Old Shoe Hill Climb

Andrew Feather (HuntBikeWheels.com) and Illi Gardner (Wahoo Endurance Zone) were fastest male and female riders at the National Hill-Climb Championships in North Wales on Sunday.

The 1.6-kilometre long event saw hundreds of riders tackle the Old Horseshoe Pass near Llangollen, with Wrexham Road Club and Velotik organising the event sponsored by DC Legal.co.uk.

Feather clocked 5-29.54 for the course to hold off defending champion Tom Bell (High North Performance) by just over one second, while 2016 National 10-Mile Championship winner Richard Bussell (AeroCoach) was third, another 16 seconds back.

Gardner’s victory was somewhat different – she proved a whopping 23 seconds faster than Mary Wilkinson, the Team Boompods veteran who has now finished second on all five occasions she has ridden the National Hill-Climb Championships. Third fastest female was Bithja Jones, the Pankhurst Cycles rider who won the title in 2021.

Heavy rain overnight dried up before the event began, but it left the surface wet and slippery with low tyre pressures the order of the day.

“I was a bit worried when it was throwing it down with rain about 11am, but fortunately it dried up in the last hour,” said 37-year-old Feather. “I had a good tailwind on the first section which was nice.

“Getting the win caps off a really good season. It was an amazing atmosphere, loads of people packed in the last 300 metres, and I’m really happy with the win.

“I had a couple of rest days in the week before to make sure the legs were nice and rested, it went to plan and I managed to get in a nice strong finish. I think I did about 515 watts for 5 minutes 29sec so I was really pleased.

“I’ve ridden the climb before and knew what it was like. I knew it was important not to go out too hard early on, you don’t want to burn your bridges too early and save something for the top.”

And Gardner echoed Feather’s thoughts about the crowds.

“The atmosphere was amazing, there were so many people in the last two minutes cheering us on to the finish,” said the 23-year-old from Cardiff.

“When we were warming up it was chucking it down, but it cleared up half an hour before the start which was lucky, and there was a tailwind too and not too cold.

“The roads were wet but it wasn’t raining, I got a slight bit of wheel slip when I stood up but nothing too bad, it just needed a lower pressure in the tyres.

“I definitely tried not to think too much about the competition. Obviously Bithja and Mary are really strong riders, but Mary hasn’t done too many events this year so I didn’t know how she would go. But I try not to think about other people and focus on my own effort.”

In other categories Tomos Pattinson (Halesowen A&CC) successfully defended his junior boys title in a time of 6-07.60 which was 28 seconds better than runner-up Ryan Williams (Beeston CC), while the fastest junior girl was Ellie Mitchinson (CC Ashwell) with 8-31.86, giving her victory by 41 seconds from Maia Howell (Matlock CC).

The team awards went to Team Lifting Gear Products in the men’s event, while Wahoo Endurance Zone p/b Le Col were the best female team.

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