Welsh champions triumph again

Fibrax Wrexham RC Hill-climb | Oct 1 | Wales

Welsh hill-climb champions Dan and Jessica Evans powered to victory in the Fibrax Wrexham Road Club climb on the Horseshoe Pass on Sunday, as the two Assos Equipe UK riders completed weekend doubles following wins in Saturday’s Urban Hill-climb in London.

Dan Evans covered the course in 8:54.9 to take the win by less than two seconds from rival Ed Laverack (Jlt-condor), while Andy Cunningham (All Terrain Cycles) was around 20 seconds off the pace in third.

And in the women’s race, Jessica Evans clocked 12:07.7 to win by just under 22 seconds from Helen Aldred (Liverpool Phoenix CC), with Susan Paterson (Honister 92) third “Until yesterday I was the only person to have gone under nine minutes, but Ed pushed me hard,” said Dan Evans. “It’s a great race and a stunning area, and nice to have something to focus on other than pain and suffering!

“I’ve held the course record for the last three years on here, and I have no intention of giving that up.”

Forecasts of bad weather held off for the event, which was still a little damp in patches but warm and still. But although there were some fast times, not even Evans could break his course record of 8:52.

Meanwhile, Team Bottrillhss Hire took the team prize with George Evans, Graham Kemp and Mark Bottrill just holding off the Liverpool Century RC trio.

The Horseshoe Pass course has just been named as the venue for the 2020 National Championship, and Evans added: “It’ll be a great venue, but I’ll be 40 by then. Hopefully I’ll get a prize in 2020 — but my focus now is this year’s nationals.”