In April it’s all about the pedal power as cyclists fight for a spot in the UCI Gran Fondo World Series.

Home city riders showed an abundance of horsepower in Saturday’s Bathurst Cycling Classic hill climb, which also doubled as the NSW Hill Climb Championships.

Bathurst Cycling Club members came away with two victories and two runner-up finishers against some of the state’s best uphill racers.

Mark Windsor (55-59 years) and Luke Tuckwell (under 15s) were the champions in their respective divisions, clawing their way up the 4.2 kilometre track faster than their rivals.

Jim Lavis and Jille Harris were runners-up while Stephen Dunstall’s fourth place also saw him qualify for the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships.

“It’s great to have a champion in the juniors with Luke Tuckwell. He’s an Orange guy who rides for Bathurst and Marian Renshaw’s done an excellent job coaching him,” Windsor said.

“Jille Harris has been a state champion in the past. She’s a tough rider. She was a bit unlucky to come up against Anna Murray, who’s been a long time Australian champion. Jille wasn’t far off her so she’s got great form.

“Jim Lavis was runner-up to Roger Cull who is ridiculously good. Roger’s only just come up into that category so it was going to be tough for Jim because Roger is world class.

“I was happy to jag another state title. It was my last year in that age group. I’m just happy to be involved in this event and if you can get your name up there, given some of the riders in the records, it’s a great thing.”

Another Orange native and former Bathurst club rider, Ben Anderson, finished nine seconds behind Tuckwell in the runner-up spot.

Michael Potter won the under 23s race and finished with the fastest overall time with eight minutes and 20.11 seconds.

It was close to being a record-breaking day at Mount Panorama.

Ben Dyball won the elite men’s event in a time of 8:23.69.

Both riders came up just shy of Peter McDonald’s record of 8:16 but are now the holders of the second and third fastest times on the course.

“Michael Potter’s been winning this race all the way through since he was a junior and he seems bound to get that record eventually,” Windsor said.

“I had a lot to do with Pete from his days at Drapac and he’s a remarkable climber. Michael Potter’s getting very close and Ben Dyball’s a super climber as well.

“It’s a wonderful event to be in because you see all these young riders coming through.”

The fastest women’s time belonged to 45-49 years rider Katie Banerjee with a 10:43.

Bathurst’s Ryan O’Donnell could count himself very unlucky after finishing seventh in a competitive 45-49 men’s field, just one place short of qualifying.