Daniel Fleeman wins National Hill-Climb 2010
British National Hill Climb Championships 2010 photo gallery by Andy Jones>>
Daniel Fleeman (Raleigh UCI team) won his second consecutive National Hill Climb in Weston-sub-Edge, Cotswolds, on Sunday, taking the title by just six seconds from last year's runner-up and 2008 winner Matt Clinton (Mike Vaughan cycles). In third place was Corley cycles' Michael Smith who just edged Tejvan Pettinger off the podium by a single a second.
The early pace was set by Richard Cartland from Corley cycles off at 11.15 who posted a respectable 4-19.8 on the 1,487.2 yard Dover's Hill course and this stood for 20 minutes before Carl Helliwell from Blackburn and District CTC came in with a 4-16.4.
Twenty five minutes later Danny Axford from the Arctic CC reduced this mark by seven seconds posting a 4-09.3 and his time would see off all comers until the favourites started to hit the tarmac.
First of the big guns to topple Axford was Matt Pilkington from Dulwich Paragon who recorded a 4-06.7, but his lead would last only 10 minutes before Michael Smith - many people's tip for the win - crossed the line with the first sub four-minute ride, a very impressive 3-55.4.
Smith's time looked very solid as it withstood the onslaught from first Mike Cuming, then David Clarke, Robert Gough, and Tejvan Pettinger, it wasn't until last year's second-placed rider Clinton came up with a 3-47 what he would be pushed off the top spot.
The crowd of damp but vocal spectators were now all waiting for last man Fleeman, could he beat Clinton? The answer was yes, but only just, he all but stalled as he crossed the line, utterly empty to take the title again with a time of 3-41.1.
In an equally compelling women's event, the 2010 title was taken by the multi-talented former Hill Climb and BBAR champ Lynn Hamel of Team NCA in a time of 5.04.0. In second place was Chrissy Radon (Team Zappi's) with a time of 5-14.7 and rounding off the podium was Michelle King, Cult Racing with 5-18.1.
The Junior title was claimed by 17 year old Chris Bains from Buxton CC in a very impressive 4-25.4, which placed him 32nd overall and the team prize was taken by over a minute by the Raleigh trio of Fleeman, Mike Cuming and Richard Handley.
Results
National Hill-Climb Championships 2010: Weston-sub-Edge
1. Daniel Fleeman (Raleigh) in 3-41.1
2. Matt Clinton (MikeVaughan.co.uk) 3-47.7
3. Michael Smith (Team Corley) 3-55.3
4. Tejvan Pettinger (SRI Chinmoy Cycling Team) 3-56.4
5. Mike Cuming (Raleigh) 3-57.9
6. Robert Gough (Arctic-Premier Racing Team) 3-59.6
7. David Clarke (Pendragon / Le Colgano) 4-01.3
8. Peter Tadros (In Gear Quickvit Trainsharp) 4-01.3
9. Thomas Clark (VC Bristol) 4-02.0
10. Charles Taylor (South Pennine RC) 4-02.1
Mike Cuming, fifth, winds his way up Dover's Hill
Tejvan Pettinger
Junior winner Chris Baines
Women's winner, Lynn Hamel
Mike Cuming, fifth
Tejvan Pettinger, fourth
Michael Smith, third
Matt Clinton, second
Overall winner, Daniel Fleeman
Dan Fleeman celebrates with a doughnut
Dover's Hill is number 13 in Simon Warren's 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book, currently available in the Cycling Weekly shop.
Related links
British National Hill Climb Champs 2010 photo gallery
National hill-climb champs 2009: Fleeman wins
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Reader comments
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Simon harvey
October 31 19:14
Well done dan did very well even though you forgot you cycling skin suit lol
Jon Robertson
November 04 08:59
Entry forms for time trials and road races have a section on them where the riders informs the Organiser of their best times over the respective distances and / or their results in road races. This allows the Organiser, in the event of the race being oversubscribed, to select the field of the best riders. Even more so when it's the British (National) Hill Climb Championship Unfortunately, Claire MacAulay was unaware of this when sending in her entry for today's event in Coventry. Being from up north the Organiser had no knowledge of Claire either. Her entry was subsequently returned. Pleads to the Organiser were met with sympathy. Based on Claire's times she would have been in. But rules are rules. As Claire was set to visit / stay with family during her visit south she travelled anyway, interested to see how she measured up against the best in the country, and the Organiser agreed to let her ride the course in advance with the Timekeeepers in place After her ride this morning the Timekeeprs came after Claire's dad, Iain, and passed him a piece of paper with her time on it. Being cold Claire decided to set off almost immediately afterwards for the long road home I just received a call from her half an hour ago asking if I could look up the results. Dan Fleemamn retained his title from last year in the Men's event with a time of 3-41.1 Lynn Hamel (Team NCA) finished with a time 5-04 and took the Ladies Title The piece of paper handed to Iain MacAulay by the Timekeeper 4-53
Neil Lawson
November 04 15:00
Re. Claire MacAulay, Please remove that rubbish ot once. It is most disrespectful. This rider was not in the event and not timed properly.
Maryka Sennema
November 04 15:08
Jon Robertson: *Yawn* coulda shoulda woulda. Lots of folks at the race would disagree with the so-called "time" your non-rider put forth. Maybe next year she should learn how to do an entry form properly. Not to mention how completely rude and ignorant it is to post such a comment on a news article, trying to undermine the women's winner. How about next year your rider actually enter, show up, ride the event, and win, and then you can boast about how great she is? Til then your comments are nothing short of sour grapes embarrassment to her, to yourself, and to your club. For shame.
Sarah Brooke
November 04 16:43
Replying to Jon Robertson Jon, I do feel your post is very much out of order. It is disrespectful to all of the ladies who entered and rode the event and really feels like it's trying to take the shine off the event for the winner . The time may have been passed to the riders father by the timekeepers, but it was just a private ride and the time given just for the rider, not to be published all over the internet. This kind of publicity will not do your rider any favours, your time would be better spent helping the rider and going through how to correctly fill in an entry form..
Iain
November 04 18:25
I am Claire's Father we do not know a jon Robertson . Please delete this.
Slowdad
November 04 19:07
I would like to protest the results of this competition! First, I was not informed of the fact that the competition was taking place. I think it's incumbent on the organizer to make sure that the event was well publicized. The fact that I had to learn about it over twitter indicates that it was not. While I don't have a hill of the appropriate steepness in my area, on the day in question, I set the resistance on my mag-trainer to a level that almost exactly matched the force of gravity on me and my bike. I then proceeded to complete the distance in a time of under 3 minutes. And I did it while watching the steep part of Stage 15 of this year's Vuelta. This time can totally be validated by my wife who was upstairs in the kitchen, baking some cookies. Had I known, in advance about this race, I would have moved from Canada, become a citizen of the UK, and, probably, totally dominated the competition. Especially if I would have trained at all. I demand that a replica UK national champions jersey be mailed to me forthwith, so I can wear it on the next club ride.