French and Kimber take Stoke Hill wins
Olivia French (Stolen Goat Race Team) and George Kimber (Embark Spirit BS) were fastest female and male riders respectively at the Exeter Wheelers CC climb of Stoke Hill to the north of the Devonian city.
French, the 22-year-old from Wilmslow in Cheshire, notched up her third win of the weekend at the Exeter Wheelers event, having won both stages of the Mid-Devon CC two-stage climb the previous day.
Her time of 5-54.7 for the 1.3-mile climb gave her the win in the women’s category by almost 27 seconds from Katrina Tse (Oxford University CC), with third being Exeter Univ CC rider Harriet Moxey, another 13 seconds back.
Kimber, the reigning British university road race champion, showed his prowess in hill-climbing with a strong performance on Stoke Hill.
His time of 4-28.9 was 16 seconds better than his nearest rival with Joe Rees (Kalas Motip) second and Elliott Colyer (Univ of Exeter CC) just 1-7 seconds back in third.
Pre-race favourite and reigning national champion, Andrew Feather was a non-starter as he continues to struggle to shrug off an illness.
“It was a fantastically organised event with a really friendly and welcoming atmosphere,” said Olivia French. “The climb itself was tricky to pace as the steepest ramps were at the bottom, but there was a nasty headwind on the shallower bits nearer the top!
“I was really happy to be the fastest woman and I hope to come back next year to try and shave some more seconds off my time.
“I’m thoroughly enjoying the hill climb season so far; I was gutted to miss out on all of it last year with Long Covid so have made up for it this year by entering as many as I possibly can!
“Next weekend I’m heading up north to tackle some climbs close to home in the Peak District and then gearing up to give my best effort at The Struggle.”
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