Nick Munro (Outlands) and Helen Quartermaine (Sowerby Sunday Club) battled against the conditions and a tough climb to take victories in the Darlington CC/VTTA (North) hill climb in County Durham.

The Brusselton Lane 1.3-kilometre hill climb starts at a shallow 1.9% before slowly ramping up to a maximum of 11.2% in its steepest section. The climb has an average gradient of 6.2%.

Munro missed last season but won six open time trial events in 2022 and returned to winning ways with a course record on this occasion.

The 38-year-old recorded a new benchmark time over the climb of two minutes and 54.5 seconds.

Marcus Cram (Muckle Cycle Club) was predicted as favourite by Spindata and despite also breaking the previous course record he had to settle for second position, two seconds back in 2-56.

Completing the podium positions was Tom Harcourt (Team Judge Tyrekey) who completed the climb in a time of 3-10.

“It was my first hill climb race since the Nationals in 2022 after a year out in 2023 so I was keen to see if I still had the legs to compete, especially with the likes of Marcus [Cram] and Tom [Harcourt] on the start sheet,” said Munro.

“The climb is quite local to me and it suits my strengths as it isn’t too steep or long.

“I had bit of a faff on the starting line which made for a panicked start and the adrenaline meant I got off the line quite fast.

“I settled into a decent rhythm by the first corner and felt strong all the way up to the finish line so was very happy with my performance so early in the year.

“Although it isn’t the traditional hill climb season it was definitely hill climb weather. The rain and wind made it hard to get a decent warm up in and to keep warm before starting.”

Quickest youth rider Ezra Bateman (Clifton CC York) was just four seconds outside of the overall podium positions finishing in fourth place (3-14) and smashing the youth/junior course record.

The best veteran was Marcel Schubert (Darlington Cycling Club) who stopped the clock in a time of 3-25 with his team-mates Steven Fullerton and Steven Madeley also age category winners.

Darlington CC were out in force, having eight riders posting a time, with a team time of 10:57.7 ahead of AIMS Cycling in second (11:53.6). 

Last season Sophie Heighton set a new course record of 4-33 in the same event in sunny conditions, opposite to the poor weather competitors experienced this time out.

However, this time out it was Quartermaine who took victory stopping the clock in 4-49 with junior rider Heighton finished four seconds behind in 4-53.

Quickest veteran Deborah Jefferies (Manilla Cycling) finished third overall in a time of 6-37.

* All reports are copyright of Cycling Time Trials/Snowdon Sports. Not to be used without permission.