I'm not going to lie. I'd never heard of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series until a few months ago when an email dropped into my inbox from the local council library who happened to mention it and that it was going to be coming to Motherwell. Apparently, it's in it's 7th year! But this is the first time that they've dropped by the Scottish town (and officially, on the day, the first dry round that they'd had! Well done whoever bribed the weatherman!)
If you're like me and not too clear on what it is, let me try and explain:
Nine teams battle it out in the Series across the ten rounds for the overall title and to be crowned the fastest and best team in Britain. However,it’s all about the teams. Just because a team’s rider has crossed the finished line doesn’t mean that their team has won.. They get the honour and glory of the individual win, but the aim is for the teams to complete the race in the lowest cumulative time with their five riders, making them the fastest team on the night 
Each round will also sees selected guest teams joining in to bring local interest to the Series and to provide them with the opportunity to race on the high-profile stage of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series to aid the development of new teams and younger riders.
All clear now? Good! Now where were we…
So the afternoon was taken up by support events for run by Scottish Cycling which provided viewing before the main event, starting with the Women's Matrix Fitness GP Series before the main Pearl Izumi Tour Series men event. I only got to see a wee bit of the main events as I was volunteering* at it. It was only when I watched it back on TV (very impressed on the turn around time on that, even if it was just highlights! 24 hours?! Can I have some tips please as my videos usually can take up to a week!) I realised how fast the event was. It appeared to be a very well attended event from my point of view. And clean up was already starting before the men's presentations were being made.
I did overhear people complaining about the roads being closed, that it should have been held on the weekend or on the Monday as it was a bank holiday. After all, it was a school night, who was going to trek down there when kids had school the next day…a fair few from what I saw. To be honest, I don't think it was going to matter when they hosted the event, there was always going to be someone who would complain. Folks were saying that it should have been held in Strathclyde Park but I don't think the challenge would be there. And to be fair, the clean up started almost as soon as the last riders had been confirmed returned. 
Why should we be hiding events behind 'closed doors' as such in parks & stadiums? Why not bring more events to the streets and show what we can do with our area? It’s not as if they happen all the time. If it was all the time, I could under stand, but once in a blue moon? There should be a community pride in that we got to host something like this. I'm hoping that there's a chance that the Series might make a return to the town in future years. In the meantime, there’s always 2017 and the British Transplant Games to look forward to coming to the area! And then the first European Sports Championships in 2018!
*Motherwell provided the most volunteers (at the time!) of the series! Go Scotland!
Photos: © Vhari Lannigan. More photos are here
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