Jack Gilbert of Warrington Road Club wins the British Cycling Racing Chance Foundation Road Race at Boll Hill on 31st May in the Cat3/4 Event.
The Racing Chance Foundation is a charity registered in England and Wales which was set up in April 2014 to provide an alternative pathway for women in competitive cycling who also hold Open Road Races for British Cycling too.
Picking the right kind of race to suit the individual can be an important decision in managing your cycle race calender, so the opportunity to ride in a hilly race early season was ideal for Jack prove his clear talent and see how he would fair. Jack is one of Warrington Road Clubs Youngest and most promising road racers within the club and his talent for hill climbing is 2nd to none.
The Race itself is a 50 Mile Race with6 Laps of a very hilly circuit which also incorporates six tough climbs of Bole Hill which is a climb of almost one mile, with an average gradient of 8{14372901b109718b745381e6d4544a7bda8e4c157396fe913d26bf7ab600adeb} every lap. Jack being a solo rider from Warrington Road Club in the 30 plus rider field, he would have known his tactics would have to be clever from the moment the lead car dropped the flag.
The weather for cycling always plays conditions of what can happen on the day itself, Jack’s will power alone to warm up in the winds and horizontal rain was a challenge in itself as the conditions at the start of the day were shocking. As soon as the 50 mile race started, the peloton started to go up the first climb of the day and Jack’s warm up pre race paid off, before he realised, he was split from the main bunch, the sheer gradient of the climbs splintering the rest far behind.
The strong winds increased the attrition, the winds looked strong enough to blow the riders off their bikes as they fought for scraps of shelter behind each other. With a few laps to go, a rider attacked on the main climb, Jack with two others matched the break. Jack Gilbert from Warrington, Dave Powell from Horwich CC, Clem berrill and CC Hackney and DArryl Wall from Out Of The Saddle then lead the race keeping all the others at bay.
At this point, nerves kick in approaching the penultimate climb as 4 riders don’t fit in to a winning podium of 3 places. However, after one rider was dropped on this turn of the climb, those nerves at least were put to bed. Jack then confidently attacked the remaining three riders on the final climb of the final lap towards the finish line at the top. Looking behind him to see what kind of a gap he had, it looked like he was being caught, however Jack’s hill climbing training kicked in to place as a final kick left the nearest rider to far behind as he rode to victory and claimed his first win for Warrington Road Club. Although the sheer difficultly made for minimal tactics, Jack was pleasantly surprised to also win the Most Aggressive Rider Award, leaving him total victory, a cash prize a bag of Timothy Taylor brews.
Jack now takes this victory with confidence in to the rest of the cycling season, with an eye on Hill Climb Races in mind, we’ll be keeping an eye on his progress.
Top 10 Riders in 3/4 Race Results:
3/4
1 Jack Gilbert (Warrington RC) 2-28-16
2 Dave Powell (Horwich CC) at 4 sec
3 Clem Berrill (CC Hackney) at 20 sec
4 Darryl Wall (Out Of The Saddle) at 30 sec
5 Chris Dyke (Manchester BC) at 1-58
6 Declan Hudson (Liverpool Century RC) at 2-27
7 William Adams (University of Manchester CC) at 2-31
8 Peter Holdsworth (HD Revolutions) at 2-33
9 James Henderson (Southport CC) at 6-32
10 William Kershaw (Macclesfield Wheelers) at 5-31
** This is the full report submitted to the Warrington Guardian.
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