2011 National Hill Climb Championships

sy

Time(s) gentlemen please!

Inquitus

ryan_sherlock
485 watts for 7:18 (@73 kg) was good enough for 2nd. Lost my climbing jersey to a flying Mark Dowling

Greyspoke

That was very, very hard! If it wasn't for the fantastic support, particularly on the long steep ramp towards the end, I would probably have stopped.
Well done to the likes of Mark and Ryan who posted such fast times at the head of the field. I'm too old for this!!

kenmc

Greyspoke wrote: »

That was very, very hard! If it wasn't for the fantastic support, particularly on the long steep ramp towards the end, I would probably have stopped.
Well done to the likes of Mark and Ryan who posted such fast times at the head of the field. I'm too old for this!!

Were you the nutter on the fixie? Talk about rubbing it in! I went up to take pics on my commute bike, triple @ 30x25. Although I did have my heavy camera and lens in the panniers...

sy

Inquitus wrote: »

ryan_sherlock
485 watts for 7:18 (@73 kg) was good enough for 2nd. Lost my climbing jersey to a flying Mark Dowling

Gracious in defeat, sign of a true champion. Well done to Mark Dowling and all who took part.

kenmc

sy wrote: »

Gracious in defeat, sign of a true champion. Well done to Mark Dowling and all who took part.

Yeah the writing was on the wall when Dowling went by his minute man and his 2 minute man on the ramp cliff face

Mr. Grieves

Any pics, Ken?

kennyb3

To think 7.18 only got 2nd, unreal times!

cdaly_

Well, that was fun. Great evening out. Had a go of the climb myself figuring I would watch from wherever I made it to. Did it in 19m elapsed, 15m34 rolling, 3m26 gasping for breath at the roadside in three separate pauses. Got yelled at by a very comfortable looking boardsie from his car. Still managed to outpace the walkers though while waiting at the top a jogger came up claiming 14m and something seconds!

Met Kenmc at the top along with another boardsie (Galbraith). Saw tawfeerdux walking up one-armed. Got a yell from manwithaplan (accompanied by his very own Bord Planala) on the way down.

Quite a disparate field, one lad (No. 19) in t-shirt and baggy shorts on an MTB or hybrid came flying up to the finish. Another did the climb on a 42x18 fixie! :eek:

Had the honour of holding Raam's bike as he stumbled off to collapse at the finish.

Very impressive to see folks powering across the line, particularly having just done the climb and understanding what they'd just done. I moved down to the top of the last steep ramp for the last ten riders. Serious differences to be seen there. One lad came up over the top, saw the extra climb still to go and just deflated. He carried on though. Watching two riders pretty close chasing each other up the hill when Mark Dowling appeared out of nowhere and powered past them both!

Spun home through town in lovely balmy conditions (after chilling nicely on the hilltop).

kenmc

Mr. Grieves wrote: »

Any pics, Ken?

still looking for my memory card reader. give me a bit.....

velo.2010

Any time for the winner? Top ten?

gercso

Great race, congartulations to all the riders who competed and huge thanks to all the spectators! They were brilliant!

Has anybody seen any results yet? I'm finished with 9:16 time and I just wondering where that would place me in this strong field?

manwithaplan

Savage effort from everyone. The winner flew past us near the top of the really steep section. Very sweet cadence - no grinding at all. The Swords guys posted fantastic times as did honkjelly. Good to meet oflahero, tawfeeredux and to holler at cdaly.

alanjgalbraith

Think the fixie rider was Justin May (Epic MTB). The guy in the baggies with the flat bars was Vinny Cronin, and when I was leaving he was having another go!

kenmc

7.02 for dowling i think, sherlock 7:18, shaw got third

manwithaplan

Believe the winner did it in 7:03. honkjelly was 23rd with 8:48 if that gives a yardstick. I'm not sure if the course started and finished at the same points as the Strava segment.

velo.2010

I presume the start was moved up otherwise there was some serious 'mindgames' with the training efforts going on! Savage times there, 8'48 got 23th! Incredible.

Diarmuid

The Strava segment was longer. I'd say knock 20seconds off that time, but I'd have to look at the map again...

Tough climb. The crowd on the steep ramp near the end was great. Unfortunately after passing that section (200m to go) I collapsed back into the saddle in a heap. Did around 8:46. Happy with that. (well apart from the last 200m )

Incredible time by Mark Dowling. Unlucky by Ryan who was looking very fast when he passed and hats off to Damien Shaw, for a guy of his size, that's some serious hill climbing...

Chapeau to all who took part, it was a great route, selected and very professionally run by Gary and the guys at Usher. A great way to pass a Friday evening. Next year I'd encourage more A3's and A4's to sign up. You're not going to win it, but it's great fun !

Diarmuid

velo.2010 wrote: »

I presume the start was moved up otherwise there was some serious 'mindgames' with the training efforts going on! Savage times there, 8'48 got 23th! Incredible.

Do you have a link for the final times? Yeah the start was not the same as the Strava segment...

Mr. Grieves

velo.2010 wrote: »

I presume the start was moved up otherwise there was some serious 'mindgames' with the training efforts going on! Savage times there, 8'48 got 23th! Incredible.

The start was about 100 metres above the school gate and the finish was a bit back from the farm gates. So it was about 40 seconds shorter (for me) than riding from the bridge to the top.

kenmc

Diarmuid wrote: »

Next year I'd encourage more A3's and A4's to sign up. You're not going to win it, but it's great fun !

