Sunday 13 April saw the small Cotswold town of Winchcombe overrun by over 950 cyclists for the start of The 19th Hell of the North Cotswolds Event, organised jointly by Cheltenham and County and Winchcombe Cycling clubs.

As is now traditional the convoy of riders were lead through the centre of Winchcombe with a police escort and on as far as the first main junction where the riders were left to their own devices to navigate either a 50 or 100km route round the North Cotswold countryside. The initial pace was set very high by a tandem giving the police car a run for his money in the 30mph zone through Winchcombe. The police car managed to open up a noticeable gap once out of the speed restriction…

At the top of the first off road section and climb things had started to string out with a group of about 10 riders slowly pulling away from the main group, setting a good pace with the expert map reading skill of Steve Heading (Whyte Bikes) and a bit of local knowledge from Stuart Hopkins (FC Maestro, also on a Whyte PRST-4). The lead group arrived at the halfway halt still intact with just over two hours gone.

A very quick turn around saw a smaller group of five riders head off together for the second leg with Stuart Hopkins the first to drop off the back on the climb out of Guiting. Jonathan Edwards (also riding a Marin) was the next to crack on the climb out of Turkdean.

The remaining riders, Steve Heading, Nic Burridge (Marin) and Ben Davies (Cheltenham Cycles) worked well together over the remainder of the course, With Davies finally cracking within sight of the finish – the sting in the tail of Cleeve Common’s technical rocky tracks took its toll on Davies and his cyclo cross bike, a gutsy ride keeping up with the full suspension machines of the other two for a majority of the course.

The remaining two of Burridge and Heading cruised home completing the tough 97km course in a new record time of just over four hours (about a 15mph average), Davies coming a further 10 minutes back after an off on Cleeve common.

Many thanks to all the organisers and helpers from Cheltenham and County and Winchcombe cycling clubs for organising such an excellent and fun event.