CYCLING: WEST Pennine veteran Kev Shand’s verdict that ‘it was the worst head wind ever’ might be a little too dramatic but most riders –and few spectators – at the top of the Cragg Vale climb got his meaning.

Back at Mytholmroyd, 4.8 miles away and 940 feet below the finish, conditions were relatively calm when the first of 56 riders ‘blasted off’ for the Yorkshire Velo Hill Climb. Many who did leave the start time keeper at such a rate probably regretted it, as the midway steep, but fairly sheltered, pitch gave way to the exposed moorland road.

West Pennine Road Club’s first man on the road was 14-year old Robert Hulme whose attempt to keep his dad, Mark at bay looked to be succeeding until he hit the windswept moor top. Mark, five minutes behind him caught him with about half a mile to go to finish in 26th spot with a time of 24 minutes 38.1 seconds. Robert crossed the line to post a 31-31.5 to take 54th place.

Pennine’s best result came from Kev Shand who managed to oust Hulme out of 25th spot by a mere 2.8 seconds. Hulme had looked to attack more effectively the fierce section around Cragg Vale village only for Shand to put in a very impressive burst into the wind on the final stage of the climb.

West Pennine new recruit Mark Widdup really jumped into the deep end of time trialing with this being his first ever race. Crossing over from a running career the veteran produced a respectable result with his 30-12.7 earning him 48th place.

The winner, on a day that absolutely ruled out any chances of records being broken, was Matt Clinton from the Mikevaughn.co.uk team. Clinton’s time of 19-36.2 was well short of his 2007 hill record of 16-39.09. West Pennine’s Daniel Shand was less than three seconds short of this time when he was the winner in 2006.

Shand, this time a spectator at the climb, will still be based in Belgium next season where he has signed a contract for the locally established Scott USA team.

The Yorkshire Velo hill climb brings the curtain down on the season apart from tomorrow’s national championship climb at Matlock.

Effervescent race organiser Denise Shackleton helped celebrate the season’s end with a bottle of Little Valley beer for every rider. The owner of Cragg Vale based Little Valley brewery, Wim van der Spec was the donor as well as himself finishing the climb in 50th spot with a 30-19.3.