Yeah except it probably won't be around the corner next year.
On the plus side, I've just uploaded my ride to strava, and whilst I didn't really score on the climb itself, I beat Ryan and Mel from Taylors to Lamb Doyles on the way home That sounds like my sort of race to be fair, from landmarkpub to landmarkpub

The strava for the climb itself says 16:58. Although I *did* stop to talk to tawfeeredux for a bit (almost 3 mins by the looks of it) AND I was on my commuter with panniers and a kg of camera too, so that's my excuses and I'm sticking to it. But I don't think I'll be challenging the top 10 places anytime in the next century or 2.

velo.2010

Diarmuid wrote: »

Do you have a link for the final times? Yeah the start was not the same as the Strava segment...

No, looking for them myself. Great time by you. Quicker than my predition but then the course was shortened, slightly!;)

Did you beat your club nemisis Pat?

morana

that was great evening. well done to all...even some cowbells in the crowd..
time was very impressive.

Diarmuid

velo.2010 wrote: »

Did you beat your club nemisis Pat?

:pac::pac::pac: There;s no such thing as nemesis in a club!!! ( I didn't see the final timesheet but I think we were about 1-2secs apart)

velo.2010

Diarmuid wrote: »

:pac::pac::pac: There;s no such thing as nemesis in a club!!! ( I didn't see the final timesheet but I think we were about 1-2secs apart)

Ok, so there's absolutley no rivalry between you and Pat. Wink, Nudge..etc.

Lots of talent out there if guys like yee are only scratchin' the top 20 riders. Makes one think! (Rocky training montage now playing in my head as I envisage my comeback)

Caroline_ie

Home:Ballyhoura got 10th. Congrats!!

Diarmuid

http://irishroadclub.com/documents/National_Hill_Climb_Championships_2011.doc

kenmc

Jaysus, Eric Downey (23rd) - that's his first ever competitive event. Used work with him and he caught me on my way up and he was just saying "yeah, saw this, thought I'd give it a go" :eek:

Mr. Grieves

kenmc wrote: »

Jaysus, Eric Downey (23rd) - that's his first ever competitive event. Used work with him and he caught me on my way up and he was just saying "yeah, saw this, thought I'd give it a go" :eek:

Yeah, pretty pleased with that

kenmc

Mr. Grieves wrote: »

Yeah, pretty pleased with that

ah tis yourself.
I must see if we have a hiring bonus in Orwell

boege

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Home:Ballyhoura got 10th. Congrats!!

.......I did warn you. Spoke to him after and he was delighted with his run but in awe that winner had over 60 seconds.

I watched winner go by mid section on steep ramp and he was attacking it like noone else....noticeably quicker to everyone. A worthy winner!

oflahero

A few crappy phone pics from the Dutch Corner.

Fair play again to all who turned up. Special mentions: the mentaller with the tourer and heavy back carrier who was murdering himself on his run up, and Greyspoke, contorted on his London fixie .

Raam

Well I died a massive death in the last few hundred meters. I felt relatively OK as I went past the point where most of the crowd were: the steep bit near the top, bloody sadists!

When I got past them I started to blow up and could barely turn the cranks. I had been heading for something in the high 8 minute region, but that went out the window and I stumbled across the line with 9.08, which funnily enough would have given me joint first spot if I was a lady.

Once again, super support from the crowd. The riders might not react much as they go past, but we hear you and we appreciate the cheers.

Home:Ballyhoura

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Home:Ballyhoura got 10th. Congrats!!

Thanks guys!

Raam wrote: »

Well I died a massive death in the last few hundred meters.

Don't think you were the only one, that crowd did wonders for the adrenalin rush, but once they were gone I seemed to fade a bit!

Raam wrote: »

Once again, super support from the crowd. The riders might not react much as they go past, but we hear you and we appreciate the cheers.

+1 couldn't say it better myself, I agree completely! Support much appreciated.

I've got a few photos I must throw up online, will put a link to them somewhere tomorrow!

Super Freak

Bear with me on this..........

1st, 2nd and 3rd...............

Raam

Well done, Ballyhoura. Top 10 is awesome. I had secretly hoped for a top 10 but I was way outside it. Note to self: train harder, there are loads of faster climbers in this country.

Home:Ballyhoura

Super Freak wrote: »

Bear with me on this..........

1st, 2nd and 3rd...............

Hmmm, must have something to do with those specialized helmets and shoes :rolleyes:

Super Freak

PM me what kit you were wearing/what bike and I'll post up a photo of you if I have one;)

I have not used the DLSR in a while; and we were facing into the sun so not the easyiest of subjects. I got lucky with a few though I think.

Super Freak

kenmc

My shots here
If anyone wants a high res just PM me.
I'm especially proud of my drooler

Super Freak

RAAM and Home:Ballyhora




Sorry mate, looks like the flash did not fire :mad:

And RAAM

Super Freak

Home:Ballyhoura

Some more photos...

sy

Terrific shots Super Freak. Thanks for posting, really captures the pain and the passion!

stevie_b

stevie_b

Diarmuid

Great photos guys

honkjelly

The draggy bit after the last steep section went on for ever, like time was in slow motion. My legs probably were too. I was a mess over the line, forgot to stop my clock and ended up thinking i'd done it in 8.30ish. I actually did it in in 8.48 which was good enough for 27th and not the 23rd that i texted manwithaplan. Fair to say that i'm ruled out of time keeping duties at future boards TT's!

Mark Dowling looked the fastest going up the final steep section and so it was no surprise he won.

For a bunch of skinny lads and lasses the sambos were demolished pretty fast. Inside every skinny...

Damien Shaw got top 3 in this years National Crit, TT and Hill Champs. Lad from Bray put it best. He's a triple threat

Thanks for all the shouts of encouragement on the way up. Like i said manwithaplan, have the kids strategically place along the climb next year to push me! Hope the injuries heal well tawfeeredux.

Inquitus

RAAM might not have won the hill climb but he definitely wins best facial expression!

stevie_b

oops, missed a couple.