R9 Little Sweetpea Gardens/BBR Opticians Hill Climb Series: Hafren CC Pentre’r Beirdd climb

The final Championship of The Little Sweetpea Gardens/BBR Hill Climb Series was settled as David Scott took a commanding win in Round 9, Hafren CC’s Pentre’r Beirdd Hill Climb. This climb based on the A490 averages 7.2%, but that maks a couple of sharper pulls, especially around the hairpin bend which makes the legs quake. Despite a winning effort of 3 minutes 28 seconds to take victory by 15 seconds from Solihull CC’s James Pearce, Scott could not best Kirk Vickers’ 2020 Course Record of 3:22. The Mule CC rider elevated himself into 4^th place overall in the Championship with Silver and Bronze medals still in play despite Vickers sealing Gold the afternoon before.

Scott was pleased with his morning’s work, stating: “I was happy to get a good win on there, there were quite favourable conditions. It suits me quite well because it’s quite steep the whole way and you’ve just got to go as hard as you can for the first half and hang on for the second half, which I managed to do. I felt like I paced it pretty well and got a significant margin on it this time, though not enough to beat Kirk’s record. It was good to have so many local riders taking part; we rode over as a club”. Scott’s last comment refers to Mule putting out six riders, with team mate James Davies helping himself to third spot on the morning with a fine 3:45, just two seconds off Pearce, but also taking an even bigger win of 37 seconds in the Veteran’s Championship from Paramount CRT’s Chris Riley. Davies Ws experiencing this climb for the first time and still has a chance of taking Silver with two rounds remaining. He stated: “It’s a hard climb, particularly around the hairpin bend which is tough; it was about digging in and pushing on. I was surprised to be first Veteran by over half a minute, great to have a lot of club mates taking part and putting on a good show as a club”.  

With Neil Coles third Veteran in 4:47 he can no longer catch Newport Shropshire CC’s John Hines, who took Veteran’s Gold without turning a pedal thanks to three wins and three runner-up spots putting him in a now unassailable position. Hines was delighted to take Gold, but his comments reveal that he’s not going to be resting on his laurels: “I’ve really enjoyed racing the series so far: great venues, great organisation from all the clubs and wonderful camaraderie from all the competitors. I’m really happy to win the Gold medal but I know I’ll need to work very hard to hold onto it next year as there’s some super quick Veterans out there and I didn’t have it all my own way by any means! I’m looking forward to the final two rounds next month”.

In the Juniors Mid Shropshire Wheelers’ Ben Pierce added a further 20 points to his tally which keeps him in contention for the remaining medal places after taking the Junior win in 3:47, 10 seconds ahead of Junior Series winner Jack Young, with the youngster finishing a strong 4^th overall on the strength of this climb. Pierce is experiencing the hill climb format for the first time and seems to have taken to it well, commenting: “I enjoyed taking part; it’s the first year I’ve taken part in hill climbs. The event was well organised”.

Pierce isn’t the only rider trying their luck on the vertical axis for the first time with Market Drayton CC’s Alison Dockney showing why she has won Gold in her maiden season with a 58 second margin over Mule CC’s Sally Ellis. Dockney stopped the watch on 4:27 in her second race in just 18 hours: “A magical overnight recovery and I felt good, found some power and was pleased with the result. I just managed to hold off coach Dave Scott on the line thanks to much encouragement! Thank you to hosts Hafren CC”.

Full result:

Veterans:

Women’s:

Juniors:

Cumulative standings after nine rounds

Overall Top 10:

Veteran’s Top 10:

Junior Top 10:

Women’s standings: