Auchencrow Thistle held their final 10 mile time trial of their summer season on a night when cycling’s weather jinx prevailed…namely a stiff headwind abated just when the riders were reaching the turn, depriving them of the expected tail wind.
Despite this, Cumledge triathlete Jane Holmes recorded an excellent personal best of 29.49, giving her the 20 mph average she had targeted.
Donald Smith was again the fastest rider on the night with Doug Forrester in second and Tim McCall third. New member Robert Thomson did well to cope with the Cranshaws course, not the easiest on which to start.
Six members took in a 30 mile circuit on the club’s Sunday run, going round by Milne Graden, Butterlaw, Ruthven, Leitholm , Printonan and Mount Pleasant with Hamish Gardner setting a strong pace on the final hill to leave the others in his wake.

Auchencrow Thistle riders Iain Bell and Donald Smith both took part in the gruelling cross country cycle challenge held at Selkirk on Sunday. An entry of over 1100 cyclists showed the massive popularity of the event which took in a choice of 50, 75 or 100ks of the surrounding hill country, with Iain completing the 50km route and Donald the 75km one.
Harvest commitments reduced the number to only five riders for the club’s Tuesday meeting, a 30 mile route round the roads of the Lammermuirs while on Sunday six riders took in a circuit by Eyemouth, Whitfield and Coldingham Moor.

Eyemouth cyclist Gordon Johnston took a massive 1 minute 17 seconds off his personal best time when he recorded 27 minutes 43 seconds in Auchencrow Thistle's club confined 10 mile TT over the Cranshaws course. This improvement was all the more impressive as the other riders times were up on previous nights as the heavy air lead to slower averages.

The ever competitive Donald Smith was the fastest rider on the night, holding off a determined challenge from Neil Tait with Doug Forrester in third.

Thanks go to Claudia and Tina for starting and timing the event.
Donald also made the long trip up to Contin to ride the 6th round of the SCU MTB Championship series, but retired with one lap to go with a knee injury incurred in the very wet and muddy conditions.
Kelso Wheelers Graeme Veitch had another good ride coming ride coming in sixth Veteran.

Once again Auchencrow Thistle riders were lucky with the weather when seven riders contested a 19 mile club confined time trial on their Choicelee - Westruther course, the only rider to get wet being Tim McCall who cycled through a downpour from Auchencrow to Preston on his way to the start.

Aidan McIlroy was in grand form on the night laying down a course record of 43.49 while veteran rider Neil Milton just edged out Donald Smith to set a veteran's record of 47.55. Although a recurring back problem has kept Ian Black out of cycling this season, Ian was good enough to help start time and marshall the riders, thereby letting others enjoy the racing.

Six Auchencrow Thistle riders kept their club's name to the fore when they competed in open events at the weekend.
Eighteen year old Aidan McIlroy won the ESCA 25 TT Championship, hosted by Berwick Wheelers, in a time of 59 minutes. This was the first time Aidan has ridden a 25 on the Paxton-Greenlaw course and his first senior championship.
He had a 22 second advantage over the fastest man in the field on paper, John Stollery (Paramount CRT).
McIlroy has had an excellent season so far, winning or being highly placed in both time trials and road races and looks set to move on to a much higher level in the future.
On the same day Thistle's Jane Holmes, Tim McCall, Neil Milton and Sebastion Szulc rode the long established Kelso Laddies Association 22 mile civic week TT over the Springwood - Maxton - Kalemouth - Kelso course. John NIsbet had also entered but wisely bale dhay instead!
Jane, in her first open TT, was first lady in a time of 68.53, Neil Milton was third Vet and third overall in a time of 54.31, Tim McCall, who has been a regular attender at all the Auchencrow rides this year, clocked 63.41 and Sebastion was fourth senior in 63.21. The race was won by Jeremy Smith from Kelso Wheelers and Graham Lawrie from Gala was second.
Donald Smith made the long trip to Newton Stewart worthwhile when he rode the 10 hour MTB Challenge at Kirroughtree. The race was run in teams of two riders on a relay basis with Donald and Alistair Dow from the Bicycle Workscoming in forst pair in the vets and 11th overall. Between the two riders they completed 11 ten mile laps, Donald riding 65 miles, all off road.
On the Tuesday night nine riders took in a 40 mile circuit club run, covered at an average speed of 19 mph......just enough to prepare the riders for their efforts at the weekend!

