On day eight of the Games, thousands of cheering supporters lined the streets of Glasgow and the surrounding areas to watch the Commonwealth’s finest cyclists take to the Time Trial course. Team Scotland’s female competitors Katie Archibald, Lucy Coldwell and Anna Turvey and Scotland’s only Male Time Trial rider, David Millar, all finished in the top nine.
All 31 Women and 60 Men were spurred on by screaming fans right the way round the course, waving flags and holding banners. The first Scot of the day to take to the start line was Lucy Coldwell, setting off 20th, closely followed by Anna Turvey, and finally Katie Archibald.
Caldwell crossed the line with a time of 44.03.40, putting her in the Charles Rennie Mackintosh inspired top three ‘hot seats’ at the time, where Anna Turvey came to join her with a very respectable time of 44.08.62. Archibald then crossed the line with a time of 43.30.01, also putting her into the top three at that point in the competition. The final hot seat places were taken by New Zealand’s Linda Villumsen, who won Gold, Silver went to England’s Emma Pooley and Bronze went to Australia’s Katrin Garfoot, putting Archibald in 5th, Coldwell in 8th and Turvey in 9th, in what was a World Class field.
Taking about the race, World Team Pursuit Champion Katiesaid: “I actually feel really good, I had far too much left at the end there. It’s a really long finishing straight and I suddenly realised, ‘Good God, look how fast a bike can go!’ I enjoyed the middle section with the lumps and the twists, that’s really what I love to ride and I just lost it in those long drags. I’ve been in time trials before where I’ve got the distance wrong and hit the wall and it’s kind of a good thing to do because you can see how to get through that but if that finishing straight had been a kilometre further I could have properly just emptied myself and I’m annoyed that I’ve not done that.
“The amazing thing was the number of people who recognised it was me and not just any punter on a bike. there was obviously a lot of ‘Go Scotland’ but it’s nice when you think that people have actually come out for the support have been watching your progress and things and actually makes you think it’s worth it, like ‘God these people care, time to put the boot down. Sunday is going to be the mad one”
2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games Gold medallist David Millar finished in 8th Position with a time of 49.56.23. England’s Alex Dowsett crossed line with a time of 47.41.78 to take the Gold, Australian Rohan Dennis Silver and Welsh rider Geraint Thomas Bronze.
Commenting on his performance Millar said: “I was pretty realistic about how I am at Time Trialling these days so I’m just looking forward to Sunday. I know where my fortes now lie and it’s not in Time Trialling in my old age, so the road race on Sunday should be my thing.
“It was like a Tour de France stage, it really was. The amount of people out there and Scottish flags and your name being cheered, I’ve never experienced anything like it and I think it’s going to be more of the same on Sunday, which would be amazing. I think having a home crowd on Sunday is going to make a big difference.”
The final Cycling event of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Road Race, will take place, on Sunday 3rd August in the centre of Glasgow.

Photo Credit: Rob Hardie