News & Features

Manchester Bicycle Club’s Chris Dyke broke the 58-year-old course record for the climb of Mam Nick in Derbyshire on Saturday, as he stormed to victory in Rutland CC’s event.

 

Dyke clocked 6-27.1 to break Peter Graham’s old mark for the course from 1958 – believed to be the longest standing hill-climb course record in the country.

 

Graham’s old record of 6-34.6 was set while beating Tom Simpson by one second in the 1958 BLRC Championships, so Dyke’s name will go down in illustrious history!

 

The day was mild and still although not perfect, with the course often offering riders a tail wind assist up the hill.

 

And as well as Dyke’s course record performance, the fastest female Rebecca Goodson (Sheffrec CC) is also believed to have broken the women’s course record with her time of 8-01.2, breaking Elizabeth Stedman’s previous best by 24 seconds. Stedman also improved her time this year.

 

Also in Derbyshire, Adam Kenway (Metaltek-Kuota) took victory in South Pennine Road Club’s Chris Storer Memorial hill-climb, staged on the AHC10 at Crich on Sunday.

 

The 29-year-old from nearby Belper clocked 1.18 for the 800-yard climb, taking the win by eight seconds from second-placed John Johnston (Claycross RT), while Hannah Pearson (Derby Mercury RC) was the fastest woman with 2.16.

 

Richard Bussell (RST-AeroCoach) repeated his 2015 victory to win Catford CC’s classic hill climb on Sunday.

 

Widely tipped to break Phil Mason’s 33-year-old course record, Bussell’s eventual time of 1.50.6 was a few seconds away from that mark, but was enough to beat James Lowden (Team ASL360) into second place, who recorded 1.53.4.

 

But Lowden turned around his morning’s defeat to Bussell (RST-Aerocoach) to win the Bec CC hill climb on Sunday afternoon.

 

2015 winner Maryka Sennema (Paceline RT) also repeated her Catford CC success of the previous year, recording 2.39.3, while Jocelyn Lowden (Lewes Wanderers CC) took the women’s prize in the afternoon’s Bec CC event with 2.21.4, beating Sennema by around six seconds.

 

Dan Evans (Team Elite) won both the Holme Valley Wheelers and Huddersfield Star Wheelers hill-climbs on Holme Moss and Jackson Bridge respectively, but he couldn’t repeat the feat 24 hours later when he was fourth in Lancashire RC’s climb on The Rake, with Joe Clark (Envelopemaster) taking the win by three seconds from Richard Handley (One Pro Cycling) and Kieran Wynne-Cattanach (Rhos on Sea CC).

 

NFTO Pro Cycling’s George Fowler was fastest up Hinton Hill in Gloucestershire as the Severn Road Club staged their event on Saturday. He clocked 1-50.6 for the 800-yard climb to win by 3.3 seconds from Glyndwr Griffiths (73 Degrees Bicycles).

 

And on Sunday, Bath CC staged their climb on the similarly named Hinton Hill – but this one is 17 miles south near Wellow.

 

Griffiths took the win in the Bath CC event by just five seconds with a time of 2-14, while Andrew Kirby (Univ of Bristol CC) was second.