R4 Little Sweetpea Gardens/BBR Opticians Hill Climb Series: Oswestry Paragon CC Mount Road climb

The fearsome Mount Road in Oswestry saw the Women’s Course Record broken and a narrow win for Mule CC’s David Scott in Round 4 of the Little Sweetpea Gardens/BBR Opticians Hill Climb Series promoted by Oswestry Paragon. The 1.65 mile course is one of the longest in the Series – but it’s the approach to the last half mile that makes the heart sink, unusually rearing up dead straight and giving riders a sense of dread for the 17% test to come. With a rolling first mile and even a stretch of downhill pacing on this climb is all, and Scott got it right with a fine effort of 6 minutes 5.33 seconds to take the win by just over three seconds from Fibrax Wrexham RC’s Ben Goodfellow.

Scott, a latecomer to the Series hauled himself not only up the climb but up the standings too under the watchful eye of Series leader Kirk Vickers who was keeping his powder dry for the second event ina  double-header weekend, as the 2019 Series Champion makes a late challenge for the title. He stated: “I was pleased to win, it’s always a hard climb to judge but got it about right. Great to have so many local riders enter on the line”.

Goodfellow stopped the watch on 6:05.36 and was pleased with runner-up spot, stating: “The Oswestry hill climb was a great event. It was only my third ever hill climb and the others were three years ago. It’s a very different kind of fun (pain) to my normal long distance Triathlon’s. I hope to do more similar events this year and definitely plan on returning next year to close those three seconds to first”. Goodfellow was caught in the middle of a Mule CC pincer attack as Junior Louis Lermite took a solid third spot Overall as well as the Junior victory in a fabulous 6:15.81, just seeing off another Junior Ben Pierce by a narrow 0.98 seconds. Lermite advanced to 6^th in the Overall standings on the strength of his ride as the Llangollen-based 16 year-old showed just why hill climbs are perfectly suited to lightweight youngsters. After taking two straight wins in the Juniors Lermite has also advanced into the Bronze medal position in that Championship; and the relatively long length of this ride clearly suited his style as he stated: “The climb was longer than the others so far, so better for me. I tried to put effort in on the steep bits and then recover a bit on that flat downhill section. Well done Dave, and also Rebecca for the course record”.

Lermite’s comments referred to Rebecca Richardson who showed off her form – and her new lightweight wheels with rarely seen polyethylene spokes weighing in at just 750 grams and which she firmly attributes her personal bests to this year. Richardson sliced nearly 11 seconds off the Women’s Course Record previously held by National Champion Becky Lewis in a fantastic 6:39.43 with a huge effort that shows her preparation for the 2021 Nationals is right on track: ”I was very happy with the 11 seconds off the Course Record and taking it off previous National Champion Becky Lewis. I was dying at the end to the line – I could have stopped 20 metres to the line! It was brilliant to see so many riders and spectators on Mount Road, thank you for the hard work of the organisers”.

Taking the honours for the County was Market Drayton CC’s Alison Dockney, ending her afternoon on 7:30.46 and pull out a large 22 point lead at the top of the Women’s standings. This is Dockney’s first season at hill climbing, and she has clearly taken the format to heart: “A great event hosted by Oswestry Paragon. I was happy with how I paced it and with the time. Well done Dave Scott; and Rebecca for the women’s course record”!

In the Veteran’s standings Series leader John Hines didn’t take the win for the first time after being usurped by another Mule CC rider, James Davies. Davies has experience on this hill and having local knowledge paid dividends as he crossed the line in 6:37.12, just 3/100’s of a second off 7^th spot, with Hines happy to have stretched his Veteran’s Series lead to 24 points making the journey for the Newport CC rider worthwhile. He was impressed by the organisation and was generous in his post-race comments: “A tough one! A great event and fantastic support, good conditions and there were some really fast times. I feel like I got my best effort out on the day so congratulations to James who put in a brilliant ride”!

Full:

Veterans on Actual:

Women:

Juniors:

Cumulative standings after four rounds

Overall Top 10:

Veteran’s Top 10:

Junior standings:

Women’s standings: