Jonathan gets third overall in Scottish XC series

Drumlanrig hosted the last Scottish XC of the season and some would say the best writes David Mason

The venue is well set up with good facilities and great viewpoints for the spectators with a big drop off right in front of the finish line.

Drumlanrig is known for its very natural feel trails with lots of in the woods rooty sections.
As a result Drumlanrig was one of the busiest and hotly contended races of the year.

The course ran very fast on practice day but some overnight rain changed that to slow it down but increase the technical difficulty. Although quite technical it was all very rideable with no real scary features to put some of the less confident riders off.

The course was just short of 5 miles so one of the longer ones in the series but it was great to race on if a bit of a physical challenge. There were long singletrack sections which flowed really well and demanded 100% concentration, these were thankfully broken up by fire road which gave loads of opportunity to overtake, unfortunately for some!

Racing started in the morning with David Mason in the Open category. He had a difficult first lap, mainly due to the traffic on the single track descent which slowed things up. He had a mechanical at the start of the 2nd lap which lost him quite a few places but he made most of that back up with a good 2nd lap although he was finished in more ways than one after that! With a 19th placing he was a bit off the pace but happy having had a tough race.

By the afternoon the sun was well and truly blazing for Jonathan Buckley in the Masters who was up for a tough 4 lap race.

Race results are still provisional but Jonathan finished 4th on the day which meant that he secured a fantastic 3rd overall in the 2010 series, a great achievement.

The SXC season has now finished but will be back up and running next spring if you want to give it a go. It’s great fun and very friendly. There are a number of levels to compete on as adults from 1 lap option in beginners upwards.

Click here for a video of the earlier Aberfoyle race which will give you a wee insight into SXC MTB. Prize for those who can spot Jonathan in action !