Last Thursday evening saw a brief spell of summer following a day of heavy rain and hail showers. It proved almost a perfect evening for the start of this year’s Hill Climb Series. Riders had to contend with a light wind on the climb but were able to recover in sunshine at the finish against a distant backdrop of Pen y Fan and Corn Du on the Brecon Beacons, both showing patches of snow.

Everyone was pleased to see Gwyn Humphreys and Carol Dietman acting as timekeepers once again and Simon Iles gave each rider a good, strong push-off at the start.

First rider away in the first competition of the year was young Ethan Derrick. The fitness gained from his circuit racing and track competitions [ 4th place in his age group and 5th overall in the Devil in the recent schools track championships] was soon obvious to all. He was first across the finish line and spent most of his recovery time watching other competitors fail to improve on his time of 13 minutes and 53 seconds. Eventually he was pipped by visitor John Hughes with 13-47 although Paul Harries [seen below] once again came out on top with 13-43 providing a very close finish.

All riders enjoyed the event and left looking forward to next week’s 5 mile time-trial. Steve Williams left to go to work but smiling, having gained fourth place. A few photos are in the Gallery and the full result in Results.