edinburgh rc cycling club

Success for Taylor and Crook and all the ERC officials and volunteers.

Mens's squad rookie Neil Taylor scored a magnificent victory in the first support race of this year's nocturne. Attacking from the gun he stormed into a solo lead which soon stretched to over half a minute. But as the laps ticked on towards the 40 minute mark his margin was eroding. Like a hare he was being chased down by two hounds, powerful tester Dave Caesar from the Bicycleworks and talented young Lindsay Gordon from Musselburgh RCC. But showing amazing grit and courage Neil held them off for lap after lap. However with the crowd roaring him on, it looked as though it was all in vain as his lead shrank to only 3 seconds with one lap to go. But Neil dug very, very deep to hold on for a well-deserved win. We also had Dougal Allan in the top 10.  

The other support race was another thrilling encounter with the lead changing many times. But Ross Crook rode a canny tactical race, always staying in contention. Into the last lap he was chasing hard to close the gap on Richard Chapman. Chapman held on and Ross took the bunch sprint for second place. Two riders on the podium out of two races.

And behind the scenes ERC had played a huge part providing the technical team for the event under Neil Muir to make the races run smoothly. Many thanks to Ken Whitson, Graham Jones, Phil Darby and Gerry Clement for keeping on top of the judging; to Jessica Wilson-Young, Jen Lang and Andy Brown for an efficient sign-on, and to Cliff White and Oisin Murphy-Lawless for linking up all the parts. Thanks also to Karen Breneman for arranging her friends, Sara and Teri, to provide the glamour on the podium. A big thank you also to the huge army of volunteer stewards from erc around the circuit who made it safe and fun for the huge crowd. You all did us proud. 

BC report and photographs here: http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20100702-Report--Edinburgh-Nocturne-0