Bristol South CC were the organisers of the final round of this season’s WTTA Hardrider series, which took place on the slopes of Burrington Coombe in the Mendips. 46 riders were greeted by a bright morning but very low temperatures at the bottom of the valley. Some of the top hillclimb specialists in the country were present, getting into form for the forthcoming Nationals. There were three representatives of the Gillingham Wheelers, Simon Rouse, James Chant and Chris Mullett with Simon emerging fastest in 23rd place with a time of 9 minutes 23. James Chant was fighting against a back injury as well as the gradient and was thirty seconds slower than he managed the previous week, finishing 27th with 9.35. Chris was 37th with 10.47, just behind Steve Way (Ratae CC) who was one of several fixed-wheel riders. Steve’s time was 10.32. The overall winner was Tejvan Pettinger (Sri Chinmoy CT) in 7.10. Full results
here, and there is some more video footage from Mike Smith
here.
The entry for the 2010 National Hillclimb is finalised now, and includes Simon Rouse amongst the list. Full details here
This weekend saw the fourth and final South DC Interclub Hillclimb, this time at Whiteways Hill at East Lulworth. The previous events have seen very good turnouts and this weekend featured 31 riders from various clubs, including Simon Rouse and James Chant from GDW. Simon had an eventful morning, suffering a puncture before the start and then his chain slipped off on the climb. He then went back down for another go, had another puncture at the bottom of the climb and had to walk back to the HQ. Hopefully he has used up all his bad luck in time for next week’s National. His time of 8 minutes 57 left him in 16th position, a good effort considering the time lost with the chain problem. James Chant finished in 14th, around thirty seconds slower than last year with 8.45. First place went to Simon McLaughlin (Sevenoaks Tri Club) in 7.10.
