Eilidh Ryan and Robbie Anderson produced contrasting performances to take the race wins in the Scottish Dry Mat Championship Giant Slalom race. Ryan came from behind to hold off a determined Nicole Ritchie while Anderson won the first run and then held off Scott Waitt by a hundredth of a second for the win. Kate Taylor lead after the first run in the girls race but dropped behind Nicole Ritchie while Anderson held on to win the race place ahead of Waitt and William Dalziel.
The first run in the Women’s race saw a great run by Kate Taylor to grab a slender lead from Ryan (+0.07 seconds) with Ritchie just behind (+0.15 seconds) with Sophie Anderson and Jemma Clarke in fourth in fifth separated by a hundredths. Lurking just behind these two was a rather disgruntled Holly McKey who was not happy with her run.
The second run saw the cards reshuffled, a new course set by Mark Vinter and it was McKey who raised her game to set the pace with five to go. This was a much improved run by McKey as she attacked and took risks down the Hillend slope. Jemma Clarke, training Anderson by a hundredths could not live with the pace set by McKey but had just enough to go ahead of Anderson with the fastest three to come.
Ritchie was the first of the fastest three from the first run down and Ritchie raised her game. Having won the Slalom, Ritchie wanted the double victory and set Ryan and Taylor a serious target.
Ryan was next down and while she is five years younger than Ritchie, Ryan just held on to the lead despite Ritchie going faster on the second run. The two were almost four-seconds ahead of McKey such was the battle between the two. Taylor, a student at Edinburgh University, could not live with the two who went before her and dropped to third, over a second behind.
Anderson lead the Men’s race by three hundredths from Dalziel with Scott Waitt just over two-tenths back. Still in with a shout for the race win were Duncan Greenshields and winner of the Slalom, Joe Grieve. All five racers were within three tenths of a second of the lead.
With Adam Hay having stayed out of the slalom due to injury, with five to go, he held the lead having battled up from eighth after the first run. Hay was way off the lead, 1.75 seconds, after the first run but was still best of the rest. Grieve was next down and took the lead, going almost second faster than Hay. Greenshields could not live with Grieve’s pace and dropped into second. Waitt was next up and looked like he wanted to correct his disappointment from dropping off the lead in the slalom. This was a strong performance that saw him take the lead.
Dalziel was next up and with three hundredths to find over Anderson, fought hard but dropped behind Waitt. With Hillend being a long slope and bumpy, this saw great racing and Anderson, with two tenths advantage did not let up. When he crossed the line he could not live with Waitt’s second run pace but by the slimmest of margins, had his first Scottish National Dry Mat Championships GS Title.
The Women’s age groups were taken by Sophie Anderson (Under 14, 6th overall), Holly McKey (Under 16, 4th Overall), Jemma Clarke (Under 18, 5th Overall), Eilidh Ryan (Under 21, Scottish Champion), Nicole Ritchie (Senior, Runner Up).
The Men’s age groups were taken by Murdo Watson (Under 14, 11th Overall), Robbie Anderson (Under 16, Scottish Champion), William Dalziel (Under 18, 3rd Overall), Scott Waitt (Under 21, Runner Up) and Colin McFarlene (Masters, 31st Overall).
Kira Langmuir (under 12) and Paige Spence (under 10) took the younger girls age group races, run down the same course that the older racers competed on. Ian Menzies and Ross Inglis took the Under 12 and Under 10 boys races.