So the year has come to a close. Firstly, well done to everyone who took part in the inaugural hill climbing competition, and a thank you to Graeme Cook for setting this up in the first place.
As a reminder, we set out 15 road climbs for the “king of the road” competition (with these in groups of 5, making three mini-competitions) and 5 offroad climbs for the “king of the offroad” competition. We came up with a scoring system, giving 6 points for 1st place, 4 points for 2nd, 3 for 3rd, 2 for 4th, and 1 for 5th.
ROAD CLIMBS COMPETITION
The East
These climbs were: Dunning, Gleneagles, Comrie, The Dragon, and Cleish. The people completing all five hills were: Graeme Cook, Chris Pendlebury, David Anthony, James Tree, Nigel Holl, and Neil Bradbrook.
Based on the points system the top 5 was: Graeme Cook (1st); Chris Pendlebury (2nd); James Tree and Oliver Murray (joint 3rd); and David Anthony (5th).
The same for women only: Christina Mackenzie (1st); Helen Gorman (2nd); Catriona Denny (3rd); Nicola G-S (4th); and Beth Clayton (5th).
The Campsies
These climbs were: Arnprior, Tak, Crow, Longline, and Kippen. The people completing all five hills were: Chris Pendlebury, Graeme Cook, James Tree, Matt Park, David Anthony, Andre Ham, Graham Moore, Nigel Holl, Alan Robertson, and Christina Mackenzie.
Based on the points system the top 5 was: Chris Pendlebury (1st); Graeme Cook (2nd); and Oliver Murray, Matt Park and James Tree (joint 3rd).
The same for women only: Christina Mackenzie (1st); Helen Gorman (2nd); Beth Clayton (3rd); Catriona Denny (4th); and Lorna Denny (5th).
The West.
These climbs were: Dryman, Logie Kirk, Dukes, Big Braes, and Cuilt Brae. The people completing all five hills were: Oliver Murray, Chris Pendlebury, Matt Park, Graeme Cook, David Anthony, Graham Moore, David Stephen, Nigel Holl, and Alan Robertson.
Based on the points system the top 5 was: Oliver Murray (1st); Matt Park (2nd); Graeme Cook (3rd); Chris Pendlebury (4th); and James Tree (5th).
The same for women only: Helen Gorman (1st); Beth Clayton (2nd); Christina Mackenzie (3rd); and Catriona Denny (4th).
Uber mini-league
Of these hills we picked 5 of the “classic” hills of the area: Dunning, Tak, Crow, Logie Kirk, and Dukes.
Based on the points system the top 5 was: Graeme Cook and Chris Pendlebury (joint 1st); Oliver Murray (3rd); Matt Park (4th); and James Tree (5th).
The same for women only: Helen Gorman (1st); Christina Mackenzie (2nd); Beth Clayton (3rd); Catriona Denny (4th); and Lorna Denny (5th).
Overall – road
Well done to everyone completing all 15 hills: Graeme Cook, Chris Pendlebury, David Anthony, Nigel Holl, and Neil Bradbrook.
Based on the points system the top 5 was: Oliver Murray (1st); Graeme Cook (2nd); Chris Pendlebury (3rd); James Tree (4th); and Matt Park (5th).
The same for women only: Christina MacKenzie (1st); Helen Gorman (2nd); Catriona Denny (3rd); Beth Clayton (4th); and Nicola G-S.
OFFROAD
These climbs were: Braes of Doune wind farm; Menstrie Glen, Silver Glen, Gargunnock, and Ben Gulipen. The only person completing all five hills was Nigel Holl – well done Nigel!
Based on the points system the top 5 was: Nigel Holl (1st); Matt Park (2nd); Dieter Visser (3rd); Chris Pendlebury (4th); and Steven Smith (5th).
The same for women only: Helen Gorman (1st).
So there we go. Well done to the winners. Well done to everyone else! (And since myself and Graeme Cook have been battling against each other all year, well done to Graeme for beating me!). If anyone wants to see full details of time, these are on matesrace.co.uk.
We’ll be doing the same again.
All the best and happy hill-climbing for 2018!
Chris (and Graeme Cook)
