1:50pm Thursday 29th October 2009
By Dave Brown
The Blackburn and District CTC certainly excelled themselves on Sunday in retaining their British team title in the 2009 National Hill Climb Championship held on a brute of a hill at Stocksbridge, between Huddersfield and Sheffield.
Thanks to an excellent ride by 2008 junior champion Adam Pinder, who finished fifth overall in the event, and backed by Carl Helliwell and Chris Edmondson the local club claimed their fifth win in the team awards over the past decade. The event was won by professional roadman Dan Fleeman who only the week before was competing in the famous Tour of Lombardy Classic in Italy.
Pinder’s time was three minutes 43.1 seconds, Helliwell’s 4-06.9 and Edmondson’s 4-16.1 giving an aggregate of 12minutes 06.1 seconds which was eight seconds faster than second team Buxton Cycling Club.
Fleeman’s time of three minutes 17.8 seconds beat the 3-31.6 of The Rake and Nick o’ Pendle winner Matt Clinton into second place with Southport’s Jim Henderson third.
In answer to the Telegraph’s own question of last week as to who was our best local hill climber Pinder answered that one again the day before the National when he was a convincing winner of the British Universities’ own annual championship which was held on a Peak District climb at Baslow.
The good news is that Pendle Forest stalwart Brian Wesson is back in the UK again and recovering well six weeks after his horrendous accident on his bike in Majorca. Brian, his wife Mary, daughter Sharon and her husband Alvin pass on their thanks for all the good wishes received at a very difficult time.
They are now celebrating the terrific riding of Sharon and Alvin’s son Steven Burke who won the one kilometre title in the British Championships in Manchester last week.
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