Hills of the North

2012 Provisional Routes Released

The proposed routes for the 2012 Hills of the North are out. This year, in addition to our 50 and 100 mile routes, there is an 80 mile route. Have a look at the routes page for more details.

Date announced for 2012 Hills of the North

The North East's Hardest Sportive will be run again on September 2nd 2012. Starting and finishing at Hexham Racecourse and with over 3000 metres of climbing on the 100 mile route, the "Hills of the North" is the North's newest and toughest cyclosportive, and pushes even the most experienced cyclists to their limits. For 2012, there will be 3 distances - a 100 mile route, a 75 mile route, and the 50 mile option.

Cycling Weekly Reviews Hills of the North 2011

The Hills of the North website said it all: "It's grim up here. Can you live with the Hills of the North?" Two routes headed out from Hexham Racecourse, covering 50 or 100 miles. The 50-mile option had some very tough climbs to fully challenge those taking the 'easier' option.

The riders took in the very pretty roads through Allendale Town and Sparty Lea before the tough climb up Allen Heads to the wind-swept feed at the top. From here, riders passed the disused mine at Rookhope with a welcome tailwind, before arriving at Stanhope and facing up to the three-and-a-half mile climb of Crawleyside.

The shorter route riders headed back up to the racecourse headquarters via Blanchland and Slaley to complete a pretty, yet testing, 50-mile ride.

The 100-mile route had over 3,000 metres of climbing and covered the constantly up and down road from Hexham to Alston, which is one of the highest towns in the UK, at around 1,000 feet above sea level.

As the day progressed, the wind grew in strength, making for a fairly extreme trial. From Alston, the long trek through Teasedale took riders through pretty Middleton-upon-Tees before swinging North over Bollihope Common to Stanhope.

From Stanhope the hardy riders headed around the Cowshill, Allenheads and Rookhope loop back to Stanhope for the ascent of Crawleyside. The long-course riders completed an extra loop around the pretty Derwent Reservoir before joining the 50-mile route back up to Hexham Racecourse.

Some riders were just in time to witness Mark Cavendish winning the World Championship road race, to cap off a very memorable day.

Talk over hot drinks and sandwiches was of those epic "rooftop-of-England" climbs. Riders also raised funds for St Oswald's Hopsice (which provides specialist care for local adults, young people and children in the North East), making those tough, windswept climbs all the more worthwhile.

© Copyright 2011 IPC Media Ltd.

Latest! "Hills of the North" 2011 times are now online!

"Hills of the North" timings:

50 Miles times (PDF Format)
50 Miles times (Excel XML Format)
50 Miles times (Excel 97-2004 Format)

100 Miles times (PDF Format)
100 Miles times (Excel XML Format)
100 Miles times (Excel 97-2004 Format)

"Hills of the North" 2011 photos:

Thanks to cyclesportphotos.com (the kind people taking photos at the top of Crawleyside Bank) we have your expressions of pain etched on your faces and captured forever, as you struggled with the North's toughest cycling sportive!

The "Hills of the North" 100 mile photographs are available to view here
The 50 mile photographs are available to view here