National Hill Climb Championships
On the 31st of October Sannah arrived at Winnat’s Pass in atrocious weather conditions. The savage gradient and the extreme amounts of water running down it, meant that Sannah was not only having to focus on riding up the hill as quick as her legs could possibly go, but she was also battling the potential wheel slip, the cold and the crazy crowd willing her on.
Photo: Ellen Isherwood
Sannah being 2nd year Junior wanted to take advantage of her final year before moving up to compete in the senior category. Luckily for her, Sannah feels the weather wasn’t quite as bad for the Juniors as it was for the Seniors due to the fact they were off slightly earlier in the day. The climb took Sannah 4minutes and 44seconds, on reflection Sannah said she was expecting more from herself, at an average of around 300w for the climb Sannah felt she had more as she had proved to herself in training, but the cold weather on the day sapped the power out of her very quickly. Despite this; Sannah’s natural ability uphill and gruelling training rides on her favourite hills from home gave Sannah a well deserved win in the Junior category, an impressive result for her 2nd ever competitive hill climb. Here, we should probably mention that not only was her time winning the Juniors but it would have put Sannah 10th in the woman’s category too, something that Sannah is quietly proud of; it is fair to say she does not need to worry about moving up to U23 next year.
“‘’I would rather train for that extra few watts and put those improvements on my performance rather than the equipment, but ask me again next year, I’ll probably have changed my mind.“”
The climb this year up Winnat’s suited Sannah, short and steep to suit her slight build. The world of hill climbing, a bit like time trialling is becoming more focused on equipment and how light your bike can be, so for those reading this more mechanically minded, Sannah borrowed a bike for the event, the first time she had ridden Campagnolo and she removed her bottle cage. This, however, was all she did. Whilst discussing Sannah’s aims for next years hill climbing season, the question, will you be looking for the lightest of bikes and components obviously came up, how could it not while talking about getting uphill very quickly, but Sannah believes she would rather train for that extra few watts and put those improvements on her performance rather than the equipment, she did follow this up with, “but ask me again next year, I’ll probably have changed my mind.“
Photo: Ellen Isherwood
Sannah is looking forward to taking part in the National Hill Climb Championships this year on the Old Horseshoe Pass and embracing the roaring crowds once again. Team OnForm are excited to support Sannah, and are also looking ahead to the team prize.