Eight Auchencrow Thistle riders contested the fourth and final round of their KOTM competition, taking in a 29 mile route by Drakemyre, Blakerston and Oatycleugh.
Although Neil Milton was back to his competitive best to win on the night, the overall winner was Donald Smith with 70 points, from Aidan McIlroy with 61, Neil Milton with 56 and Sebastian Szulc with 50.
A total of fourteen members contested the series, while on Tuesday night in form triathlete Neil Tait looked very sharp, giving Neil and Donald a serious challenge.
Six members were joined by three comrades from Kelso Wheelers for their 70 mile cycle through the valleys and over the hills of Peebleshire and Selkirkshire on Sunday. The route took them from Selkirk to Tushielaw, The Gordon Arms, Innerleithen, Heriot, Fountainhall and then back to Selkirk.
Special congratulations must go to Jane Holmes on her first long distance event.

Nine Auchencrow Thistle riders were fortuneate to catch one of the week's few dry spells for their nineteen mile Westruther three-up TT from Choicelee to just short of the A697 and back again. Teams were drawn on a "fastest with slowest" basis and great credit must go to team leaders Neil Milton, Donald Smith and Aidan McIlroy plus their second team mates for the sporting way in which they rode to the pace of the weakest rider.
Results were:
!st: D Smith, S Szulc and H Gardner 49.55
2nd: N milton, T McCall and J Nisbet 53.35
3rd: A McIlroy, N Tait and J Holmes 55.23
The interesting course and sporting natur eof the event coupled with the input from Iain Bell and Ian Black in marshalling made for a good night's entertainment.

Personal bests were the order of the day at Auchencrow Thistle’s club confined 10 mile TT Championship with six out of ten riders recording PBs and Hamish Gardner missing out on his by only two seconds.
Due to mechanical problems Aidan McIlroy had to ride his winter bike, complete with mudguards, but he still ran out a clear winner from Donald Smith in second, Sebastian Szulc in third and Doug Forrester in fourth. Eyemouth rider Gordon Johnston took a full minute of his previous time, while Jane Holmes looked very much the part in her first race. Thanks go to Ian, Claudia, Tina and Katie for timekeeping, cakes and support.
Aidan’s success follows on from a 5th place in a 62 mile category 3 road race at Falkirk the previous week. Aidan caught an early break to make a group of seven riders who worked well together to lead the whole way, Aidan just missing out on the final sprint.
Also in good form was Donald Smith who rode the 4th round of the SCU MTB series at Paisley, which also doubled up as the ESCA MTB Championship. The non-technical course gave an advantage to the fitter rather than the more skilled riders, but Donald still came in 9th vet overall and 3rd ESCA vet with Kelso Wheelers rider Graeme Veitch taking 2nd ESCA vet.

Three Auchencrow Thistle riders took part in the Northern Rock cyclo-sportif event in Northumberland on Saturday, with Tina Forrester tackling the 62 mile event and Doug Forrester and Donald Smith doing the 100 mile course.
Tina completed the 62 mile course, which took in over 4000ft of climbing in 4hrs 58 mins, while her husband Doug clocked 6hrs 19mins for the 100 miles, which involved over 7750ft of climbing. Donald Smith took a wrong turning so ended up doing 105.5 miles with a time of 5hrs 46 mins.
A further six riders took part in the club’s Sunday run, taking in a 32 mile circuit with Sebastian Szulc and Les Turnbull leading most of the way.
On the Tuesday club night seven MTB riders rode up to the wind farm above Duns, returning along the Southern Upland Way and successfully avoided the rain in the process !

