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Reigning BBR Hill Climb Series Champion Tomos Hales headed back to the top of the standings after Round 2 after taking a solid win in his own club’s promotion on Willomoor Bank. At just a sniff under a mile Hales coped best with a course where regular changes of gradient are thrown into the mix and the toughest is left until the end – a 15% maul that turns legs to jelly. Hales stopped the watch on 3 minutes 47.89 seconds to push out a first appearance of the Series for Ludlow Brewery rider Steven Prince by 2.4 seconds and take the win ahead of a 21-strong field. Hales stated: “My favourite climb of the year and I was happy to take the win. I took the first section very hard, but managed to hang on up the steep bit. Thanks to our chairman Dave Moore and Alan Jennings for stepping up for timing duties”.

Hales leads the Series by 6 points from Junior club mate Ben Southgate who had beaten him by a single second in Round 1. Southgate had to settle for 6^th on the night on a less steep but more technical climb in 4:12.96, setting out a 22 point lead at the top of the BBR Junior Series. The youngster seemed to suffer against the wind which gave an added complication to the climb, and as usual his post-race comments were succinct: “It went good, but wasn’t great with the wind”.

Prince made the trip north worthwhile with a great opening salvo, pushing out former Hafren CC member Sam Holwill into third by 1.65 seconds, taking the Veteran’s honours from Aerologic’s Scott Palmer by a healthy 10.8 seconds, with Paramount’s Chris Riley rising to the top of the Veteran’s standings after finishing in 4:50.04. Prince scored a course personal best with his strong effort, and perfectly summed up the challenge on offer with his opening statement: “Such a tricky climb with the change in gradients and the need to save a bit for the final kick! I had a five second personal best, which is a great way to start the Series. A great ride by Tomos for the win; thanks as always to Wrekinsport for hosting”.

One feature of the 2023 Series already apparent is the interest amongst female competitors; and particularly from Paramount with three club mates racing one another. Women’s winner was Becky Griffiths with a fine 5:09.16, pushing out Hayley Wells by 13.52 seconds – and heading to the top of the Women’s standings as a result of this great effort.

Decathlon UK Series:

Road Bike Series:

Women's Series:

Road bikes in italics

First use of a brand new course had the shine taken off it a little by persistent drizzle as personal bests and benchmark course records were guaranteed in Wrekinsport CC’s 10, Round 17 of the Friction Hydraulics Series. Held on a simple ‘out and back’ course between Shawbury and Hodnet, the overall event was won by Grant Bigham – but it was nearly a quite different outcome as he made his start with seconds to spare. Bigham arrived with just 11 seconds to go, and out of breath making his unusual early slot. The adrenalin shot seemed to do him some good however as he set a benchmark course record of 20 minutes 30 seconds. Whilst he enjoyed the new course the same couldn’t be said of the conditions: “I certainly cut it close to making the start, about 10 seconds to spare thankfully! I enjoyed the course despite the poor weather conditions; the road surface is second to none. I’m looking forward to racing it again in better conditions and seeing if the sub-20 is possible. Happy with my ride despite the legs disappearing the last few miles”! Those grim conditions put a quarter of the field off from starting, with a distinct chill and a tricky headwind on the return leg adding to the mix.

Bigham wasn’t the only rider struggling as Dean Callister had to rely on pure strength following a position tweak that just saw him beat Wrekinsport’s Tomos Hales by three seconds to take the maximum 60 points on offer with a fine 21:28. Like Bigham he was complementary about the new course, which despite being rolling features a surface that allows the wheels to zip along and the sort of non-technical simplicity that time triallists enjoy: “A great new course, I was pleased with taking the County win on the day but not a great ride for me. I made myself incredibly un-aero, which cost me a-lot of time. I’m looking forward to racing the course again and setting a much better time - thanks to all made the event happen”.

Hales was unusually first rider off and took the opportunity of having no riders in front of him to charge around the course in 21:31, and lead his club back to the head of the Top Club Award competition with a 130 point advantage. Hales pushed Paramount’s Simon Romei out by 27 seconds, tightening his grip on the Bronze medal position in the Friction Series in the process. He commented: “I really enjoyed the new course for the Wrekinsport 10 mile time trial. The roads are nice and wide and well paved, just the return leg was hampered by a strong headwind. Well done to Dean for the County win, and Grant for the overall win; and thanks to Wrekinsport for hosting and all that helped out”.

