Shetland pair McLean and Riise strike gold in time trial championships

Shetland Wheelers cyclists struck gold last weekend by winning both the men’s and women’s Scottish 50-mile time trial championships.

On a day described by the majority of the field as tough and hard going, Carlos Riise powered around the circuit in spectacular style. He completed the distance in an awesome time of 1:50:50, convincingly winning gold by a massive two minutes nine seconds margin over second-placed Ray Wilson (Sandy Wallace Cycles).

The event was held in the vicinity of Invergordon, starting and finishing on the coast road at Alness and incorporating a stretch of the A9. The weather was pleasantly warm and dry but many riders found the strength-zapping south-westerly wind a problem on the way out to the southernmost turn at the Ardullie roundabout. More of the same strong head wind on the final nine miles along the coast made for a brutally hard finish.

Christine McLean was the fastest woman on the day and was presented with the gold medal in the women’s event. Despite the windy conditions she gained a new Scottish PB and set a Scottish women’s age record with her winning time of 2:02:59.