Illi Cerys Gardner (; born 14 October 1999) is a British

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

, who rode professionally for

UCI Women's Team A UCI Women's Team is a women's road bicycle team sanctioned by the International Cycling Union ( UCI). These teams compete in the major women's bicycle races including the UCI Women's World Tour. The country designation of each team is determine ...

in 2020 and 2021. She is a three-time winner of the British National Hill Climb Championships, and holds the fastest two Everesting times recorded by a female rider.

Career

2021

On 14 August, she set a new women's world Everesting record of 8 hours 33 minutes and 47 seconds, beating Emma Pooley's 2020 record by almost 20 minutes by riding up and down Bwlch y Groes 72 times.

2022

On 23 July, she set a further women's world Everesting record of 8 hours 3 minutes and 29 seconds, improving on her previous record by over 30 minutes by riding up and down the Crowcombe climb 59 times. On 30 October, she won the National Hill Climb Championships by over 23 seconds at the Old Shoe climb near

Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community (Wales), community, situated on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Val ...

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

2023

In 2023 she won the first edition of the Championnats d'Europe des Grimpeurs, which took place in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

on the legendary climb from Airolo to the

Gotthard Pass The Gotthard Pass or St. Gotthard Pass (; ) at is a mountain pass in the Alps traversing the Saint-Gotthard Massif and connecting northern Switzerland with southern Switzerland. The pass lies between Airolo in the Italian-speaking canton of Ti ...

. On 29 October, she won the National Hill Climb Championships for the second time by 59 seconds at the Struggle climb to Kirkstone Pass ascending from

Ambleside Ambleside is a town in the civil parish of Lakes and the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

2024

On 27 October, she won the National Hill Climb Championships for the third time by 12 seconds at the Dipton Mill Road climb in

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

Major results

;2022 : 1st National Hill Climb Championships ;2023 : 1st Championnats d'Europe des Grimpeurs : 1st National Hill Climb Championships ;2024 : 1st National Hill Climb Championships

References

External links

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Strava profile - Illi Gardner
1999 births Living people British female cyclists Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century British sportswomen {{UK-cycling-bio-stub