Melanie Rowe and Ahron Dick won the women's and open races at the 18th Gifford Road Race on Saturday 28 March, the opening round of both the Alba Road Series and the Scotia Series
Melanie Rowe and Ahron Dick won the women’s and open races at the 18th Gifford Road Race on Saturday, the opening round of both the Alba Road Series and the Scotia Series, as crosswinds in East Lothian split fields, shaped tactics, and ultimately decided both results.
Featured image:McCart Media
Report
The wind was the story before either race had turned a wheel. Crosswinds across the exposed East Lothian circuit made position a constant pressure – on the finish straight, on the long stretches towards Haddington, through every passing lap of the 13.35-kilometre loop – and the riders who read those conditions quickest were the ones still at the front when it mattered.
Women’s race
The women’s race went first, across four laps, and it drew a field of 41 starters that the organiser described as among the largest women’s road race fields in Scotland for at least a decade. Handsling Alba Development Road Team sent three riders – Arabella Blackburn, Anna Flynn and Amelia Tyler – and their collective quality made them the obvious force. The peloton was shedding riders by the end of the first lap, Alba rolling off the front with it.
Five riders broke clear: the three Alba riders plus Lydia Louw (Solas Cycling) and Melanie Rowe (CAMS majaco). With three riders in the move, Alba’s position looked straightforward. The tailwind on the finish straight complicated it. The group fractured lap by lap on the way past the line, Rowe consistently at the front whenever they crossed it, and at one stage she and Blackburn had opened 10 to 15 seconds on the other three before the race came back together in the final half-lap.
When it did, the sprint was brief and decisive. Rowe powered clear of the Alba riders, Flynn took second – as she had in the inaugural Gifford women’s race a year earlier, also after driving the decisive move – and Blackburn, making her domestic road race debut for the team after winning junior world and European team pursuit titles on the track in 2025, finished third. Tyler was fourth, Louw fifth. Rowe, who is still a junior, had beaten the UCI Continental weight of Handsling Alba from a five-rider move in which they had three representatives.
Melanie Rowe (camsmajaco). Image: Andy Smith
Open race
The open race, over nine laps and 120 kilometres, followed a similar pattern: wind forcing decisions, a break eventually sticking, and the result going to the rider who moved at precisely the right moment. Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT arrived with 12 riders and covered every significant early attack; their presence throughout the afternoon built the platform from which Ahron Dick would eventually win.
Around 55 kilometres in, a group of six established itself with real cohesion: Dick, Logan Maclean, Finn Mason (Hubo–Scott Cycling Team), Jack Hartley and Joel Hurt (both Moonglu SpatzWear), and Deetray Jarret (Vigo–Rías Baixas). The break opened a one-minute gap before the race was briefly halted. On the restart, the six recommitted and stretched their lead to two minutes.
On the final lap, Mason attacked on the Bolton climb at the feed zone – the habitual flashpoint of the race, a sharp ramp curling through the trees before the long drag to the summit. The break chased him down. When the move sat up, Dick countered immediately; a hesitation behind gave him the road he needed and he took the line alone. Jarrett finished second, Hartley third. Mason, who had thrown the decisive punch, came in fourth.
Ahron Dick (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT). Image: Andy Smith
“The team had numbers in every move,” Dick says. “Eventually a group of six including me started to open up a gap around 55km in and everyone was committed.” On the finale: “On the last lap Finn Mason made an attack, we were all on it – once that sat up I countered it, bit of hesitation from behind and it quickly opened up.” After what he describes as a mentally tough winter, getting back to the top of a podium, he says, “feels so special.”
Melanie Rowe and Ahron Dick won the women’s and open races at the 18th Gifford Road Race on Saturday, the opening round of both the Alba Road Series and the Scotia Series, as crosswinds in East Lothian split fields, shaped tactics, and ultimately decided both results.
Featured image: McCart Media
Report
The wind was the story before either race had turned a wheel. Crosswinds across the exposed East Lothian circuit made position a constant pressure – on the finish straight, on the long stretches towards Haddington, through every passing lap of the 13.35-kilometre loop – and the riders who read those conditions quickest were the ones still at the front when it mattered.
Women’s race
The women’s race went first, across four laps, and it drew a field of 41 starters that the organiser described as among the largest women’s road race fields in Scotland for at least a decade. Handsling Alba Development Road Team sent three riders – Arabella Blackburn, Anna Flynn and Amelia Tyler – and their collective quality made them the obvious force. The peloton was shedding riders by the end of the first lap, Alba rolling off the front with it.
Five riders broke clear: the three Alba riders plus Lydia Louw (Solas Cycling) and Melanie Rowe (CAMS majaco). With three riders in the move, Alba’s position looked straightforward. The tailwind on the finish straight complicated it. The group fractured lap by lap on the way past the line, Rowe consistently at the front whenever they crossed it, and at one stage she and Blackburn had opened 10 to 15 seconds on the other three before the race came back together in the final half-lap.
When it did, the sprint was brief and decisive. Rowe powered clear of the Alba riders, Flynn took second – as she had in the inaugural Gifford women’s race a year earlier, also after driving the decisive move – and Blackburn, making her domestic road race debut for the team after winning junior world and European team pursuit titles on the track in 2025, finished third. Tyler was fourth, Louw fifth. Rowe, who is still a junior, had beaten the UCI Continental weight of Handsling Alba from a five-rider move in which they had three representatives.
Open race
The open race, over nine laps and 120 kilometres, followed a similar pattern: wind forcing decisions, a break eventually sticking, and the result going to the rider who moved at precisely the right moment. Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT arrived with 12 riders and covered every significant early attack; their presence throughout the afternoon built the platform from which Ahron Dick would eventually win.
Around 55 kilometres in, a group of six established itself with real cohesion: Dick, Logan Maclean, Finn Mason (Hubo–Scott Cycling Team), Jack Hartley and Joel Hurt (both Moonglu SpatzWear), and Deetray Jarret (Vigo–Rías Baixas). The break opened a one-minute gap before the race was briefly halted. On the restart, the six recommitted and stretched their lead to two minutes.
On the final lap, Mason attacked on the Bolton climb at the feed zone – the habitual flashpoint of the race, a sharp ramp curling through the trees before the long drag to the summit. The break chased him down. When the move sat up, Dick countered immediately; a hesitation behind gave him the road he needed and he took the line alone. Jarrett finished second, Hartley third. Mason, who had thrown the decisive punch, came in fourth.
“The team had numbers in every move,” Dick says. “Eventually a group of six including me started to open up a gap around 55km in and everyone was committed.” On the finale: “On the last lap Finn Mason made an attack, we were all on it – once that sat up I countered it, bit of hesitation from behind and it quickly opened up.” After what he describes as a mentally tough winter, getting back to the top of a podium, he says, “feels so special.”
Results
Open National B
Women’s Regional A
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