October 31, 2018 (Santa Barbara, CA) – Retired Pro racer Phil Gaimon, known for challenging Strava KOM records, held the first “World” Hillclimb Championships Friday morning Oct 26. The timed course was up Gibraltar Road in Santa Barbara, California, made famous from the Pro Men’s Tour of California.

181 racers started in twelve categories: Pro and Age Class, including Tandem, Fixed Gear, Clydesdale, Junior, Collegiate, and Chef! Each category departed in 15-minute intervals from Chase Palm Park located next to the Santa Barbara beachfront. Three countries were represented with the majority from USA, over a handful from Canada, and two UK racers.

The strong Pro Women’s field included 2017 USA National Hill Climb Champion Margot Clyne, retired USA Olympian & climbing specialist Mara Abbot (categorized in her age category), 2017 Canyon-SRAM Zwift winner Leah Thorvilson, five-time winner of Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb Aimee Vasse, Pro climbing specialist Krista Doebel-Hickok, Pro cyclocross racer Crystal Anthony, and neophyte climbing specialist Courtney Nelson who logged two million vertical feet (610,000 metres!) in 2017.

Each category had a police escort the first 6-km to the base of Gibraltar Road. With 260m of elevation gain to get to the base, the neutral ride was at a warm-up pace until the anxious women racers were a couple hundred metres before the base.

From the base, the race timing started with a flying start. The start-line coincided with the 9.9 km Gibraltar Climb Strava ride segment with 790m of elevation gain, an 8% average grade.

Moments after crossing the timing mat, Courtney Nelson immediately attacked with Aimee Vasse and Margot Clyne chasing. The peloton split apart immediately. I was fortunate to have the amazing rocky scenery views on the twisty winding climb while I raced alone!

The signs that posted each decreasing kilometre to the finish were encouraging, as well as the cheers from the spectators that made their way up earlier to watch on the closed road event.

Aimee Vasse took the win in 36:38, quicker than the current Women’s Strava time.

Even with organizing the Hillclimb Championships and his new 2-day Phil’s Cookie Fondo for the next days Sat and Sun, Phil Gaimon managed to break away from the Pro Men’s field with the time 29:34.

Results

Pro Women
1. Aimee Vasse (USA) 36:38

Pro Men
1. Phil Gaimon (USA) 29:34

Canadian Results:

Men 30-39 – 6^th Nicholas Witzke 39:48
Men 40-49 – 9^th Jeff Kowalenko 36:59
Men 50-59 – 20^th Dan Alboui 44:18
Pro Women – 7^th Marg Fedyna 43:55
Pro Women – 8^th Kara Lilly 48:10
Women 40-49 – 7^th Lauri Comoli 57:41