It may have taken just over two minutes for the top riders to complete the Bermuda Bicycle Association's annual Hill Climb Championships on Sunday, but the pain on the faces of the riders as they crossed the finish line at the base of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse clearly showed that it is one of the most challenging and demanding races on the year's race schedule.

And it was Mark Hatherley who emerged with the title of 'King of The Hill', a title that he has claimed on several occasions in the past.

Starting on Middle Road opposite the Waterlot Inn, riders set off at one minute intervals with electronic timing chips attached to their bikes to ensure accuracy up to 100ths of a second, with the top seeded riders starting towards the end of the 43-strong field.

Negotiating the tough winding course up Lighthouse Road the sting in the tail came when the riders had to make a steep, sharp right turn onto St. Anne's Road followed by an immediate left into the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse car park where many crossed the finish line and collapsed exhausted on the grass verge at the side of the road.

It was 14-year-old junior Mark Godfrey, coming off an impressive performance in the previous week's Hamilton race, who set the early time of 2.11.1, which stood up until Tracy Wright took the lead with a time of 2.05.3 which would ultimately challenge the top ten seeded riders.

As one rider after another fell short of the mark, the pre-race favorites went to the start line.

It was another junior, Dominique Mayho, winner of the Hamilton road race, who was up to the challenge first with a time of 2.03.02, but his lead was short lived as team-mate Scott Williams pushed his time off the leaderboard even if only by two hundredths of a second in a time of 2.03.00.

It looked like it could be a one-two finish for the Team Madison riders until Winner's Edge team member Hatherely took to the start line.

A multi-winner of the hill climb event and known for his climbing prowess in local cycling, the diminutive cyclist attacked and when he made the final turn towards the finish and powered across the line, he set the best time of the day, almost breaking the two minute mark in 2.00.7 to claim the title he has made his own in recent years.

In the Open womens field it was not such a close affair with triathlete/cyclist Karen Bordage winning the category in 2.22.4 followed by Sarah Bonnett second in 2.30.0 and Wenda Roberts rounding out the top three in 3.12.5.

Early pace-setter Mark Godfrey was the winner of the 13-16 boys' category in 2.11.1 beating out Marquise Cann and Nico Barclay in 2.24.2 and 2.56.8 respectively.

Molly Pilgrim took honours in the girls' 13-16 in 2.44.0 over Anabella Doyle (3.04.0) and Izabella Arnold clockedt 3.20.4.

Alex Pilgrim won the boys' 12 and under in 3.28.9