Auchencrow Thistle rider Neil Tait continued to make a strong impression in the increasingly popular triathlon scene within the south of Scotland when he finished 2nd vet and 11th overall in the Midlothian event run at Lasswade. This result followed on from Neil’s 4th overall place in the recent Gala event.
Donald Smith stuck with the solo discipline of cycling when he completed a 100 mile cyclo-sportif event in North Yorkshire, finishing the course in 5hrs 55minutes with only one 5 minute stop. Despite being used to the hilly country of the Scottish Borders, even Donald found some of the North Yorkshire climbs almost too hard !
Also on a hilly course this week, Neil Milton rode the SCU 10 mile TT championship to clock 24.02,a slower time than usual for Neil who was off-colour on the day.
On the Tuesday club night ten riders took part in a 30 mile chain-gang ride, splitting into two 5-man echelons, the faster of which rode the last leg at over 30mph.

With sixteen Auchencrow Thistle riders in action this week, Aidan McIlroy was the star of the show, winning the 50 mile Ballantine Trophy Road Race in Northumberland, the first outright win of his career.
Popular Polish rider Sebastian Szulc finished in the main bunch some three minutes down from the winning break , a good result on such a hilly course.
On Wednesday Aidan was joined by clubmate Neil Milton at the Iain McCulloch Memorial 10 mile TT, run by the Edinburgh RC at Kirkliston. Aidan came in 4th overall and Neil 1st vet in times of 22.52 and 24.21 respectively.
Donald Smith made the most of the long trip to Fort William when he came 6th vet in round three of the SCU MTB Championships, finishing one place behind Graeme Veitch of the Kelso Wheelers.
On the Tuesday club night Aidan McIlroy took maximum points in round two of the club’s KOTM competition, with the Hardens and Hudsclegh being the counting climbs and the whole circuit being covered at a much faster pace than usual.
Finally, one of the club’s original members, Malcolm Renton , made a welcome comeback when he joined eight other members for the Sunday run, taking in a 31 mile circuit round by Eyemouth, Coldingham, Howpark and Preston.

Neil Milton continued his excellent form in 25-mile TT races when he came in 6th overall and 3rd vet in a time of 57.09 at VC Cumbria’s event over that distance on Sunday. Since becoming the first of four Auchencrow Thistle riders to break the hour, in 2004, Neil has continued to do so in every subsequent “25” that he has ridden, invariably finishing in the top ten.
Earlier in the week Neil had another top ten finish when he was 9th overall in a time of 23.17 at the CSW 10 mile TT, run over the Cambusbarron course at Stirling in a race won by Barry McGurk of the Glasgow couriers in 21.43.
Aidan McIlroy and Sebastian Szulc both rode the British Eagle 65 mile road race organised by the Musselburgh RCC on Sunday. Aidan finished in the main bunch some 30 seconds down on the winning 5 man breakaway. Sebastian missed an early break on one of the many short, sharp climbs and later abandoned along with some 30 other riders.
Iain Bell and Donald Smith rode the Merida Marathon MTB cross- country event in the Cumberland hills on Sunday. Iain finished the gruelling 50km course but Donald was not so lucky, being forced to retire with a broken rear mech, although luckily he was able to ride back on tarmac roads.
On the Tuesday club night nine riders took in a fairly brisk 30 mile circuit round by Coldstream, while on Sunday club captain Ian Black made a welcome return to cycling taking in a rain soaked 20 mile circuit on the club’s leisure ride.

Veteran cyclist Donald Smith made the most of the cold but otherwise ideal conditions to record a personal best of 23.50 in Auchencrow Thistle’s club confined 10 mile TT. Donald knocked a full 45 seconds off his previous fastest time on the demanding Cranshaws course to finish fastest vet on standard and third overall behind Aidan McIlroy in first and Neil Milton in second.
On their first competitive ride London marathon runner Gordon Johnston and 15yr old Martin Junor recorded 30.05 and 29.48 respectively, while Doug Forrester and Dave Philip made a return to time-trialing after respective absences of 14 and 9 years, with Dave finishing second vet on standard.
Times were: A McIlroy 22.38, N Milton 23.31, D Smith 23.50 (PB), S Szulc 26.39 (PB), D Forrester 26.44, T McColl 27.03 (PB), D Gale 27.08, D Martin 27.27 ( PB), J Nisbet 27.53, D Philip 28.14, M Junor 29.48 (PB) and G Johnston 30.05 (PB).
Tina Forrester and Jane Holmes took advantage of the club’s new-rider Sunday run policy to take in a very windy 27 mile circuit through by Marchmont, a distance which both riders took in their stride with Tina sprinting past four of the club’s regular attenders to give the men a wake up call!

