Street battle gets personal

Let’s get ready to rumble. Or at least for the lofty title of world’s steepest street.

In the Welsh corner is journeyman Pen Ffordd Llech, which is finally eyeing a shot at the title.

And that street from the village of Harlech will be taking on the pride of the New Zealand’s south, Dunedin’s Baldwin St.

But first here is the tale of the tape.

In Britain on Wednesday, Pen Ffordd Llech was officially surveyed. Those measurements will be sent to Guiness World Records, with a decision expected later this month.

And it is getting personal. ‘‘We suspect they are steepening the street,’’ Harlech resident Gwyn Headley told the BBC. ‘‘It may not be the only record they lose this year,’’ he said, referring to the Rugby World Cup in September.

The challenge is based on the street’s maximum gradient over a 10-metre span, comparing the vertical rise to the horizontal distance. The Guinness Book of Records says the 161.2 metres of Baldwin’s upper-most section climbs a vertical height of 47.22m, an average gradient of 1 in 3.41. On its steepest section, the gradient is 1 in 2.86.

While Baldwin St has a gradient of 35 per cent at its steepest section, residents of Ffordd Pen Llech claim their street is steeper, at 36 per cent – which is rounded to 40 per cent on a sign at the start of the street.

The record taking street must also be a public thoroughfare commonly used by the public, who are able to drive vehicles across it. Both Baldwin and Ffordd Pen Llech have signs warning motorists of a steep gradient, but only Baldwin has an official sign saying World’s Steepest Street.