Clarion in action at Peebles

West Lothian Clarion’s mountain bikers were back in action at the British National Cross-Country Series in Peebles.

Saturday saw time for practicing on the course, along with races in the younger categories. A number of the club’s riders took part in this event, despite several having competed in a club road race in the morning.

The dry weather meant that the trails were dusty and riders had to use their technical knowledge.

In the under-12 boys, Ross Chisholm finished in ninth place, with Finlay Turner in 12th position. Rory Ogilvie crashed and had to retire with a collar bone injury.

Georgina Bark put in a strong performance to come seventh in the under-10 girls and Rhuairdh Fulton won the under- 8 boys’ race, having taken the lead with two laps to go.

After some rain overnight the courses took on a completely new character and the older riders had to deal with mud.

Five riders from the club competed and all added points to their tally for the series.

In the juvenile male ( under- 14) category Sam Chisholm led the charge in 23rd place, closely followed by Miller Crombie in 25th. Finn Mason was 10 places further back. This takes Sam and Miller to 28th and 29th respectively for the series, with Finn in 40th position.

In the juvenile female category Katie Galloway finished in 15th place.

In the youth male (under-16) category Andrew Turner held his own in a very strong field to finish 26th.

Sam said: “This was a great test of our skills, and it’s brilliant to compete against the best riders in the country on what feels like our home turf.

“There are two more rounds to go and I’m hoping that I can improve my position in the table before the end of the series.”

Local rider Cameron Mason of the Leslie Bike Shop team showed his strength to win the junior male race, with series leader Marcus Holmes coming in almost four minutes later.

This sees Cameron jump straight to 11th place in the standings for the series, despite this being the first round in which he has competed.