Winning on Winnats (Part 4): Frances Owen on the National Hill Climb Championships

Having a field of over 70 senior women at the National Hill Climb Championships at Winnats Pass, in the Peak District this Sunday, will be a momentous occasion - even more so given that the last time Winnats Pass was the venue for the National Hill Climbing Championships, in 1977, women's hill climb races didn't exist. 

I have been speaking to different women who will be competing at the event, and there is a real mix of riders. Some are elite experienced, sponsored riders, while others are newbie racers with a local club, no sponsorship. Frances Owen is the latter. In this, her first full year of racing, Frances has found that she has a talent for time trials and hill climbing, and is pretty excited about taking part in her first National Championships.

Photo credit: Dave Doohan

"Steep, straight and consistently brutal - Winnats is a power climb....and a beautiful one at that. I couldn't be more excited to revisit it on Sunday!

I did my first hill climb last year [at Longstone Edge, Peak District], and was super excited for Streatley,  but then Wales went into full lockdown and my hopes of attending the Nationals were quickly ended!

I’ve been racing since April this year, completing my first “season” of time trialling, riding for my local club - Fibrax Wrexham Roads Club. It’s been surreal, I got a little bit excited at finding out I wasn't totally rubbish and I raced pretty much every weekend over the Summer. I am quite proud of what I’ve achieved - I came 5th in the National 100, 8th in the National 25 and 2nd in the BBAR (Best British All Rounder), posting a time just 7 seconds off the 100 mile competition record last month whilst making my best attempts.

Knowing I’d be feeling the fatigue by Autumn, I told myself the hill climbs would be a ‘bonus’ at the end of the time trial season, and not to focus on them too much or worry about results, and so I’ve been looking forward to the hill climb season all year! I live in North Wales, with monster climbs right on my doorstep that make Winnats seem easy! As an out of the saddle ‘mauler’, for me, the steeper the better - Winnats will just about do!

In terms of training, I don’t have a coach - I do my research, set my own sessions and stick to them pretty well, but I like the flexibility of being able to move stuff around life, weather and crucially, how I feel. It's very much a trial-and-error process but I think it’s worked out so far this year! Since switching from time trial to hill climb training mid-September, my training has become either very very hard, short intervals, or very very easy recovery. I love this sort of training - you are so focused on the interval you are in, and every session feels like a major success when you finish!

I love seeing everyone’s dedicated hill climb bikes, but I am admittedly just a little bit jealous! I’ll be riding my summer road bike - a Cervelo R5. I'll swap out my saddle for a cheap carbon one, and put lighter tyres/tubes on the stock DTSWISS 1450 wheels, but that’s it. It’s a very nice bike, incredibly stiff, with Dura ace, di2... but it weighs in at 6.8kg. I know that is some 2kg more than some bikes, but I don't want to tinker with it too much, and I’m not sponsored or supported, so without spending thousands, it would be pretty hard to knock any weight off! 

Frances racing up The Struggle (photo: Ellen Isherwood)

Plus, at 59kg, physically I don't consider myself a hill climber! I could probably afford to lose the kilos off my butt before justifying spending more money! 

I see body weight as something to experiment with, and reckon it will take a few years to find my ideal race weight. Sitting around 63kg most the Summer seemed to give me the numbers for the TTs. I’ve obviously lost what I reasonably can for the hill climbs, but I don't want to sacrifice power.

I’ve had a couple of wins on the hills this year - Great Dun Fell, Riber, Bank Road, and my club's host event, the Horseshoe Pass. The other hill climbs have been 2nds (and one 3rd) behind hill climb legends Rebecca [Richardson], Mary [Wilkinson] and Joanna [Blackburn]. 

I don’t know how I’ve ended up ranked in the top 10 on Spindata, and in reality, I don’t have such a high expectation for the Nationals, as there are many strong unranked women. If I can try my best, and put in a good ride, I will be happy whatever the outcome! 

Sunday is going to be so much fun - I fully expect the crowds to be wild and I am so excited to see what the women at the pointy end can do - I think it could go any way! It's this growing community that makes hill climbing special. 

One of my most rewarding moments this year was not a race I was in, but one I went to watch. I coach children's cycling for my club and one of my Go-Ride girls set off up the Burway [Shropshire] in her first hill climb, at just 10 years old, and absolutely smashed it. This kind of support has been more than returned, and I hope that I can do everyone proud on Sunday. Good luck everyone - see you on the hill!"

[Frances sets off from the cattle grid near Speedwell Cavern at 10.27am on Sunday 31st October]

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Winning on Winnats (Part 3): Rebecca Richardson on the National Hill Climb Championships

Winning on Winnats (Part 2): Mary Wilkinson on the National Hill Climb Championships

Winning on Winnats (Part 1: Bithja Jones on the National Hill Climb Championships

Winning on Winnats (Part 3): Rebecca Richardson on the National Hill Climb Championships

In my mini series on women's thoughts on contesting the National Hill Climb Championships on the iconic Winnats Pass (Peak District) for the first time in history, we focus on Rebecca Richardson. The Brother UK racer has had podium success in the past at the UK Hill Climb Championships, when she was third on Haytor Vale in 2019. Based in mid-Wales, Rebecca was unable to compete in 2020. But this year the reigning Welsh Hill Climb Champion is back, and will see if she could add to her hill climbing palmarès.  

Rebecca at Monsal Head hill climb (photo: Anthony Wood)

"Last year was a bit of a wet blanket because a week before the Nationals the Welsh Government changed its mind about where we could go [because of the Covid pandemic], so being based in mid-Wales I didn't get to race on Streatley Hill.

So I’m pretty excited about the National Championships on Sunday, and pretty relaxed. I know that I’m in the mix in terms of maybe the top 10 hill climbers but this year is competitive. The level’s really gone up. What’s great about the women’s field now is that as it gets bigger you get more specialists. We know in the men’s fields certain riders go better over a short distance, and  some go better over a long climb. In the women’s field we’ve never had that depth and breadth of field in the past, but this year we have. We’re getting some consistent women in the sport, and then when you add in new women we are starting to see this range.

A climb like Mam Nick suits me. It’s about 7.5 minutes long for women. Anything that’s sort of 5-7 minutes or 7-10 minutes is more my cup of tea.

Mam Nick has been my favourite race this season, where I broke the course record. It’s a climb that, for a couple of years my friends had been saying I should go for, and I really wanted the course record off Lizzy Banks. It’s a really beautiful, iconic climb. When I did the hill climb I put in the best 7-minute power. A minute from the end I was numb with my head down, and I was really in a place I’d never been, physically. My sight was blurring – basically all the oxygen from my brain was going! 

I was really glad to get the record, especially after the disappointment at Monsal Head where I had a massive wheel-slip and lost power. I picked back up at the end, and when I got to the top I was like aaargh! With the field of riders there, I thought I wouldn't even get a podium place. So when I found out I was third, it was a surprise. Looking at the pacing on Strava, I was actually ahead of Mary [Wilkinson], when I had the wheel-slip. I was actually in line with Bithja [Jones], so I know my result could have been a lot better. 

Winnats Pass is not my kind of climb. If you talk to people like Bithja, Mary, Illa [Gardner] and Frances Owen they will say that they love anything that’s steep. Well, I’m the total opposite! Everyone who knows me, knows how much I go backwards when it gets really steep. It’s like when I get out of the saddle my body just doesn’t propel forwards like everybody else!

My partner Rick, lives about 30 minutes away from Winnats so we rode it with Lizzy Banks. We did a ride for the Cycling Podcast tech channel, doing a full gas effort about a month and a half ago. We worked out the gearing, and then I went back and did another full gas effort last week, and we’ve changed all of my bike gearing since.

I was back there on Tuesday this week, because I could see that the weather on Tuesday was looking pretty similar to what we’re going to get on Sunday. The thing about Winnats is that it completely changes with the wind. It’s like a gulley which faces the prevailing wind. When it's windy you get down draughts which are really really gusty. 

On Tuesday we had 28mph South-Westerly gusts and in the gorge in Winnats, on the actual climb, I had to get off my bike. I couldn’t physically ride up it because it was so scary. I had to walk down and my bike was getting pulled out of my arms by the wind. It was flying in the air like a kite! Then a walker in front of me fell over from the wind. 

If the weather is like that on Sunday it’s going to be really interesting. It will be just a case of who can actually get up it. I said that I don’t think I’m a contender but if the weather is anything like Tuesday, I think the advantage of being able to stay in the saddle will make the difference. So I’m going in prepared for the worst, basically. I'd rather have attritional conditions, as that might give me a chance!

In terms of bike set-up I’ve got a really special bike which was created by my partner and his business partner. They have a company called DreamBuild, and have a You Tube channel where they film dream builds – pro bikes, latest bike releases, and they work with manufacturers on projects. So my bike is one of their projects. It’s the S-Works Aethos that has string wheels and everything’s been geared towards being really lightweight. It’s their lightest frame and is around 700g. The whole bike is 4.7kg including disc brakes. Maybe it's really the wrong bike for the wind. I think for those conditions you might just want an old winter bike, or even a mountain bike!

