R6 BBR Hill Climb Series: SCCA Homer Bank climb

Hayley Wells took the first medal in the BBR Hill Climb Series at the earliest possible juncture in Round 6, Shropshire Cycling Clubs Association’s Homer Bank climb. Wells increased her tally to the maximum possible 120 points in this best 6 from 11 Series and took BBR Female Gold with a fabulous effort of 2 minutes 42.83 seconds. Having raced the longest hill in the Series just 24 hours earlier she took the markedly different shortest climb at just ½ mile long in her stride ahead of Claire Blackwell-Smyth in 3:58.63, recapturing the title of Shropshire Female Hill Climb Champion which she won in 2022. Wells was ecstatic about taking the title so early, but showed in her comments that whatever this climb lacks in distance it makes up for in personality: “A super-short effort which always seems to hurt the most! The plan was to get sub-3 which I managed comfortably with the help of a tailwind – thanks to SCCA! I’m absolutely delighted to have won the Hill Climb trophy back this year, a shame Becky Griffiths wasn’t about for a battle after last year being so close, but it’s been great to fly the female flag along with Claire at the races! I went out with a plan to PB on every course which somehow was a success, apart from Ludlow where I matched my previous time. I’ve definitely got a love/hate with this type of racing, but a great test of VO₂ and a fun way to end the season after all the time trials”.

In the Overall competition eyes were on the battle between Tomos Hales and Dave Scott, two previous Series winners, with Scott 3-2 up for bragging rights over the first five rounds. Hales levelled the score to three apiece after becoming only the third rider to dip below two minutes since this course was inaugurated in 2020, although he didn’t challenge Kirk Vickers’ 1:52.56 Course Record time, which has stood since that very first event. Hales stopped the watch on 1:58.59 to see off Scott’s challenge of 2:02.88 on a climb that suits his style: “This is my type of climb, short and sharp! I have a good game plan for Homer Bank and save a good kick for the super steep section at the end. I was happy to take the win and finally get under two minutes for the climb; thanks to Dave Fletcher and Rita Taylor for organising”. Scott had to be content with runner-up spot this time, but probably did himself no favours with a 60 mile training ride in the morning and a 25 mile ride to get to the event – needed to be repeated post-event to get home. He stated: “I love the climb and achieved my goal of going faster than last year. Unfortunately so did Tomos who flew up Homer – a great ride and impressive power”.

Mid Shropshire Wheelers Veteran Will Witterick took third Overall and the Veterans win by a very close margin to increase his points tally to 116 with a 2:23.35 effort – beating main challenger for the title Paul Bailey of Bridgnorth CC by just 0.22 of a second. That two point advantage may yet prove decisive, but Witterick was in no doubt that Lady Luck was on his side: “I’m a very lucky boy. I had a casual and muddled approach to a climb that demands decisiveness and precision. Apologies to Paul Bailey for the coin-toss margin of victory; my luck was in”. Bailey meanwhile was left rueing not respecting the deceptive final ramp and not pushing just that little bit harder on the short plateau to the finish line: “I was gutted to miss out on the Veterans win by 2/10ths of a second. I started well, but blew my barns doors off 100 metres before the finish line – maybe it wasn’t a big chain ring climb after all”!

In a discipline that is particularly suited to Juniors just one rode on the evening, with Ben Southgate crossing the line in 2:28.37 to take 5^th spot overall in his first appearance of the 2024 Series. His post-race comments were brief: “I gave it my all, and it paid off”.

Full:

Veterans:

Females:

Juniors:

Cumulative standings after six rounds

Overall Top 10:

Veterans Top 10:

Female standings:

Junior standings: