National Hill Climb Championships will be held on iconic Winnats Pass in 2021

The 2021 National Hill Climb Championships will be held on the iconic Winnats Pass, the organisers have announced.

For the first time in 44 years the picturesque climb in Derbyshire will host the Nationals, sparking plenty of enthusiasm from hill climbing fans and competitors. 

The race is scheduled for October 31, 2021 and will be jointly organised by myHill Cycling and Rutland CC with volunteers from Sheffrec CC and Lifting Gear Products/Cycles in Motion.

Announcing the location for the 2021 edition, the organisers said: “We are proud to announce that - for the first time in 44 years - the venue for this event will be the ‘home of hill climbing’: the leg shattering; VO2 busting; cadence crumbling Winnats Pass. In case you hadn’t guessed. 

“Council for considering and allowing this esteemed event to once again be battled out on one of the UK’s most imposing climbs.”

The full length of the climb according to VeloViewer is 1.8km, with an average gradient of 11.4 per cent and a maximum ramp of 18.3 per cent.  

Organisers have also revealed the course will start at the first kerbstone on the left, five metres above the cattle grid and will proceed uphill to the cattle grid sign just before the cattle grid at the top,”basically the steepest/best/worst bit", believed to be around  0.56 miles or 0.9km in length.

They added that the average gradient will be higher than the 11 per cent for the full climb.

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The current KoM-holder on Strava for the full Winnats Pass is the reigning national hill climb champion Andrew Feather (HuntBikeWheels.com), with a time of 5-47 and an average power of 481w,  while the QoM is held by Emmie Collinge, with a time of 7-51.   

Feather claimed the 2020 National Hill Climb on the 0.5-mile-long HHC005 course in Streately, Berkshire with a time of 2-04.8 and the women’s was won by Bithja Jones (Pankhurst Cycles) with a 2-47.9