Rebecca's S-Works Aethos as featured in Cycling Weekly

I think realistically, based on all my recons at Winnats, I am not going to be on the podium. But in my mind, that won’t be a failure because the success for me is that there are so many women now who are up there, and to be on the podium you have now got to be in top form, and a notch above. 

It is now like how the men have had to compete for several years. When you see 75 senior women and a full field of junior women – they’re talking about over 100 women - and you can’t even say whether you’re necessarily going to be in the top 10 because there are so many potential top 10 hill climbers, that’s really exciting. 

Even Cycling Weekly magazine recently featured three women hill climbers. They had a story about The Rake, with Mary [Wilkinson] leading the article, a profile on Bithja [Jones], and in the tech section they had my bike. So women’s hill climbing has become so exciting and unpredictable. People are talking about Bithja and Mary, but Illi has beaten Bithja this year. I personally think it will be between Mary and Illi. I think Winnats is too long for Bithja.

I’m really excited for Sunday,  because every time you go up Winnats normally, the traffic is so horrible, and I know the organisers have been working for about two years with the council to get this venue and have closed roads.

This is a unique chance, and because it’s a natural amphitheatre and quite short we’re hopefully going to get some brilliant crowds. They had the Nationals on Bank Road in Matlock in 2016, where I raced in what was my first open hill climb, and the crowds blew my mind; it was like the Tour de France. I can only imagine Winnats is going to be like that." 

[Rebecca sets off from the cattle grid near Speedwell Cavern at 10.28am on Sunday 31st October]

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Winning on Winnats (Part 2): Mary Wilkinson on the National Hill Climb Championships

Winning on Winnats (Part 1): Bithja Jones on the National Hill Climb Championships

Winning on Winnats (Part 1): Bithja Jones on the National Hill Climb Championships

Excitement is mounting as riders gear up (or even down!) for the National Hill Climb Championships this year at Winnats Pass. 

This hill, set in a natural amphitheatre in the Derbyshire Peak District, near Castleton, will be the scene for the heroes testing themselves, straining every sinew to battle up the 25% gradient as fast as is humanly possible over 1km. 

There will be some exciting contests to be had on the slopes of this infamous climb, which was last the venue for a national hill climb race in 1977, long before many of the competitors were born.  

In the men's competition the likes of Tom Bell and Andrew Feather have taken turns to get the better of each other in individual battles throughout the season, though previous winners like Adam Kenway, Ed Laverack, or Dan Evans could throw in a surprise on the day. So we wait with baited breath to see who will prevail in the War of Winnats Pass. 

Meanwhile, the 70+-strong women's field will not be a totally clear-cut affair either. Defending Champion Bithja Jones (Pankhurst Cycles) could be the bookies favourite, given the numerous wins and course records achieved by the Reading-based rider. She again, beat arch-rival and last year's runner up, Mary Wilkinson on Monsal Head earlier this month. But maybe local knowledge may play a decisive role, and northern-based riders like Wilkinson, plus Macclesfield's Monica Greenwood could edge ahead. In addition, one rider, Illi Gardner has managed to get the better of Jones this season, when the 22-year old World Everesting record holder was the fastest woman up Bowden Hill Climb, near Chippenham in early October.

Over the coming days we will hear the thoughts from some of the competitors.

Here is what defending Champion Bithja Jones has to say:

Bithja storming to a win at Monsal Head in October (Photo by Anthony Wood)

"It’s very exciting. I’m not thinking about it too much or else I’ll get really nervous, but it’s always good because it means I usually perform better when I’m nervous.

I've been up Winnats Pass three times. The first time I went up it I thought, 'I will go easy just to check it out – go in a low gear and just spin up' but you can’t do that on a road bike. There’s no easy way up it. Even in your lowest gear it’s hard work. It’s really really steep - a proper power climb, though quite long for a power climb.

It’s totally different from Streatley Hill, last year, and I will definitely take more time than up Streatley. I do really well on the short steep climbs, so in terms of the steepness it suits me. But in terms of length, it’s maybe just a tiny bit long. But we’ll see how I go.

Somewhere like Monsal Head, where I did really well this year, is probably my perfect climb. I was sad that I missed the Bec and Catford Hill Climbs because I was suffering from a really bad cold, and they would have probably been really good for me because they are very steep and a bit shorter than Winnats. 

I didn't race last weekend because I wanted to make sure I could be prepared for Winnats. In the first couple of weeks in October I had a cold and had to take it easy, but I am now better, just in time for the Nationals.

It’s so special to race on such an iconic climb for the first time in 44 years, and I am so so chuffed that I will be a scratch rider on Winnats Pass. That’s just amazing.

