THE GLORY OF GIRVAN

Continuing our series on the roads used by long lost Great British bike races, we turn our attention to Scotland, and the one and only Girvan 3-Day

- Simon Warren

For decades the small Scottish coastal town of Girvan was flooded with cyclists at Easter. Nestled on the South Aryshire coast, this town of around 6,000 people hosted one of the country’s biggest races and became a battle ground for the nation’s best amateurs and professionals. Over three days the peloton would aim to prove themselves and set up their season over the beautiful yet unforgiving terrain of Galloway Forest Park.

The race was founded in 1968 by Kilmarnock businessman and Wallacehill CC member George Miller, who stayed at the helm for 23 of its 42 years.

If you trawl back though old copies of Cycling Weekly you’ll read the tales from the Girvan. Stories of epic breaks over barren moors, of riders who finished, and I quote, “barely recognisable under a coating of grime and mud”. Stories of torrential rain falling from dawn to dusk and even stages cancelled because of snow. Paired with these reports would be photos of pained faces under leaden skies. Clearly this early season race was not for the faint of heart.

One of the first things I asked Miller was, “Was the weather always that bad?”

“No.” He replied emphatically. “It was colder back then, colder than the springs of today but we had good years and we had bad years. I’ll say this right away though, the weather was never an issue for the riders, it never put them off. They all came, they all came because they wanted to win the Girvan.”

A good performance at the Girvan caught the national coaches’ attention and paved the way to international team selection. The race provided a stepping stone for ambitious riders, many of whom went on to success in the British and World Championships, Commonwealth and Olympic Games.