Location: Doveholes, Derbyshire
Event: 27 May 2012
Report: Snowdon Sports
Gunnar Gronlund (RST Racing) made the most of his expertise in hill climbing to take victory in event 7 of the CDNW Road Race League on Sunday.
The 2011 National Hill Climb Champion battled it out with Kit Gilham (Herbalife-Leisure Lakes) on the final climb towards the finish line and managed to pull away from his opponent, giving the 24-year-old Swede victory by a couple of bike lengths.
After making an early break along with 18-year-old Sam Boast (Hope Factory Racing), Gronlund was at the forefront of the race for the entire duration, in the mix with a group which grew to eight strong before being whittled down to two on the final lap.
Gunnar Gronlund said: “There was a very early break in the race, on the first time up the climb. I got away and was joined by another rider from Hope Factory and we were soon joined by a couple more on the first lap.
“On the second, the group got bigger, about eight of us, all from the major teams. Everyone committed and worked together to stay up.
“Then in the last two laps, we raised the pace and some of the group dropped off and then I put a proper attack in on the last lap.
“Only one rider followed me and we battled it out on the final climb. I won only by a couple of bike lengths.
“I was really pleased with the race today, I was happy that the race finished on a climb because that’s my speciality and today was a great opportunity to do something good. I really hoped to win today.”
Results:
E/1/2/3:
1 Gunnar Gronlund RST Racing Team - Trigon
2 Kit Gilham Herbalife/Leisure Lakes St
3 Rob Sharman Sportscover altura At 32s
4 Joe Kelly 100%ME St
5 Sam Boast Team Hope Factory Racing At 2:42s
6 Owain Doull 100%ME At 2:56s
7 Matthew Pilkington Team BGlobal St
8 Alistair Rutherford Vanillabikes.com St
9 Joe Kirkham Hargroves St
10 Alastair Kay Herbalife-Leisure Lakes Bikes.com St
11 Lee Baldwin Buxton cc/sett valley cycles St
12 James Sampson Node 4 - Giordana St
13 Luke Grivell-Mellor Rapha Condor Sharp St
14 Richard Bott Herbalife/Leisurelakesbikes At 3:16s
15 Alister Slater 100%ME St
16 Daniel Storey RST Racing team St
17 Dillon Byrne vanillabikes.com At 3:55s
18 Thomas Armstrong mountivation junior acdemy At 5:24s
19 Ash Finn www.vanillabikes.com At 10:20s
20 Mark Lovatt Planet X St
21 Jonathan Cregeen Biketreks At 11.01s
22 Stuart Percival GB Fire Service At 11:18s
23 John Crellin TEAM WALLIS-CHH At 12:51s
24 Matthew Robinson All Terrain Cycles/One Global RT St
25 Mike Marshall Dirtwheels Cycles At 13:41s
26 Graeme Rose Dirtwheels St
27 Jacob Ragan maxgear At 15 mins
28 Joshua Ferguson Wheelguru RT St
29 Nathan Harrison Buxton CC St
30 Stephen Smith Vita Race Team St
31 Harry Grey Vanillabikes.com St
32 Jimmy Froggatt Wills Wheels CC St
33 Rob Adlard Team Wheelguru St
34 Henry Hunter Team wallis chh St
35 David Giles Matrix Fitness - Prendas St
36 Steve Abbott teamwallis-chh.com St
37 Matt Love Unattached St
38 Milan Sihelsky kuota gsg spinergy St
39 Alex Simmons Swinnerton Cycles St
40 Dan Whelan Onimpex Bioracer RT St
41 Andy Leigh Velocity RT St
3/4:
1 Aidan Holgate North Lancs Road Club
2 James Warren Bill Nickson Cycles RT St
3 James Knox Mountivation Junior Academy At 9s
4 Jeff Vernon Birkenhead North End St
5 Leigh Cowell Kuota GSG Spinergy At 23s
6 Tom Walsh Lancs RC St
7 Anthony Allan Macclesfield Wheelers At 28s
8 David Castillo Liverpool Century At 42s
9 Simon Wilkes liverpool century At 48s
10 Geraint Parry Liverpool Century At 1:06s
11 Andy Wearing Lentil worth wheelers At 1:16s
12 Tom Bracegirdle Team Elite St
13 Sandy Lockett Biketreks Racing Team St
14 Lee Brotzman Wills Wheels St
15 Ashley Clitheroe team wallis-chh.com St
16 Will Glover Shefrec cc St
17 Ian Rutherford Lune St
18 philip knupfer Manchester wheelers St
19 Phil Gray Kuota GSG Spinergy St
20 M Nell RSI race team At 1:42s
21 Fred Bamforth VC St Raphael At 2:12s
22 Matt Reid Man Wheelers At 3:08s
23 Tim Passmore Liverpool Century At 4:32s
24 James Chamberlain Cyclesport International RT At 7:46s
25 Ryan Pike High on bikes RT At 8:57s
26 Steve Thompson Clay cross road team St
27 James Rushton Aire Valley RT St
28 Tom Harcourt Blackhawks bikes.com At 9:44s
29 Christopher Taylor Border City Wh At 10:10s
30 Adam Wood N/a At 11:24s
31 Andy Daley vita race team At 12:02s
32 Sarah Byrne For Viored At 12:20s
33 Ian Fagan Vita Cycle Team At 14:29s
34 Jonathan Rooke Wills Wheels CC At 16:04s
35 Rob Wilkinson Oldsm century St
36 Mark McGavock Southport CC At 18:21s
37 Zack Williamson Mossley C.R.T At 19:59s
38 Andrew Markham Lancaster CC At 21:20s
39 Stuart Clifton-Smith Cyclesport International At 21:40s
40 Geraint Parry Liverpool Century At 1 lap
41 Simon Wilkes liverpool century At 1 lap
42 David Castillo Liverpool Century At 1 lap
British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
