A high school teacher from Lanarkshire is riding a wave of success after taking the fastest female finisher title at Etape Loch Ness for a third year.
Despite heavy rain and high winds, Catriona Lockie finished the 66-mile closed road sportive in an impressive time of 03:02:43.
Six thousand cyclists from 20 countries signed up to take on the scenic race round Loch Ness on April 23, with participants of all abilities coming from Scotland and the UK and as far afield as the USA, Canada, United Arab Emirates, China, Australia and South Africa.
Incredibly, East Kilbride-born Catriona, who teaches at Arran High School midweek before returning home to Paisley, had completed a 45-mile race in the Scottish National Womens Road Race Series the day before taking on Etape and winning.
Commenting on this year's result, she said: "This year I finished in three hours and two minutes which is actually the slowest I've done it out of the three times I've won it. But that wasn't surprising, everyone was slower this year because of the weather conditions.
"I was really pleased with my time anyway. I think in those conditions to get close to three hours is still really good. The time that I got the course record was my fastest time of two hours and 54 minutes.
Catriona, 31, added: "Etape is a really popular race. Part of the reason I like it so much is its a closed road event and the scenery is really nice and you go down the side of Loch Ness. This year I wasn't really able to focus on the scenery as much because of the weather. The rain was quite heavy and it was pretty windy and cold so I had my head down more.
"I was actually racing the day before at the Scottish National Womens Road Race Series. The day before Etape was round one in Ayr. So I did a 45-mile race then got in the car and drove to Inverness for the 65-mile Etape - I was pretty tired!"
The course includes the King of the Mountain, which is located after Fort Augustus, 34 miles (55km) into the route, and consists of a 4.8 mile (7.72 km) climb to the top of the Glendoe summit. The fastest male and female for this section are crowned King and Queen of the Mountain and are presented with a special jersey by former Olympic and Scottish Commonwealth Games road cyclist turned commentator Brian Smith.
Catriona has signed up to take on five races in the Scottish National Womens Road Race Series with the next monthly event coming up at the end of May.
She went on: "I did Etape for the first time in 2019. Up until that point I hadn't really done much serious cycling or training. When I did it in 2019 I was the 15th female finisher which encouraged me to train more seriously to improve on my results.
"I came back two years later with the hope of getting into the top three. I had been training really hard so I exceeded my expectations and managed to come first and break the course record. And I managed to win it the following year as well.
"Since then my training has progressed. It gets slightly harder each year and I feel I'm improving all the time."
A typical training week sees Catriona undergo two tough indoor sessions on her Turbo Trainer to increase power and speed. During the winter she'll add a session at the gym and every Saturday morning she takes part in a group ride in East Kilbride where she is the only female rider.
"The group ride in East Kilbride is probably what prepares me best for a race like Etape because it's the same kind of distance", said Catriona.
"We leave from East Kilbride and do 60 miles as hard and as fast as you can. It's mainly a bunch of guys so I just go and try and hang on for as long as I can every week.
"The group are all really supportive towards me and they always encourage me to try and keep up with them and go faster every week, so that's really helped me improve and prepare for Etape."
Fastest finishers were presented with their prizes by Depute Provost of Inverness, Councillor Jackie Hendry.
As part of the event, £200,000 has been raised for charity partner Macmillan Cancer Support so far by almost 800 riders who were participating for the charity, taking the total raised for the charity since 2014 to £1.88m.
Malcolm Sutherland, event director of Etape Loch Ness, said: “Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Etape Loch Ness 2023. It was great to welcome people from all over the world to the Highland capital, and to see them enjoy Scotland’s largest closed road cycle sportive."
The 2024 Etape Loch Ness will take place on April 28. Entry typically sells out within hours so those interested in signing up can register their interest now at www.etapelochness.com.
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