Burton scorches Bec hill-climb

For the second year running, Germain Burton (Team de Ver) went home £1,000 richer after winning the Bec CC hill-climb in staggering fashion on Sunday.

The 16-year-old top prospect hurtled up the 700-yard Titsey Hill climb at Limpsfield in just 1min 45.1sec, almost eight seconds faster than his nearest rival.

Burton was cheered up the lung-bursting hill by hundreds of spectators, many of whom had also lined the course for the Catford CC hill-climb on Yorks Hill earlier in the day.

While Burton took victory, the Bec CC event was highly successful for Team Corley Cycles who had Michael Smith, Richard Cartland and Jake Hales in second, third and fourth places to nail down the team prize in style.

Adeo Cadence RT rider Robert Gough had to settle for eighth place in the Bec event, having won the Catford's climb in the morning.

Gough clocked 1-54.5 to win the event on the 660-yard climb of Yorks Hill at Goathurst Common by six seconds from Bristol South CC's Glyndwr Griffiths.

Elsewhere, former National Champion and 2011 title contender Matt Clinton (Mike Vaughan Cycles) had a mixed weekend of climbing action in Northern England.

He stormed to victory in the Holme Valley Wheelers' climb on Saturday morning, covering the 1.3-mile course in the Holme Valley in 6min 46sec, faster than his nearest rival Dan Evans (Rhos on Sea CC) by 25 seconds.

And he repeated his winning feat on Saturday afternoon in the Huddersfield Star Wheelers climb of Jackson Bridge in West Yorkshire.

Clinton clocked 4-17.2 for the 1,540-yard climb, winning by 18 seconds from Evans once again.

However, any hopes Clinton might've had of securing a third victory this weekend were dashed when he could only manage fourth spot in the Sheffrec CC climb at Monsal Head in Derbyshire.

The 81st running of the event, the Monsal hill climb is proving hugely popular and has attracted sponsorship from A4e which helps maintain a prize list which includes £200 for the winner.

While Malcolm Elliott's course record of 1-14.2 was not challenged, there was still an impressive winning performance from Swedish international mountain bike rider Gunnar Gronlund (RST Racing Team) whose time of 1-26.0 gave him victory exactly one second from Matlock CC's Chris Metcalfe.

While the hill-climb season is in full swing, there are still plenty of conventional time trials taking place, and there were some impressive performances in the New Forest CC 10 at North Kingston in Dorset.

High Wycombe CC's Adam Topham broke the course record with a time of 21-34, and while Gary Dighton (Poole Wheelers) was second, the final spot on the podium went to Julia Shaw (Drag2Zero.com with 22-13, which also gave her the women's prize by a long margin.

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