Pretty much every comment on the course was positive, and that was no different from Deb Hutson-Lumb who set the inaugural Women’s course record in 23:33, a ride strong enough to share 5^th spot Overall; and the Veteran’s win by 2:08 from Romei with +6:42. Hutson-Lumb extended her lead at the head of the Friction Women’s Series and closed the gap on Veteran’s Series leader Tim Beardmore to 35 points in a fine afternoon’s work. It was definitely a game of two halves as she powered out to the turn before fading into the wind on the return: “I tried to get as much help as I could from the strong wind to the turn. I found it a very tough ride back into the headwind and my power was dropping in the last mile. A great new course with good road surface which in better conditions I expect will see some faster times. Kudos to everyone out in the rain marshalling, timekeeping and singing”!

Hutson-Lumb’s nearest challenger was Paramount’s Hayley Wells, who set a great time of 24:16 to take 8^th spot Overall, assuring her of the Friction Women’s Series Bronze medal.

The penultimate round of The Decathlon Evening 10 Series resolved the destination of two Championships but intriguingly left the main Championship wide open. Held on a gloriously sunny and fast evening, Tomos Hales took a strong win by 30 seconds from visiting Wolverhampton Wheelers rider Ethan Gatenby with a fine effort of 21 minutes 45 seconds. With Phil Roberts taking third spot in 22:35 this meant the pair draw level on 48 points at the head of the standings to set up a straight head-to-head for the Series title in the final round. Only one other rider has an outside chance of getting in the action, but Ben Southgate would need both riders to be a no-show in that final round and to take the win to draw level, meaning a triple tie – but given the level of friendly competition that is unlikely, with his 4^th spot 22:56 all but mathematically consigning him to the Bronze medal position.

There was keen competition in the burgeoning Road Bike Series, an initiative that saw 11 of the 24 competitors eschewing time trial bikes. Won on the night by Nova Raiders Oscar Johnstone in 25:48, attention was focussed on the season-long tussle between Elliott Wills and David Seager. Wills got the better of Seager by 21 seconds with a fine 27:55 and sealed Road Bike Series Gold in the process, with Seager taking Silver. Bronze went to club Chairman Dave Moore despite gaining no further points after electing to ride a time trial bike due to the great conditions.  

In the Women’s Series Deb Hutson-Lumb stormed to a course best 23:29 to take 6^th place overall, but had to settle for Series Silver as she can no longer catch Mollie Roberts who took Gold on the night with her 30:49 effort. Victoria Doran took Bronze.  

Decathlon Series by Wrekinsport Cumulative Standings after thirteen rounds

Road Bike Series Cumulative Standings after thirteen rounds

Women’s Series Cumulative Standings after thirteen rounds

Wrekinsport ran their first club 4-Up since the late 1980’s four days before the Shropshire Championship 4-Up to provide race pace training on the Waters Upton – Hodnet course. Six teams of four took advantage of this rare opportunity on a dull evening where thankfully threatened heavy rain stayed away; with a close battle at the top as the first two teams off the start line were split by just 13 seconds. Won by the Paramount CRT squad of Chris Riley, Rob McGregor, Mason Durant and Simon Romei; the squad charged around the 10 mile simple ‘out and back’ course in 20 minutes 30 seconds – far faster than any had ever recorded solo showing the clear benefit of drafting and smooth rotations within a team.

There was keen competition with a Wrekinsport/Revolutions Racing Combined squad of Dean Callister, Tomos Hales, Ben Southgate and Adam Mumford as both were line-ups for the upcoming 50 kilometre Championship, looking to judge the strength of the opposition. This squad stopped the watch on 20:43 showing how closely they were matched.

Teams were largely composed of Wrekinsport or Paramount members, with four full teams having an interest in the Shropshire Championship, getting valuable practice on part of the Championship course. One of the squads not involved in the Championship took third place, with a combined Wrekinsport/West Midlands Police team featuring Phil Roberts, Jon Evans, Alex Hall and James Gibney finishing in 21:56 and getting a taste of the format - the other aim of the evening to show riders it is great fun and accessible. This was reflected in a selection of post-race comments from competitors: “Loved it – buzzing back at HQ”; “That was awesome”; and “Utterly bonkers. Basically human Mario Kart – loved it”.

Road bikes in italics