NBRC Hill Climb 5th October 2025

The day after Storm Amy saw pretty cool temperatures and still blustery winds. This year’s hill climb was to be on the Bow Brickhill course, essentially right up Church Road. On the day we had a few issues holding the event.

I turned up fairly early as did the other competitor. Yes, we only had two entries! Both of us kept riding up and down the Woburn Sands road in an effort to keep warm. Meanwhile Dick arrived with signs and watches, as did Dave Bruce and Bryan Scarborough. As I returned from another warmup spin, I passed Andy who called out something incomprehensible about horses.

All was made clear when I got back to Bow Brickhill. A horse had shed its rider somewhere up the hill (apparently in response to something falling from a tree!) and had raced slipping and sliding down the hill. Meanwhile the surprisingly large numbers of motor vehicles going up and down the hill were causing concern.

The re-captured horse and another were then ridden back up the hill so they could ride back down again. There must have been some reasons that didn’t seem obvious to the NBRC contingent - from where we stood shivering it was rather inexplicable.

By this time we were getting a bit cold. Dick drove up the hill to see if the coast was clear, but Andy and I decided we’d just ride up starting together. and see who got to the top first. On the way up, I was forced to stop by a car coming down behind the two horses. I think the car might have been Dick's! 

Anyway, I was first to the top in a leisurely 3m55s, followed by Andy, in turn followed by our erstwhile timekeeper.

Robert nearing the finish

Andy nearing the finish - timekeeper following in the car!

We don't really have a proper timed result owing to the unconventional way the race was run. But Rob Saunders took the win, followed in by Andy Lambeth. 

There was a suggestion that the volume of motor raffic was something to do with an event in the church - certainly there were loads of cars heading for the church. We do think traffic levels on Church Road need to be reviewed before we use the course again (next year we'll be on the Three Locks course). Not much we can do about equine incidents though.

Many thanks to Dick for the signs and the timekeeping he would have done if Rob and Andy hadn't taken matters into their own hands; to Robert for the IT stuff; to Bryan Scarborough for the photos and Dave Bruce for turning up to cheer us on.

Data graph - click the image to enlarge. You can see where I was forced to stop by horses and motor traffic!