RTTC National Hill Climb, Sussex Nomads Hill Climb and London Cross League Rd 7
Jos Lowden by Lisa Davis
Twelve months ago Lewes Wanderers’ Joscelin Lowden finished a highly impressive fourth in the National Hill Climb Championship. After best part of a moderately successful year plying her trade in the semi-professional ranks Jos recently returned to her home town club and it was as a Lewes rider that she competed again on Sunday 29th October. It was a long journey just to participate as this year’s event was held in the aptly named ‘Hedley-on-the-Hill’ in Northumberland up Hedley Hill itself, a mile long ramp averaging 8%, but with a gradient of at least 1-in-10 several times along its length. Having just missed out on the podium in 2016 this time Jos’s time of 4 minutes 53.4 seconds propelled her way to the top step as she became national champion by just 2.1 seconds as one of only two of the 49 female competitors to beat 5 minutes.
Back on home turf, or tarmac to be more precise five Lewes riders competed in the Sussex Nomads CC Hill Climb up the all too familiar Ditchling Beacon. Long-standing Wanderers Callum Middleton and Neil Gearing were 13th in 5 minutes 4.4seconds and 55th in 6:40.9 respectively, whilst part of the club's rapidly expanding membership - Robb Cunningham (5:36.9), Paul Fletcher (5:54.5) and Kathryn 'Mugs' Gohl (7:55.7) - finished 29th, 35th and 69th of the 74 entrants, with Kathryn 6th of the 9 female riders.
On his maiden attempt at cyclo-cross and in the race for men over 50 years of age Dom Lowden took to the discipline like a duck to water finishing on the same lap as the leader and in a superb 17th place, whilst stalwart Stephen Burgess was a lap down in 35th of the 43 racers. In the race for men born between 1977 and 1999 Nick Smith was a lap down on the victor in 30th of 65 entrants.
Between those events a quartet of Wanderers competed in the race for men aged between 40 and 50 and all recorded their best results of the season. Rob Pelham came down on one of the few slippery parts of the course and only narrowly failed to avoid being lapped before crossing the line in 25th place. On the same lap, but two minutes later past the chequered flag was Darren Haynes (46th), while a minute further behind was Paget Cohen (51st) who made a mess of bumping over a log on the opening lap and went over the handlebars, but swiftly remounted to fight back past Richard Frost who was 67th of the 69 competitors.
