30/10 National Hill Climb Championships, Buxton
In the National Hill climb championships on Long Hill near Buxton, Jim Coleman had a 'bad day at the office', when he didn't finish after starting too quickly, which as he found out on a long hill can be a big problem.
Young James Carter however had a good ride and improved on his time from earlier in the season by 2 mins to give him 18.37 which also gave him the 13 year old age group win and his first national medal. |
16/10 Chesterfield Coureurs Hill Climb
Jim Coleman rode the 2.31 mile climb of Beeley Moor near Rowsley in Derbyshire. The first 3/4 of a mile was the steepest part of the climb before it twisted and turned onto exposed moorland to the finish. Jim managed to get third place in front of the in form Lee Baldwin (Buxton cc) and former national champion Mark Lovett (Planet X RT), but just missed out on 2nd by 2 seconds to Rob Watkins (Doncaster Sett Valley cycles). Winner was the in form Swedish mountain bike star Gunnar Gronland (Trigon rt) who took the win and smashed the course record in the process. He is definitely one to watch at the national champs in 2 weeks time along with power houses Michael Hutchinson and Rob Hales (ex course record holder) and current course record holder Tejvan Pettinger.
Top 5 are as follows:
1 Gunnar Gronland (trigon rt) .8.23
2 Rob Watkinson (Doncaster sett valley cycles).9.05
3 Jim Coleman (Witham wheelers).9.07
4 Lee Baldwin (Buxton cc).9.15
5 Mark Lovett (planet x rt).9.32 |
9/10 Club Hill Climb and Freewheel Championships
Held on Harby Hill, the younger riders led the way filling the top 3 positions with Karl Baillie improving by 26 seconds on last years time for the win:
Karl Baillie 3.07
Patrick Cutmore 3.18
Reece Egner 3.34
Chris Sammler 3.35
James Carter 3.41
Martin Hedley 4.07
John Pygott 4.08
Clive Baillie 4.24
Rob Duckett 4.32
Adam Egner 4.33
Kerrigan Robb 4.55
Trevor White 4.58
In the following Free wheel contest Robert Barrett-Duckett held onto this much sought after Trophy for the second year running. |
9/10 Drighlington bc hill climb
Jim Coleman took his first hill climb win of the season on Scotchman lane near Batley in Yorkshire. The 1km climb started off at a 1 in 6 gradient and increased to 1 in 5 before levelling off to a long drag up to the finish. The plan was not to overcommit on the early steeper part and to then take advantage on the faster part of the climb, which seemed to work and Jim finished in a time of 2min 58, which was only 5 seconds behind the course record set by former national champion Matt Clinton.
Second place went to last years winner Graham Pollard (Drighlington DB) 17 seconds back. |
2/10 Withington Whs Hill Climb
Jim Coleman rode Peaslow hill just outside of Chapel-en-le Frith in Derbyshire, a nasty 1000m climb with an average gradient of 7% but with a stretch of 5% at the start just to warm the legs and lungs up a bit for the rest of the climb. With an in-form Lee Baldwin and last years winner Charles Taylor both national top ten hill climbers in the field Jim knew that on this short climb he would have his work cut out. This wasn't helped by unshipping his chain while being held by the starter when he reverse spun his pedals, which meant he had lost 10 seconds before he even got going. This didn't make the difference with the win but could have cost Jim second place. Top 3 riders were:
1 Lee Baldwin (Buxton cc) 2.32
2 Charles Taylor (South Pennine rc) 2.41
3 Jim Coleman (Witham Wheelers) 2.50 |
26/9 Weaver Valley CC hill climb
Chris and James Carter and Jim Coleman rode the Cat and Fiddle, a relentless 6.5 mile climb between Macclesfield and Buxton. With the wet and windy conditions making the climb even harder than normal it was definitely one to pace correctly. James rode well and achieved his predetermined sub-half hour time with 29.24 - a good achievement for a 13 year old. Chris was pleased with his time of 26.51 and now he and James are taking a few weeks off from competing to concentrate on training for the national hill climb.
Jim took the first 3 miles of the climb, which are the steepest part, a bit too cautiously and lost some time on other riders and found that he was unable to make the time back on the rest of the wet twisty course. However only 5 seconds separated 4th to 7th position and with Jim ended up the wrong side in 7th place with 21.33. Pro rider Gunnar Gronland (Twenty 3c Orbea rt ) took the win in 19.44 and with such a strong ride has to make him one of the favourites for the national championship. 2nd place went to course record holder Mark Lovett (Planet X RT ) in 21.00. |
18/9 Centerville Hill Climb
James Carter and Jim Coleman travelled up to the Pennines to race up Blackstone edge, a 2 mile climb starting on the outskirts of Littleborough and leading up to exposed moorland. James rode very well and with this climb being shorter in length than recent weeks he attacked the hill from the start recording a great time of 11.23. Jim managed to get 2nd place in (8.03) just 6 seconds behind Dan Evans (ross on sea cc) with Lee Baldwin (Buxton cc) taking third spot in 8.07. Fourth place went to course record holder and former national hill climb champion Mark Lovatt (Planet Xx race team) a few more seconds adrift. |
11/9 Buxton Hill Climb
Chris Carter, James Carter and Jim Coleman took part in the warm up event for the national hill climb champs at Buxton using long hill (4.44 miles) with a chance to ride the hill before the national, the event attracted some top riders including course record holder and winner of the event Tejvan Pettinger.
Top five were as follows:
1 Tejvan Pettinger (sri chinmoy cycling team) 13.49
2 George Atkins (velo ecosse montpelliers rt ) 14.00
3 Gunnar Gronlund (twenty 3c orbea rt ) 14.01
4 James Tucker (south Pennine ) 14.05
5 James Coleman (Witham wheelers ) 14.15
With a strong head wind times were down on last year however Jim was pleased to have closed the gap slightly on the race winner. Chris rode very well and used his power to good effect to record a swift time of 17.34, James rode well but after racing on Saturday he found the head wind hard going however recorded a very respectable 20.33 to take 5th junior spot.
Top of Page» |
4/9 Glossop Kinder velo Hill Climb
Chris Carter, James Carter and Jim Coleman made a start to the hill climb season with a trip up to the Peak district to tackle the 3.3 mile climb of Snake pass. 14 year old James, making his debut in open hill climbs, rode very strongly and for such a novice paced the climb very well finishing 2nd junior in the event with a time of 18.55. Chris also had an excellent ride to improve on his time from last year by more than 3 mins with 18.01. Jim managed to take third place and over 2 mins faster than last year recorded a time of 13.34, just 7 seconds behind 2nd placed Dan Evans (Rhoss on sea cc) and a further 8 seconds to the winner Peter Tadros (In gear Quickvit Trainsharp RT) a regular top 10 finisher in national tts / hill climbs. |
