Mull

Well, the final two races of the SCX season were crackers. I'd never been to Mull before, and wish that there had been more time to take in the island, and do the races - monday off work next year (and maybe get a weekend babysitter?)

I wouldn't recommend an overnight stay in the carpark in Tobermory though - you can't escape the boy racers, even on a small island!

The car park at Glengorm Castle was much better, if darker!

Although the field was small, it was high quality, as were the courses. Saturday had some tough muddy sections - a long run up to the castle, and climbs which became runs as the bikes got progressively clogged. My top 3 place overall was never going to last long, as JFM, Dan Whitehead and Davie Lines added more races to their tally, but I knew if I could beat Greig Walker both days (not an easy proposition), that 5th place was possible. As expected Greig and myself were locked together in the early laps, before a couple of mistakes and clogged gears allowed me to open up a gap, and press on to the finish - 1 down, 1 to go!

Sunday was a much faster affair, no running except the hurdles (unless your name is Hardie or Lines), but a long, tough climb up to the top of the course. The frozen mud and patchy ice kept you on your toes though (and had me on my backside on lap 1). After a strong 1st half lap, I was sitting 3rd or 4th, and feeling comfortable with the leaders, when I got on the power a bit early on joining to tarmac, and came down. Although I was back up quickly, that put me back in Greig's reach - and Santa soon overhauled me, and built up a 15 second lead. Keeping him in sight helped the motivation, and a wardrobe incident for Greig (cue rapid removal and discarding of Santa over trousers) put us back together. I attacked with 3 to go, and managed to build the magic 10 seconds gap straight away, and hang on to 5th place. Job done. And I beat all the guys in fancy dress - what a hero!

I'm probably not going to ride the Cyclists - v - Harriers this year, think I've used up my competitive credits! The conditions look great for cyclists again this year though, so hopefully Gareth can snatch the win.

So, some time to take it easy, and have fun riding bikes again before thinking about racing again.

Neil Walker