Auchencrow Thistle had another good turnout of eleven riders for the first round of their Sprint Training competition, run over a twenty-five mile circuit, with three counting sprints.
Aidan McIlroy finished one point ahead of Neil Milton with Sebastian Szulc in third and Neil Tait and Donald Smith tying for fourth place, although in terms of distance there was little to separate these five riders. Points awarded were : A McIlroy 32, N Milton 31, S Szulc 27, N Tait 22, D Smith 22, H Gardner 14, D Forrester 13, D Philip 13, D Gale 10, T McColl 10 and J Nisbet 4.
On Sunday Donald Smith rode the second round of the SCU MTB championship series at Dalbeattie, coming in 10th veteran, in a race in which the 1st veteran was faster than the 1st senior !
On the same day Doug Forrester, Sebastian Szulc and John Nisbet made light work of a very enjoyable Kelso Wheelers 100 mile cycle, in which the host club had a great turnout of 15 riders. The three Thistle riders did a large share of work at the front in what was a cracking day out with all 18 riders staying in tight bunch to finish in 5hrs 50 mins cycling time.

In a good week for Auchencrow Thistle riders Aidan McIlroy took 3rd place in the ESCA 10 mile TT Championship, held at Wallyford on Wednesday evening. Aidan’s time of 23.38 was only five seconds down on the winner, Calum Ritchie of the Musselburgh RCC, while Neil Milton came in 11th with a 24.57 and Donald Smith 16th with a 25.53.
In a field of 60 riders for Edinburgh RC’s Tour of the Meldons Aidan came in 5th overall in a time of 55.52, Neil Milton was 7th overall and took the prize for 2nd vet while unfortunately Donald Smith punctured before the start and then again on the first climb, giving him a two mile walk home. Sebastian Szulc lost time with a derailed chain to record 1.8.53 but still came in front of a woesomely unfit John Nisbet in 1.10.49, some 6 minutes down on last year!
On the Tuesday club night nine members enjoyed a well contested tussle in round one of their season long King of the Mountains competition. Dougie Gale, Neil Milton and Donald Smith worked at the front throughout, but could not hold off the challenge of Aidan McIlroy, who won all three climbs.
Points awarded were: A McIlroy 27, D Smith 22, N Milton 21, D Gale 20, S Szulc 14, T McColl 13, D Martin 8, J Nisbet 7 and C Millar 3.
Starting from Sunday 6th May the club are to hold Sunday runs, leaving Chirnside East End at 9.00am, at a pace and distance to suit novice and non-competitive riders in an effort to encourage more people to enjoy club cycling. Club details can be found on www.auchencrowthistle.co.uk.

Auchencrow Thistle got their 2007 summer season off to a well-attended start when eleven riders contested their club-confined Measured Mile TT.
The strong headwind on the east-west run proved to be a handful to all the riders but the return west-east leg was a different story with three riders averaging over 30mph!
Holly Millar made a good representation for the ladies with a personal best while Aidan McIlroy was the clear winner overall and only two seconds separated Neil Milton in second from Donald Smith in third.
Times were: A McIlroy 2.51 & 1.50, N Milton 3.02 & 1.55, D Smith 3.02 & 1.57, S Szulc 3.11 & 2.01, J Nisbet 3.29 & 2.08, D Forrester 3.32 & 2.07, D Martin 3.36 & 2.14, C Millar 3.40 & 2.11, H Millar 4.28 & 2.30, D Gale 2.04 (downwind only) and T McColl 2.17 (downwind only).

