CHARLESTOWN rider Joe Nally beat the wet weather last Sunday to win his fourth successive Scottish Youth Road Race Championship in Stirling.

The 15-year-old Woodmill High School pupil continued his impressive form this summer by finishing 0.024 seconds ahead of second-placed Stephen Dent in the under-16s closed road criterium race around the city-centre streets.

A sprint finish saw Nally over the line, watched by cycling legend Graeme Obree, in a race which was shortened from 45 minutes to 25 before a final five laps of the 1.2 mile circuit. This was due to heavy rain that also saw six entrants fail to finish.

The Hardie Bikes racer's focus now turns to next month's UK Schools Games in Manchester where he will compete for Scotland on the track at the National Cycling Centre.

Having also won the road criterium stage of the three-day Errigal International Youth Tour in Ireland and performed well during a series of road races in Spain last month, the youngster is in good form. However, he told Press Sport, "The Schools Games will be one of the biggest events I'll have been involved in so I'm really nervous. It will be good to go and experience a multi-sport event for the first time, but I'm not as good on the track as I am on the road. I've not got a huge hope of winning anything myself and it'll be more about helping my team-mates, but it will be good to see what happens.

"I was really pleased to win on Sunday and although purple and blue is not really my colour, I'm sure I can get used to it! For me it was very short as I'm used to races last an hour and a half or even longer, and I found it a lot more intense.

"I had planned to break away from the peloton but it didn't happen because it was a tight field. It came down to a sprint and I managed to win by three or four inches, and I have to think about the fact I've won it four times in a row!"

He continued, "I've not had much time to relax this summer as I had one day at home when I came back from Spain before we drove to Ireland. It is one of the hardest races I have ever done and in the last stage I gave it everything. It was a 40-minute race with five laps at the end, and with half a lap to go I made a break and managed to win. I was one of the youngest in the age group so I was really happy with that. In Spain, there was never less than 60 people in a race and my best finishes were fifth, sixth, eighth and seventh. I wasn't expected to win like last year so it was about showing what I can do. The weather was difficult - some races there were thunderstorms, in others it was over 40 degrees. But it was a great experience for me."

Nally's Hardie Bikes team-mate Graeme Kelly also impressed in the Stirling event, winning the 16-lap category four beginners race in a time of 2:46.078.