King and Queen of the Mountains 2022
Climbing hills on your bike is an essential part of living in Hong Kong. So for the the 9th consecutive year, the Dragons are again hosting its annual KOM & QOM competition, which takes advantage of this wonderful city of ours than by choosing the best hills and turning them into a race to see who is the quickest up them - and for those of us who don't have a chance to get the top spot, to see if we can complete them all!
There are 16 carefully chosen, which you can see below, which will determine who can win this competition. Many of them are already familiar and you will already have a time up them, but there are always two new ones!
As we did last year, courtesy of Rupert Griffiths, we will have a live tracker, so you can see your performance in real time, and how you are ranking against everyone else.
This year there are six categories of competition up for grabs:
1. The Main competition for Dragon King and Queen of the Mountain. The winner of this competition will be the person with the shortest overall cumulative time on all the segments in the competition (see segments below).
2. The Challenge competition. The winner of this is the person who completes all the segments, but have 17 minutes or slower on the Peak if you are male and 18 mins or slower if you are female.
3. FOR THE SECOND YEAR! The Pois Argent competition. For the fastest man and woman on all the segments, aged 50 or above by 30 November 2020.
4. The fastest male and female on on the three Grand Tour segments (see below), but who is not leading the overall KOM & QOM competition.
5. The fastest male and female on the seven Puncheurs segments (see below), but who is not leading the overall KOM & QOM competition
6. The fastest male and female on the six Monuments segments (see below), but who is not leading the overall KOM & QOM competition.
The 2020 KOM/QOM Champs Philippe Cosentino and Yann Kai Oh (who has won an unprecedented 8 times in a row) have exercised their rights as winners of last year's competition to to add two new segments and remove two. So this year the Dragons Trippel Challenge and the old favourite "The Beast" is going out and in comes the full Chung Hom Kok Road climb (https://strava.app.link/3azb0TtBEcb) and also coming in is the Buddha Climb which is appropriate in a year when we all need to ask all of those on a higher plane to send us some respite! (https://www.strava.com/segments/1705583).
Study the new segments, and the other 14 segments, very closely and get out there and give them your best early. One thing is for sure - that both Phillippe and Yann Kai will be putting in a spirited defence of their polka-dot jerseys. Let the battle begin!
The Rules:
1) You have to complete all the segments by midnight (HK time) by Tuesday 30th November 2021. Segment links are below. Look at these carefully to see the start and finish points. In order to be in contention, you must complete all segments in that category; overall KOM/QOM contenders must complete every segment.
2) Only the fastest times as recorded on Strava on the predefined segments below between 1 January 2021 and 30 November 2021 will count.
3) You are not permitted any motorized assistance at all to ride the segments.
4) You are allowed to draft and ride in packs to achieve the fastest times
5) Strava times are final. We know Strava is not perfect and GPS signals sometimes go AWOL, but Strava is usually accurate 99% of the time. If you are unhappy with the way Strava has recorded your time, do the ride again!
6) You must upload your ride within 2 weeks of doing the segment. Holding back your times to lull your competitors into a false sense of security is not permitted (yes this has happened before!). Our race commissaires will be watching upload times very closely!
7) Anyone on Strava can enter the competition. It is open to all and not just Dragons members, but you must also join the Dragons page on Strava here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/dragons-triathlon-club for your time to count and only members of the Dragons will win the much coveted Polka Dot KOM and QOM jersey and have their name inscribed on the Dragons KOM and QOM shields. To become a Dragons member click here: www.hktriclub.com/membership - it is cheap to join the Dragons and well worth the investment!
8) Only complete rides uploaded directly from recording devices (such as Garmin, Wahoo, iphone etc) should be used - uploaded GPX files, cropped rides, or rides that do not have a logical start and end point will be heavily scrutinized by the Dragons Strava Police (you have been warned!).
9) To qualify for the Pois Argent, you must be aged 50 by the end of this year's competition, which is 30 November 2020.
The Segment Categories
The Grand Tours - three Grand Tours in professional cycling, three of HK's most iconic climbs
The Puncheurs - six sharp/steep inclines to punch your way up
The Monuments - a bit longer and a bit more rolling, these climbs suit the all-rounders of the peloton and might shake-up this year's competition!
The Climbs:
The Grand Tours
The Peak
http://www.strava.com/segments/631238
Tai Mo Shan
https://www.strava.com/segments/888797
The Buddha
https://www.strava.com/segments/1705583
The Monuments
Cobbles
https://www.strava.com/segments/8857796
Blue Pool Road
https://www.strava.com/segments/667591
Satellite Hill
https://www.strava.com/segments/14376024
Mt. Butler
http://www.strava.com/segments/633199
Mt Davis Path
https://www.strava.com/segments/644149
Repulse Bay Road
https://www.strava.com/segments/636847
Tai Tam Road
https://www.strava.com/segments/636848
The Puncheurs
Parkview
http://www.strava.com/segments/2246838
Mt. Austin
http://www.strava.com/segments/747532
Stanley Fort
https://www.strava.com/segments/11594813
Full Chung Hom Kok Road
https://strava.app.link/3azb0TtBEcb
Detention
https://www.strava.com/segments/689492
Headland Road
https://www.strava.com/segments/986317
The Competitions
The Overall Winner of the KOM & QOM competition wins the coveted polka dot jersey, and their name forever inscribed on the KOM & QOM plaque. This is the fastest male and female rider overall.
The Overall Winner of the Veterans KOM & QOM competition wins the pois argent jersey. The silver polka dot jersey goes to the fastest man and woman who completes all 16 segments and is aged 50 and above by the time of the end of the competition, which is 30 November 2021.
The Challenge Winner is the fastest male and female who completes all the segments, with 17 mins or more on the Peak climb for male competitors and 18 mins or more for female competitors
The winner of the The Grand Tours, The Monuments and The Puncheurs categories is awarded to the fastest male and female who completes all the segments in the respective category but is NOT the overall KOM or QOM winner.