THE year 2007 is a candidate for the most successful ever for Scottish cycling.
Our cyclists won three world titles and claimed one world record; and, for the first time, the country hosted a world championship – the mountain bike world championships in Fort William, slickly organised and played out in front of tens of thousands
of spectators, perched high up on the Nevis Range.
Yet it could also be described as a roller-coaster year, for the sport at large and in Scotland. The seemingly impossible happened: the Tour de France, which made a spectacular start in London, was dogged by even more doping scandals than the previous year, in the midst of which the sport's credibility seemed to be in tatters.
And in Scotland, cycling, despite being arguably the country's most successful sport still seems to be out of the mainstream as far as the Scottish Institute of Sport is concerned. It would also appear that the Meadowbank Velodrome, a facility that has nurtured many champions over 40 years, is destined to be lost, with no replacement planned by Edinburgh Council.
It was Meadowbank's most successful graduate – Chris Hoy – who made the point that if La Paz in Bolivia – one of the world's poorest cities – can support a cycling track, then why not Edinburgh?
It was to La Paz that Hoy, right, travelled in May for an assault on the world kilometre record. Fresh from winning both the keirin and kilo at the world championships in Majorca – where Scots Ross Edgar and Craig MacLean also medalled – Hoy was in the condition of his life to target Arnaud Tournant's awesome mark of 58.875 seconds, set on the same high altitude track in 2001.
Hoy had planned to arrive at altitude at the last minute, but his plane suffered hydraulic problems, turning a seven-hour journey into a 20-hour ordeal. Edinburgh rider's first attempt saw him a second up on Tournant after a lap, before slowing on the final lap to finish 28 hundredths of a second down. "My head blew off," said Hoy, "it was all I could do to keep pedalling."
Still, he was confident that the next day would yield the world record. He exploded out of the start gate, on a beautifully still day, and was again ahead after a lap, and two laps but as he flashed across the line the clock stopped at 58.880 – the second fastest kilo in history, but five-thousandths of a second slower than Tournant.
Six hours later, he returned to the velodrome to smash the world 500m record, taking more than a second from Arnaud Duble's mark with 24.758 seconds – a time that is likely to stand for years, if not decades.
Scotland's other world champion is 18-year-old Ruaridh Cunningham, whose performance in the junior world downhill title race was the highlight of a memorable week in Fort William. Cunningham came to the world championships leading the World Cup series.
Despite treacherous conditions, the boy from Stow seemed to float down the course, his only sticky moment being a collision with a photographer, before entering the Nevis Range arena to an almighty roar.
"I think I'm dreaming," said Cunningham, who started the season without funding, and had to buy his £3,000 bike out of his own pocket. While he didn't receive mainstream support, the Scottish Institute of Sport Foundation's investment, which allowed him to compete on the world circuit, paid off in style. Now, he is poised to sign a lucrative contract with a professional team for 2008.
The full article contains 601 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
