Hill Climb Success
It’s the road cycling season for the lung-bursting effort of hill climbs and with a sunny, but cold, morning and little wind, conditions were perfect for the Rossendale Road Club’s Hill Climb of Woodplumpton Road on Saturday morning. A bumper entry of 37 riders had entered the event, no doubt many were stretching their legs in time for this coming weekend’s classic climb of The Rake at Ramsbottom.
And it was good to see many junior riders in the entry list, and it was the younger riders who dominated the podium. Leading the field was Crawshawbooth’s Maxwell Hereward of the Bury-based 360 Cycling group who topped the climb in 2:50:3 min, followed by George Hodgkinson of Chorley Cycling Club in 2:55:1, these two being the only riders to beat the 3 minute mark.
360 Cycling also had success with the Ladies award taken by Nicola Cadwallader in 4:27:8. Second Lady was Lisa Miles of ABC Centreville with Rossendale’s Helen Thomas in 3rd.
1st Rossendale RC member and 11th overall was James Eastwood, in 3:22:09, with Iain Hazell making a welcome return to racing after a long lay-off through injury, 12 seconds further back in 14th. This pairing were closely followed by Luke Dabbs and Tony Bowler, separated by a mere 0.02 seconds. Close finishes were the order of the day with another close battle emerging between Matt Stokes and Michael Taylor in 23rd and 24th places, the gap this time stretching to 1.03 secs!
Action this weekend includes The Rake hill climb for road riders and the Towneley Park cyclo-cross on Sunday for those who prefer the going wet and muddy.
Photos:
Tony Bowler giving it full gas near to the finish
Best Rossendale member, James Eastwood
Results:
| number | firstname | lastname | time hh:mm:ss | tenth of a second | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Maxwell | Hereward | 0:02:50 | 03 | FIRST OVERALL |
| 17 | George | Hodgkinson | 0:02:55 | 01 | SECOND OVERALL |
| 12 | Tom | Booth | 0:03:03 | 05 | FIRST JUNIOR |
| 26 | Charlie | Brennan | 0:03:04 | 06 | FIRST JUVENILE |
| 11 | Ben | Huddart | 0:03:06 | 02 | |
| 36 | Aiden | Heyworth | 0:03:07 | 02 | |
| 32 | Philip | Wake | 0:03:13 | 03 | |
| 25 | Keith | Melvin | 0:03:16 | 01 | |
| 33 | Aidan | Worden | 0:03:16 | 03 | |
| 2 | David | Ingham | 0:03:21 | 02 | |
| 31 | James | Eastwood | 0:03:22 | 09 | |
| 5 | John | Flanagan | 0:03:35 | 03 | FIRST VET |
| 21 | Kevin | Blades | 0:03:35 | 04 | |
| 13 | Iain | Hazell | 0:03:44 | 06 | |
| 6 | Luke | Dabbs | 0:03:52 | 00 | |
| 15 | Tony | Bowler | 0:03:52 | 02 | |
| 24 | Davey | Allanson | 0:03:56 | 04 | |
| 18 | George | Leeson | 0:03:57 | 04 | |
| 22 | Joseph | Allanson | 0:04:03 | 00 | |
| 27 | Simon | Diggins | 0:04:04 | 06 | |
| 7 | Christopher | Maffei | 0:04:09 | 04 | |
| 19 | Nicola | Cadwallader | 0:04:27 | 08 | FIRST LADY |
| 4 | Matthew | Stokes | 0:04:37 | 08 | |
| 8 | Michael | Taylor | 0:04:38 | 05 | |
| 14 | Dennis | Baron | 0:04:40 | 06 | |
| 23 | Toby | Diggins | 0:04:43 | 02 | |
| 29 | Lisa | Miles | 0:05:19 | 09 | SECOND LADY |
| 1 | Helen | Thomas | 0:05:53 | 03 | |
| 3 | Mark | Elding | APOLS | ||
| 10 | Martin | Mikkelsen-Barron | APOLS | ||
| 16 | Patrick | Hickey | APOLS | ||
| 34 | Adam | Nelson | APOLS | ||
| 37 | Chris | Mann | APOLS | ||
| 9 | Julie | Holden | DNS | ||
| 20 | James | Claydon | DNS | ||
| 28 | Simon | Sheldon | DNS | ||
| 35 | Declan | Brady | DNS |
