh was second.
Olga Tierney was the fastest lady, with Lorna Stanger second. Douglas Macdonald took the veterans’ prize with an AET of 20 min 42 sec, just 15 seconds ahead of Alasdair Washington.
First local awards, for Caithness and Orkney, went again to Stuart Swanson for the men, while Martine Hughes took the first local lady prize on the one-man-one-prize system. Angus Brumhead took the road bike award.
The final event was the 1.9-mile climb of Scrabster Hill, made especially hard by a 20 mph westerly wind. Alasdair Munro had a 15-second win over team-mate Kyle Cartmell, while 62-year-old Michael Morris had an excellent third place.
For the ladies it was again a one-two for Olga Tierney and Lorna Stanger. The veteran 60-69 prize was won by Douglas Macdonald, while the 70-plus award went to 74-year-old Angus Brumhead.
Results – Mack Mowat 25-mile: 1 Alasdair Munro (RT23), 54 min 51 sec; 2 Cian Leveridge (Team PB Performance), 55.37; 3 Mark Dryburgh (Ross-shire RCC), 59.19; 4 Kyle Cartmell (RT23), 1.0.27; 5 Douglas Macdonald (Fullarton Wh), 1.1.16; 6 Gillies Grant (Forres CC), 1.1.27; 7 Michael Morris (Cairngorm CC), 1.2.50; 8 Stuart Swanson (Wick Wh), 1.4.19; 9 Mari Cole (Wick Wh), 1.5.55; 10 Paul Parrish (Cairngorm CC), 1.8.26; 11 Olga Tierney (Orkney CC), 1.9.49; 12 Lorna Stanger (Caithness CC), 1.10.34; 13 Angus Brumhead (Inverness CC), 1.11.57; 14 Iain Miller (Caithness CC), 1.12.21; 15 Alasdair Washington (Caithness CC), 1.19.42.
Caithness 10-mile: 1 Alasdair Munro, 20 min 58 sec; 2 Mark Dryburgh, 22.25; 3 Kyle Cartmell, 23.09; 4 Douglas Macdonald, 23.12; 5 Michael MacIver (Ross-shire RCC), 24.12; 6 Michael Morris, 24.21; 7 Paul Parrish, 24.51; 8 Stuart Swanson, 25.02; 9 Iain Miller, 25.23; 10 Olga Tierney, 26.05; 11 Roger Broughton, 26.43; 12 Innis Mitchell, 26.58; 13 Lorna Stanger, 27.09; 14 William Calder, 27.34; 15 Angus Brumhead, 27.40; 16 Andrew Wilson (St Christopher’s), 29.21; 17 Alasdair Washington, 29.51; 18 Christine Brumhead, 31.57; 19 Martine Hughes (Caithness CC), 34.33.
Scrabster Hill Climb: 1 Alasdair Munro, 7 min 08 sec; 2 Kyle Cartmell, 7.23; 3 Michael Morris, 7.36; 4 Michael MacIver, 7.49; 5 Stuart Swanson, 7.56; 6 Douglas Macdonald, 7.59; 7 Iain Miller, 8.14; 8 Olga Tierney, 8.21; 9 Angus Brumhead, 8.42; 10 Paul Parrish, 8.43; 11 Roger Broughton, 8.59; 12 Innis Mitchell, 9.01; 13 Lorna Stanger, 9.08; 14 William Calder, 9.49; 15 Andrew Wilson, 10.39; 16 Christine Brumhead, 11.29; 17 Martine Hughes, 11.35.
Overall: 1 Alasdair Munro, 1 hr 22 min 57 sec: 2 Kyle Cartmell, 1.30.59; 3 Douglas Macdonald, 1.32.27; 4 Michael Morris, 1.34.47; 5 Stuart Swanson, 1.37.17; 6 Paul Parrish, 1.42.00; 7 Olga Tierney, 1.44.15; 8 Iain Miller, 1.45.58; 9 Lorna Stanger, 1.46.51; 10 Angus Brumfield, 1.48.19.
Earlier in the week Stuart Swanson was fastest in the club’s 10-mile time trial with Iain Miller just 14 seconds behind. A fine ride from William Calder gave him a personal best by 66 seconds.
Times: 1 Stuart Swanson, 25 min 10 sec; 2 Iain Miller, 25.24; 3 Alistair Miller, 26.31; 4 Roger Broughton, 26.56; 5 Lorna Stanger, 27.53; 6 William Calder, 28.50; 7 Gary Angus, 29.32; 8 Alasdair Washington, 29.33; 9 Phil Cartwright, 30.05; 10 Martine Hughes, 34.30.
Wick Wheelers’ latest 10-mile time trial held last Thursday saw riders facing a difficult outward leg into a south-westerly wind.
Despite everyone’s apprehensions at the start, times were generally good, with a personal best and another equalling their PB.
Kev Stewart shaved a second off his PB and James Munro equalled his time from the previous week despite losing vital seconds to traffic.
George Ewing was well below his best with, in his own words, “legs that wouldn’t work” and completed the course with probably his slowest time ever.
Danny Miller finished in first place with James Munro second and Alister Miller third.
Lisa Coghill was the only lady on the night.
Times: 1 Danny Miller, 24 min 23 sec; 2 James Munro, 26.12 (equal PB); 3 Alister Miller, 26.46; 4 Charlie Mackay, 28.26; 5 Kev Stewart, 28.38 (PB); 6 Lisa Coghill, 30.46; 7 George Ewing, 35.55.