Aidan McIlroy made a seamless step up from junior to senior level when he won the Auchencrow Thistle 26.2km Up the Cleugh MTT in a time of 42.22, narrowly beating Gary Robson of The Edge RT (42.29) into second with Jon Kelly of GS Metro third in 43.25.
The strongly gusting winds made the Duns-Grantshouse-Duns even more demanding than usual, but nevertheless many riders scored personal bests.
Riding in his 100th Open in the colours of Auchencrow Thistle, Neil Milton came in 1st Vet and 4th overall in a time 0f 43.44, another rock-solid performance from last year’s ESCA TT champion.
With 28 riders from 10 different clubs there was enough support for a team prize, which was won by Aidan McIlroy, Neil Milton and Donald Smith (45.28) from the host club. GS Metro came in second with Musselburgh RCC close behind in third.
Neil Tait (46.29) and Sebastian Szulc (55.17) joined their clubmates to provide a full-house of personal bests for the five Auchencrow riders. It was also good to see, among others, Kevin Tait from the Edinburgh RC notch up a p.b. and to see strong support from Berwick Wheelers.
Thanks go to Ian Black and his team of marshals as well as all who helped start, record and provide refreshments.

For the second year in succession Auchencrow Thistle rider Neil Milton lifted the ESCA Senior TT Championship, when he was awarded the cup on Saturday for the 2006 season. Neil also won the ESCA Veterans’ TT Cup and was joined by club mate Aidan McIlroy who won the Junior TT cup and also the Junior Road Race cup.
The club got their 2007 racing season off to a good start at the weekend with two teams entering the Musselburgh RCC 3-up 28-mile time trial, contested by 29 teams in total.
On a horrendously windy day when riding formations were of paramount importance, both teams were among the best in this respect. The “A” team of Neil Milton, Donald Smith and Douglas Nisbet, who deputised at the last moment for the unavailable Kevin Locke, lifted the 5th prize money with a time of 1.13.30. The “B” team of Dougie Gale, Neil Tait and Sebastian Szulc who, like the “A” team had not ridden together before, were unfortunate to be held up by a seriously incompetent driver who cost them nearly a full minute in Aberlady but still came in 17th with a 1.22.30.
All six riders, together with club captain Ian Black who organised the teams, are to be congratulated for a fine performance.
On Sunday Neil Milton faced an even stronger wind at Stirling in his first “10” since an enforced six week lay-off, when he clocked a 25.49 on a day when even Graeme Obree could only manage a 23.07. Cycling is a tough sport!

Donald Smith rode the first 200km Audax event of his career on Sunday, being in the first group of three finishers in a time of 8hrs 17 minutes. The extremely demanding route started at Rosewell, went down to Tweedsmuir, over to Talla and the Gordon Arms, down the Ettrick Valley, up the Yarrow, over to Innerleithen, Cardrona and Peebles before heading back to Clovenfords and over the hill to the A7 and back to Rosewell.
Fortunately the wind and rain did not get up until the last 60ks, by which time the wind was in the riders' backs, helping them homeward for a much needed cup of tea !
On the Auchencrow Thistle Sunday run Aidan McIlroy and Sebastian Szulc set a good pace for Hamish Gardner and John Nisbet to follow as they used the wieather to their advantage going up the Hardens and Hudscleugh for a brisk 50km workout.
The previous week Neil Milton showed he is fast regaining fitness after missing 6 weeks with a broken bone in his foot. Neil, together with Donald Smith, was at the front all the way on the 70 km circuit round by Marchmont, Sweethope and Loanknowe, giving among others a good geography lesson to Doug Forrester of Lowick!

A contingent of three Auchencrow Thistle riders were favoured with the best weather conditions for years for the annual 105km Tour of East Lothian, run by the Musselburgh RCC. Donald Smith, Dougie Gale and John Nisbet rode the event with Donald and Dougie scorching round the demanding hilly circuit, while even 53year old John clocked up his fastest time in 8 years of riding the event. The riders were met at the top of the Redstane Rig by clubmates Hamish Gardner, Sebastian Szulc and Aidan McIlroy who had ridden up from Chirnside.
The previous week seven Auchencrow Thistle riders, including newly joined member Doug Forrester, met up with friends from Kelso Wheelers for their first joint run of the year, both clubs notching up nearly 50 miles, which was plenty given the cold wet conditions !