Earlier this year the Scottish Downhill Association (SDA) successfully tendered to host round two of the HSBC UK National Downhill Series at Fort William on the 12/13th May 2018. They have also managed to win the rights to host the British Championships at Glencoe on the 21/22nd July 2018.
The event at Fort William attracted riders from across the globe, including 45 elite riders taking the opportunity to put some race runs in before the second round of the UCI World Cup at Fort William on the 2nd/3rd June 2018. This race proved to be a huge success for the SDA and was fully booked well in advance.
This was a fantastic opportunity for the SDA Academy riders to be able to compete alongside some famous names in Mountain Biking such as Gee Atherton and Danny Hart both former World Champions.
Danny Hart and Rachel Atherton went on to win the elite event with a number of SDA regulars performing well, including Reece Wilson (6th), Ben Cathro (14th) and Fraser McGlone (15th). The practice obviously paid off for Reece as he finished 4th at the World Cup event a few weeks later, joining the exclusive club of just two Scots to achieve a 4th place (or better) at world cup level.
The Academy riders also did well at the event – Lynette Deacon finished 8th in her age category and Phoebe Gale finished 3rd in the under 19’s. Torin Moffat and Ronan White both gave improved performances which bodes well for the future.
This year’s SDA race dates are:
Rnd 1 14-15th April Ae Forest
Rnd 2 12-13th May Fort William (HSBC National series/SDA series and UCI Cat. 1)
Rnd 3 16-17th June Innerleithen
British Champs 21-22nd July Glencoe (HSBC UK National Downhill Championship)
Rnd 4 18-19th August Dunkeld
Rnd 5 1-2nd September Fort William (Scottish National Champs)
GreenPower/SDA Academy Riders for 2017/18
The following riders were selected back in September 2017 by the SDA committee :
Juvenile – Archie Gilmour & Lewis Elder
Youth – Ronan White & Torin Moffat
Junior – Connor Gibb & Owne Scott
Junior Women – Phoebe Gale
Senior Women – Lynette Deacon
Masters – Craig Walker
Senior – Paul Marshall & Grant Murdoch
One day of training had to be cancelled due to bad weather but plans are underway to reschedule it to precede one of the remaining SDA events.