FIFTY of the North-East‘s best cyclists battled it out in Tynedale to be crowned local King, or Queen, of the Mountain.

Allen Valley Velo cycling club held a two stage hill climb event in and around the village of Whitfield, participants tackling two varied routes on their way.

They started with the long and steady gradients of the A686 out of Whitfield towards Alston for 4.1 miles with Gosforth Road Club’s Jonathan Bayley (12:46) pipping junior Fergus Robinson (12:49), from host club Allen Valley.

Ingrid Shepherd (15:16), of Sunderland Clarion, was the quickest of the women, leading on from Fiona Blackett (15:18), of Bishop Auckland CC.

The second stage saw the riders take on the much steeper, but shorter, ride up Common Bank starting outside of the Elk‘s Head Pub, in Whitfield.

The close time gaps from stage one meant that the competition for stage two was fierce, with Bayley again taking the win by a margin of nine seconds to claim his first open hill climb win with an aggregate time of 17:43.

Finishing second overall, Robinson was fastest junior rider.

Blackett managed to turn the tables in stage two to clinch the overall women‘s victory, her winning margin of 23 seconds helping her to top spot with a combined time of 21:16.

Meanwhile, Colin Atkinson was the fastest over 40 veteran with a time of 18:30.