It may have been nine years since Bermuda's former top cyclist Elliot Hubbard traded his bike on a full-time basis for law books, but the 35-year-old lawyer showed that he still has what it takes, especially when it comes to riding uphill.

A renowned climber in his heyday and still the fastest rider on record to climb the Fairmont Southampton Hill event, Hubbard turned back the clock on Sunday in the first of the three hill climb event series when he recorded the fastest time on the tough Sayle Road climb.

In perfect weather conditions, the first road event on the Bermuda Bicycle Association's (BBA) 2009 calendar saw over 30 riders compete in the short yet demanding competition.

With a standing start at the bottom of the hill, success depended on a combination of strength, tactics, pure guts and determination and when the dust settled Hubbard clearly put all three together better than anyone else as he recorded a time of 53.02 seconds.

However, with the series being decided on the lowest cumulative time for the three hills – Sayle Road, Harrington Hundreds and the Fairmont Southampton – Hubbard will clearly have his work cut out to hold off the challenge of two relatively newcomers to the sport who were both within a second of his time.

Arthur Pitcher and Darren (Shakee) Glasford were separated by less than a second as they were clocked in 54.12 and 54.82 seconds respectively, setting up an exciting stage for this Sunday's event at Harrington Hundreds when they will both attempt to beat the man who retired from cycling years before they even started riding.

Both have got the attention of the sport during the last year and are now two of the riders to watch in the upcoming season.

With youngsters Alex Godfrey and Aaron Place rounding out the top five on Sunday, it would appear that a changing of the guard is about to take place at the top of the sport.

On the women's side, Karen Bordage beat out Vanessa Madeiros and Wenda Roberts, recording a time of one minute, 12.08 seconds.

Madeiros and Roberts finished in 1:16.41 and 1:37.74 respectively.

Other winners on the day were Dominique Mayho who beat Mark Godfrey in the male 12 and over group, Gabriella Arnold who beat her sister Izabella in the female 12 and over, and Justin Ferreira who triumphed over Ryan Day in the 12 and under male.

This Sunday's event at Harrington Hundreds gets underway at 8.30 a.m.