The iconic University of Bristol Hill climb is back on Belmont Hill for another year. As with the past few years, we will be closing the road again to allow youth entrants, safer racing and a great atmosphere with spectators and a commentator up the climb. The climb itself is a true classic of Bristol, its fairly short (1.2 km @ 8.3 %) with some variation in the gradient, but is very accessible and a great climb for all levels of ability.
As always, we encourage you to bring your family and friends along to make some noise on the climb and witness some top quality pain faces. This year our HQ will be the WI hall in Backwell. There are two possible routes from the HQ, a slightly shorter main road route of 3.5km, or a slightly longer route (~4.5 km) along the bike path and quite roads (recommended for youth competitors). Routes will be included in the race manual.
As with previous years, the youth competition will start first with the first rider off at 9am. After the last youth rider, there will be a break in the schedule to allow youth competitors to descend the hill, meaning they will not have to take the diversion route. Please note that aside from this period we ask riders not to descend the hill during the road closure, riders racing up the hill will be expecting an clear and closed road so please do not descend whilst others are racing! Although this event commonly attracts a high quality field with multiple national champions racing in previous years, as a closed road event so close to Bristol, we really encourage riders of all abilities to give it a go.
With this in mind, alongside equal prizes for mens/womens podium and team prizes, we will be offering a prize for the fastest man and women who have not ridden a hill climb before (please highlight in the comments when entering if this applies to you!). For the youth riders, we will give out medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd for male and female for each age. Any questions, feel free to email me at rossdewar2005@gmail.com. See you on the hill!