Three cheers for Dooley’s cyclists

Jun 16 2012 Paisley Daily Express

PAISLEY had reason to celebrate last week as www.dooleys-cycles.co.uk won three races.

The first win came in the Edinburgh Road Club’s Eastern Promise evening road race.

With an eager field, the pace was high from the offset and didn’t let up in the 50-mile race near Rosewell.

The race was frantic, with a number of riders attacking the bunch and trying to gain a workable gap.

The winning break eventually formed around the halfway mark and contained Dooley’s Cycles’ Richard McDonald, TheBicycleWorks pairing of Dale McCallum and Angus Elliot and Master Tom Arnstein of Spokes RT.

The group of four jumped about heading into the finish with McDonald looking by far the strongest.

McDonald rolled over the line first after a tight sprint with Arnstein, McCallum finished three seconds down with fellow escapee Angus Elliot a further five seconds back.

McDonald was pleased with the win saying: “This is my first win of the season and I’m delighted.

“I was away with three juniors and I felt a bit guilty but, then I suppose, that’s how you learn and get better.

“I’ve been riding well this year and pleased to be involved with the Dooley’s team.

“I’ve been riding a higher class of race than last year and it’s really helped having the older guys in the team looking out for me.

“Next event for me is the Roseneath road race in a couple of weeks, so I’ll be taking it easy until then.”

Dooley’s second win came as Iain Grant demonstrated that he is Scotland’s top tester, taking the national 50-mile championship by a massive margin.

After losing out to teammate Arthur Doyle by one second in the National 10 Championships, Grant was determined to go one better in the longer event.

Grant managed to cover the technical course in Fife in 1hr 49mins, dead setting a new record on the course.

Grant won by a clear margin of 2mins 24secs from his nearest rival, Sean Childs (Royal Navy and Royal Marines CA).

Childs clocked 1hr 51mins 24secs but, since he is not eligible for the championships, the silver medal went to Alan Thomson (Sandy Wallace Cycles) who was third fastest on the day with 1hr 51mins 55secs.

Doyle finished third Scot in 1hr 52mins 23secs.

Thomson led Sandy Wallace Cycles to the team prize, with Steve Nutley finishing fifth and Silas Goldsworthy sixth to total 5hrs 37mins 14secs.

Dooley’s Cycles were just 21 seconds behind with their best three finishers clocking 5hrs 37mins 55secs.

Iain was obviously delighted to be Scottish champion and said after the event: “On a scale of one to 10, it’s an 11 for today!

“It’ll be a week before the smile comes off my face!

“It was really wet and miserable but calm and mild today – once you’ve started you just get on with it, I suppose.

“My background is in triathlon and duathlon, but I’ve been doing time trials seriously for a couple years now, this is the first year I’ve tried racing without any running training.

“I was Scottish Duathlon champion last year and it’s a dream to be a Scottish time trial champion this year.

“Of course, there is still the 25 and 100-mile champs to come, so hopefully I’ll be multiple Scottish champion before the year is done.”

Dooley’s third win came as Sian Tovey took the women’s gold medal with a time of 2hrs 5mins 35secs, just over two and a half minutes faster than runner-up Christine McLean of Shetland Wheelers.

This weekend’s big event is tomorrow’s 50-mile time trial organised by the Glasgow Couriers.

All the usual suspects are taking part with the top riders from www.Dooleys-Cycles.co.uk and Sandy Wallace Cycles duking it out with Iain Grant most likely to take the win and the rest battling it out for second place.