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Magnus Davidson


Magnus Davidson, originally uploaded by ccgd.

Here is a portrait shot of the lad, waiting for the start of the "Future Stars Race" in George Square Glasgow, as part of the tour of Britain. People shots are something I'm working on, but as I photo Magnus a lot, he is quite used to it, and pretty unselfconscious. In this case there is no awareness of me at all, as I was a fair bit away using a zoom, and he was pretty focused on the race.

The event itself was pretty cool. The Tour of Britain was leading from Glasgow Green the next day, and there was a Grand Prix city race around George Square the previous evening. Before the main event there was a Youth "Future Stars" event where the best young Scottish cyclists got a chance to race in front of a huge crowd in the centre of Scotland's largest city.

Magnus was just back from a weeks training and racing in Belgium with the Scotland Braveheart Squad, and was keen to do well. The race was 25 mins + 5 laps. He led the race for most of early stages, then settled down in 2nd and 3rd place waiting for the final sprint, but when it came his legs were just too tired from the the previous week's intensive work.... He came in 5th.

I was pretty proud though - he gave it all, and by gosh did he look the part.

There was a nice postscript - he was invited to be join a small group of kids who led the start of the tour of Britain in Glasgow Green the next day.