I'm looking forward to having spectators too. I raced up Haytor for the Nationals in 2019, but because it is such a long long climb the spectators were spread out a lot. Then the following year the spectators were mainly the marshalls because of Covid. This year, Monsal was amazing and Leith Hill too. Having spectators makes a massive difference and definitely makes me go a few seconds faster, I think.

Monsal was brilliant. It was absolutely amazing. There were barriers on the last quarter of the course, so people were standing in rows, even four deep. There was a massive noise. It was amazing, with the most people at the top, but by then it was all a bit of a blur for me! I loved it so much.

I have won nearly all of my hill climbs this season. I came second at one in Chippenham. It was really icy cold and so wet, and I felt cold during my warm-up. I was freezing cold when I got to the start line and felt really rubbish. Illi Gardner won that one, and she’s a really strong rider to look out for anyway; she will be one of the main contenders at Winnats, I’m sure. She’s amazing. Apart from that race, I have won all my races and set new course records on almost all of them as well.

My training this year has been so different. Last year I just did everything on my own and just went cycling, and rode up a few hills. This year is different. A friend of mine asked me if I would consider having a coach. I thought maybe I should try it because last year I proved that you can do well without a coach. But this year I wanted to see how far I could get if I got professional coaching. 

So I am now being coached by Matt Clinton who was national hill climb champion in 2008, and a podium finisher in the national hill climb championships eight times in a row.  So he’s been training me for the last four months. I am doing intervals on the turbo now, and I’ve got a power meter - all the things that I didn’t have last year. 

It has made a massive difference and I’ve actually learned to like it as well. At first I didn’t like riding the turbo trainer, but now it’s fun. I’ve never worked as hard on my bike as I have done in the last four months on my turbo trainer. If it didn’t make a difference I would have been hugely disappointed and I would never find a coach again. 

Coaching does makes a difference. It has helped me finđ my potential I guess, so you can go that bit further if you have someone who knows exactly what you need, to train for a hill climb.

My bike is a very nice Tifosi Mons hill climb racing bike, and my amazing, committed mechanic, Rikki Pankhurst at Pankhurst Cycles (in Pangbourne) is always working on it between races to make sure everything is all right, and he is finding bits where he could save yet another few grams. He will be chopping off the drops, as I won’t need them on Winnats. He’s got a few more ideas where he can save a bit of weight and have it ready for the Nationals. So he’s very amazing there. At Pankhurst Cycles they are always supporting me, taking me to the races and making sure the bike is absolutely race ready before the start.

At the moment the bike weighs 5.8 kg. It’s heavier than some of the bikes of my competitors, but you have to get it right for what suits you. If you go for too light a bike, sometimes it gets a bit flexed and then you lose power in the end. You need it to be light, but also stiff. I’m really happy with the bike as it is at the moment.

I will have to be ready for damp conditions, given that you are out of the saddle most of the time because of the nature of the climb. However, for whatever reason I have never had any real trouble with wheelspin so far, even in the races where others were struggling. What you can do is to adjust the tyre pressure, and then maybe it’s technique as well, where you put your body weight on the bike as you are cycling up. 

Also Winnats, at least hasn’t got any trees, so you won’t have damp leaves to deal with. We’ll see how it goes, but the conditions will be the same for everyone. So we will all have the same problems to tackle, I guess.

Monsal Head podium (L-R) Mary Wilkinson, Bithja, 
and Rebecca Richardson (photo:Anthony Wood)

Thanks to the massive campaign last year, I think women’s hill climbing has become so much more exciting and so strong. Everyone in the field has stepped up, and I’ve definitely stepped up in my training - and so have my competitors. We will have an even stronger competition this year. 

Mary Wilkinson is in top form this year, and there's also Rebecca Richardson, Joanna Blackburn, Monica Greenwood. You never know how things will go. The hill will suit some people better, and there may be some surprises. It’s down to the form on the day, though I think it will be very very close. It will be exciting.

My seven-year old daughter Frieda did her first hill climb two weeks ago. It was 1.5km up Belmont Hill in Bristol. She enjoyed it, but she was exhausted. My son, Jerome has just started track cycling. 

I think they are inspired by me, but they have also got a little bit used to me hill climbing and so they expect me to win everything! I have not really disappointed them, I hope. But I think that day will come. I am getting older and my competitors are younger and younger – Illi Gardner is half my age! But at the moment it’s going well. 

I think it will be an amazing atmosphere at the Nationals, especially with the way Winnats Pass is set up on these steep banks at the side, like an amphitheatre. It will be such a big party."

[Bithja sets off from the cattle grid near Speedwell Cavern at 10.30 am on Sunday 31st October]

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