With several of the pre-race favorites opting to train rather than face the torturous slopes of the Dirab Escarpment, the result ended up being a contest between the heavier riders more suited to flatter roads and the lighter riders who revel in this type of terrain.

The event was the Nigel Howell Hill Climb, which is not considered a pure climbers race as it contains a stretch of flat before the road kicks up to the summit, and it was Kris Ahlin who took advantage of a superb flat section to hang on to win from Ben Psaila who recorded the fastest hill split, but just could not pull back enough on Ahlin.

In third and showing the last race result was no fluke was Geron Guanlao, who faded on the hill to Psaila and came in a scant 2 seconds behind. In fourth and by combining an average flat split into an incredible climb was Cat B superstar Anna Marie Watson, who is in great form and looking forward to competing in International Triathlon events in the near future. Next came two busy committee members, Steve Jenkins and Rob Patrick who managed to combine time keeping duties with racing and were reasonably pleased with the result, although not to be recommended. Championship contender Norberto Daa rounded off the top 7 and admitted this was not his best discipline and was looking forward to the longer road races to start. The day was rounded off by a delicious breakfast provided by the Riyadh Wheelers Filipino members.

Results:

1 K.Ahlin 10:55, 2 B.Psaila 11:18, 3 G.Guanlao 11:20, W-1 A.M.Watson 11:49, 4 S.Jenkins 11:52, 5 R.Patrick 12:13, 6 N.Daa 12:20, 7 G.Morete 12:24, 8 A.Maniago 12:28, 9 K.Walsh 12:28, 10 S.Waight 12:43, 11 M.Jersby 12:51, 12 D.Pottinger 12:52, 13 A.Wilson 13:03, 14 F.Claus 13:10, 15 A.Van den Berg 13:27, 16 J.Sunga 13:38, 17 R.Chan 13:38, 18 M.Doherty 13:43, 19 A.White 13:44, 20 E.Lando 13:46, 21 P.McParland 14:03, 22 M.Levitsky 14:12, 23 T.Williams 14:25, 24 Y.Forero 14:26, 25 J.Altavas 14:37, 26 P.Pogacnik 14:40, 27 H.Simeone 14:49, 28 M.Lincoln 14:50, 29 J.Alahmed 15:00, W-2 A.Morrissey 15:09, 30 T.Eleosida 15:25, 31 M.Webb 15:28, W-3 M.Araujo 15:29, 32 G.Scharke 15:40, 33 A.Guamos 16:18, 34 R.Bitong 16:23, 35 A.Almuayqil 16:25, 36 R.Silvan 17:08, 37 O.Tuazon 17:29, 38 F.Gregorio 17:30, 39 M.Turco 17:30, 40 M.Ismail 17:48, 41 A.Almuayqil 18:21, 42 R.Flores 19:10, 43 A.Alufa 19:16, 44 J.Reyes 19:24, 45 A.Garcia 19:31, 46 F.Requillo 20:05, 47 J.Block 21:25, W-4 M.Flores 23:40, 48 R.Paluf 25:46:00, 49 R.Pedrosa 28:09:00, 50 A.El Ahmad 28:20:00, 51 F.Rico 28:39:00, 52 D.Conception 48:54:00, DNF S.Al-Arbashli DNF.

Categories: Open Ben Psaila, Veteran Kris Ahlin, Master Steve Jenkins, Senior Rob Patrick, Cat B Anna Marie Watson