Cyclist
Grass track cycling at the Highland Games
My cycling CV is pretty modest, consisting mainly of finisher’s medals from various sportives, certificates qualifying me to teach schoolkids how to ride bikes, and jobs as a bike courier and postman. However it also includes a brown envelope containing a £10 note that I was awarded after making a very small contribution to a little-known and oft-overlooked discipline of our sport.
It all happened when I turned up at a soggy field on the outskirts of St Andrews in Scotland on a summer’s day in 2017. Assorted heavy objects including cabers, stones and rope were being propelled in all directions by large men in kilts as I pushed my bike to a tent in the middle of a running track. On a stage behind me, youngsters high-kicked to the skirl of the bagpipes.
This was my introduction to the world of Highland Games grass track cycle racing. My first task was to ingratiate myself with the handicapper and convince him I was every bit as slow and unwieldy as I looked. This was a tip I’d picked up from Olympic, World and European Champion Katie Archibald who, aged 17, spent a summer on grass tracks before she went on to smash records on the Siberian pinewood of velodromes around the world.
‘The most valuable lesson I learned was that being polite to the handicapper can get you far – about 180 yards to be precise,’ she told me.
The handicapper at St Andrews was unmoved by my grovelling, however, and my confidence was dented further when I met the small group of racers I’d be competing against. They were basically a Lycra-clad cartel who travelled the various Highland Games divvying up the prize money between them. And one of them was wearing the British National Champion’s jersey.
This was Charles Fletcher, a PhD student who, during his summer holidays from Edinburgh University the previous year, had won £3,000 in prize money. However, they were all very welcoming and encouraging, especially after they’d quickly ascertained I posed no threat to their hegemony.
I was riding a borrowed Dolan track bike with a 48x16t fixed gear and 32mm file tread tyres. My training had amounted to a couple of laps around the football pitch in my local park and had felt like riding a machine carved from stone. Undaunted, I took my place for the first heat of the 800m handicap race – about two and a half laps of the track. This would be the first of several races I entered, including the Devil (elimination race).
I don’t need to share every detail of the traumatic scenes that ensued, suffice to say the combination of a fixed-gear, brakeless bike on a damp, soft surface and tight bends encroached upon by cheering crowds made for an eventful afternoon.
The low point was being dropped by my holder – a volunteer from the crowd – at the start of the 1,600m race and being forced to unclip just as the starter’s pistol was fired. The highlight was qualifying for the final of the 800m and learning I would simply have to finish to be among the prize winners.
While waiting for the ‘Kilted Heavies’ hammer-throwing to finish, I got talking to a grim-faced, silver-haired gentleman in tweed jacket and kilt, who turned out to be Charlie Murray, president of the Scottish Highland Games Association. He said he was worried for the future of grass track racing.
‘It’s dying,’ he told me. ‘We’ve seen a big increase in track and field athletes, but not cyclists. Some Highland Games don’t even have cycling anymore.
‘Mind you, the Tug of War’s even worse,’ he continued. ‘We once had 30 full-time teams in Scotland. Now there are only seven, and one of them only started on the back of appearing on It’s A Knockout’.
With the future of the sport suddenly weighing heavily on my shoulders, I felt compelled to give the final of the 800m my best shot, even if the National Champion was lining up 150 metres behind me.
I finished last. However, grass track racing has since undergone a renaissance and is now ‘one of the most successful events’ at the Highland Games, a much happier Charlie told me recently. I feel my small contribution to this was well worth the £10 I won.
The Highland Games grass track racing season continues until the end of September. Details at rshga.co.uk
• This article originally appeared in issue 156 of Cyclist magazine. Click here to subscribe
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