We are the Road Crew!
FVO athletes set a new club record, as they picked up half the available Scottish Urban League titles amongst 16 podium places following the league final at Newhaven, Edinburgh, one better than the previous record haul.
The juniors have been dominant across the series this year, taking nine of the 12 available medals including all four class wins. Ethan Baikie defended his Young Junior Men title, with younger brother Oscar in bronze medal position. There was a late twist in the tale, as it became apparent after the presentation that ESOC's Luke Durnell hadn't been credited with his 4th place in the August race at Livingston, where he ran as an independent athlete, and the extra points moved him from 4th into silver, with Sean Truswell dropping out of the medals.
In the Young Junior Women class, Sophie Edward stepped up from 2024 silver to claim the title from Lucy Finch, with the final race proving decisive, and Emma Cheyne took the bronze for a full FVO podium. ,The Junior (U16) classes saw Fraser Cheyne and Hanna Brindley confirmed as champions, with Lucas Baikie and Esme Finch in the silver slot.
There's a full FVO podium in Veteran Men, which saw Will Hensman take his 4th title in five years, having raced in Men's Open in the intervening year and Mark Johnston and Rob Truswell were also in on the action in 2nd and 3rd. Rachel Kirkland extended her winning record in Veteran Women to four years with another overall success.
On the subject of winning records, there's not many as distinguished as that of Alison Cunningham. Since moving into the SuperVet ranks in 2017, Alison has won 54 of her 57 races and she's the league champion for the eighth time; ironically, two of her three reversals have come in the Stirling City Race, hosted by FVO. Heather Fellbaum made it an FVO double on the podium with the silver medal.
And finally, having dominated the East Midlands League for years, Liz Godfree is now firmly back in her homeland, and had the HyperVet bronze medal this time round. The 2026 league gets underway in January with the Edinburgh City Race, and FVO will close the programme in Stirling in early November.