Borders cycle speedway team celebrating after winning four national titles

The Tweedbank-based club, only founded in 2022, returned from Dunfermline with one senior title and three junior ones, plus another three medals.

Their senior champion was Marianne Cameron, of St Boswells, in the women’s race over four laps of 80m, with Glasgow’s Alison Gilmour as runner-up and the Borderer’s clubmate Vicki Moyes, of Galashiels, third.

Their junior champions, after racing over three 80m laps, are Anna Emond, of St Boswells, at the double in the under-12 and under-14 classes for girls and Alexander Rudge, of Galashiels, in the under-14 boys’ race.

The club pulled off a clean sweep of podium places in the under-12 girls’ race, with St Boswells’ Esme Cameron placing second and Lauder’s Rowan Johnston third.

Cameron senior, the club’s treasurer, was delighted at their success at Fife Cycle Speedway, saying: “It was really fantastic to win so many medals and four Scottish Cycle Speedway Championships titles.

“The team have had brilliant results and go from strength to strength, thanks to the hard work and guidance of our excellent coach and team manager Trevor Bryant.”

Raiders deserve extra plaudits for their trophy haul in Fife, according to Cameron, was they were the only club competing without a home track to call their own.

“We are the only team in our league who don’t have a track to train on,” she said.

“We currently train at Tweedbank sports centre on grass instead of of the shale track that other teams use and is standard for cycle speedway racing.”

The club are hoping they won’t be without a home for too long, however, and are currently drawing up plans for a track at Tweedbank they reckon would cost about £230,000 and have submitted funding applications to SportScotland and ClubSport Borders.

Raiders’ 2024 season is now almost over, with one more league match to go, at Cramlington in Northumberland on Sunday, October 6, and a meeting in Tweedbank on a date to be confirmed, and they’ve launched a recruitment drive in a bid to add to their 19-strong membership ahead of the start of next season in spring 2025.

They train at Tweedbank on Fridays from 2pm to 3pm.

Anyone interested in joining up can email Bryant at [email protected] for further details.