National Hill Climb Championship on Huddersfield Star Wheelers’ Hill

Granville Sydney

Cast your memory back to 1992. Chris Boardman, just prior to turning professional, and following success on Huddersfield Star Wheelers hill climb by winning the Granville Sidney Memorial Trophy, suggested that our very own Jackson Bridge climb be used for the National Championship. It’s worth noting Boardman himself had already won the nationals the previous four years so he knew what he was talking about.

The nationals came to Jackson bridge two years later in 1994 following a “mammoth amount of organisation” by “Eric Bidulph, John and Chris Giles, and Ian Hodgkinson” and was won by Jeff Wright after having come second the three previous years.

Considering hill climbing legend Granville Sydney had won the nationals six times between 1963 and 1973, who specialised in “short, sharp, horrendously steep climbs” and “sported facial hair and never ever shaved his legs”, then you know how special it is for the National Hill Climb to make a return 21 years after it’s last outing.

Let’s make this years’ event even more special by having our club colours visible all the way up the hill, so we don’t end up waiting another 21 years for our next visit of the nationals!