Highs and lows for Scotland SHI team in Lancashire

The Scottish senior team gathered over 8th-9th September for the annual international match against Wales, Ireland and England. The venue this year was Hurstwood near Burnley in Lancashire.

Rough tussocky grass over complex contour detail as a legacy of the area’s mining history was the order of the day. Despite heavy rain the visibility was good and the open area allowed good competitive racing.

Alexander Chepelin was the star of the individual race, winning M21 at the first time of asking. He led a very strong Scottish contingent who swept the podium with Ali McLeod in 2nd and Scott Fraser in 3rd. In M20 Alex Carcas and Joe Wright finished 2nd and 3rd to tie the class with England, an especially impressive run for Joe making his senior debut despite still being an M18.

There were strong individual runs in the ladies classes, notably Hollie Orr 2nd on W21 and Eilidh Campbell 3rd on W20 however we came up short on the overall scores, giving England the advantage going into the relay.

The relay was held the following day on the same area, albeit with a small extension into some mature pine forest for contrast. Again it was a story of some good performances but not enough consistency across the team and we came up short in both classes, with England running well to score a perfect 1-2 in each.

Next year the SHI will be held in South Wales. We will gather our strength, learn from our mistakes and fight for the win again!