The 2005 Scottish XC Series is ready to roll, with the first round taking place at Glentress Forest on 3 April. There’ll be another six races after that, with Round 4 doubling as the Scottish Championships. The venues are spread all round Scotland and racing is expected to be highly competitive – the Elite fields will be hoping to catch the eye of the Scottish selectors for the Commonwealth games.

The full schedule is:

• Round 1: 3/4/2005 – Glentress, Peebles
• Round 2: 1/5/2005 – Fort William
• Round 3: 29/5/2005 – Dalbeattie
• Round 4 and Championships: 26/6/2005 – Contin, Inverness
• Round 5: 7/8/2005 – Kelburn Country Park, Glasgow
• Round 6: 28/8/2005 – Drumlanrig, Dumfries
• Round 7: 25/9/2005 – Aviemore

All the usual categories and age groups will be available, including a schools’ race programme and beginners’ fun races. Entries are cheaper if you get in early and if you pre-enter the whole series you get seven races for the price of six.

Need to know more? Full details and entry forms are available at www.sxc.org.uk.