May 1999

CLUB TIME TRIALS
The club time trial season got underway in April, and was promptly adjourned, as the first ‘10’ had to be cancelled! Torrential rain created pools of standing water around the D10/19 course, and Danny had to call off the event for safety’s sake. But everybody reconvened two weeks later, on a much nicer night, to see Steve Cummings win with a 20-59. It may have been 17 seconds slower than his personal best, but then he had fractured his wrist a couple of weeks before (doh!).

The Podium

Handicap

The full results are available from Danny, and are also on the events page.

ROAD RACE RESULTS

News is coming in of North End success on the road. Rachel Heal is carrying on where she left off last year, and claimed her first road race victory in the Merseyside Ladies RR on the 17^th of April: winning a two up sprint by some distance. The following day (!) she took 7^th in the BCF Denbigh Women’s RR, and was first 3^rd/4^th cat rider. Rule books are being pored over to see if she attained second-cat status in one weekend! In the men’s race at Denbigh, Jeff Vernon took the bunch sprint for 7^th place after a six-man break had got away. Well done to both!

WILD WALES, AND OTHER CHALLENGES

Entry forms are out for the Wild Wales challenge, which this year is a trip from Bala to Denbigh and back, as ever taking in some of the most tortuous climbs available (you can tell I’m a flat roads man, can’t you?). The forms can be found at the Eureka café, and several club members, including Paul McGill and Les Kennedy, have copies. The organisers present a trophy for the club with the most finishers, which the BNE has won in the past, and there is a mood afoot to get enough entrants for the club to win this again. If you’re interested, get hold of a form and enter. But do it quick – the organisers put a limit of 500 riders on the event, and it’s first come, first served.

Paul also has forms for the 2^nd Cyffylliog bike ride on the 13^th of June: an off-road challenge which has options of 22 or 48 miles. If you want to contact him for either of these forms, ring him on 639 0171 or email him here. Les Kennedy is on 343 1880, or he can be emailed here.

CLUB NIGHT AT THE BIKE FACTORY

Club members are invited to attend a club night at The Bike Factory on Thursday 27^th of May, from 7:30 to 9:30. A £15 voucher will be presented to each member, to be redeemed against purchases made that night. In addition, a rep for Panaracer, Cateye, and Velturo panniers, and one for Polar will be there.

MARSHALLING ROTA

Here’s a reminder of the upcoming marshalling duties:

JUNE 1 TUESDAY CLUB 25 7PM
R.Gillies, L.Kennedy, I.Boult, N.Lockery, A.Kelly, M.Garner, T.Burgess, C.Byrne, P.Cox, D.Cronin

JUNE 6 or 13 SUNDAY DIVISIONAL RR CHAMPS
C.Smith, R.Heal, A.Flannery, P.Byrne, W.Man, L.Marshall

JUNE 8 TUESDAY CLUB 10 7PM D10/19
A.Kelly, N.Fitzpatrick, P.Cox, S.Cummings, B.Davidson, T.Day, C.Dibble, R.Egmond, P.Fleming

JUNE 15 TUESDAY CLUB OPEN 25 7PM D25/14
H.Mahar, D.Mahar, A.R.Masterson, J.McAllister, M.McAllister, A.Kelly, M.Bennett, P.Young, M.Daly, J.Fox, P.Gregory, B.Hughes, R.Hunt, P.Kay, J.King, D.Lethbridge, J.Lyth

JUNE 22 TUESDAY CLUB 10 7PM D10/19
A.R.Masterson, P.McGill, Robin Smith, Elwyn Jones, S.Cummings, A.Massey, B.McDonald, B.McLellan, R.McLellan

The reason for the two different dates for the Divisional Championships is because the Senior Div’s is on the 6^th, while the Juniors is on the 13^th. Previously they were on the same day, and it is not yet clear which day we are required to provide marshals for. As soon as the dates are made known, the marshals will be informed.

Remember, of course, that it is your responsibility to arrange a replacement if you cannot make your allotted race.

Members should note (and I apologise for not including this in last month’s circular – I’m obviously getting old!) that the courses have changed for our 25’s, due to the traffic lights at Curzon island becoming permanent. The club 25’s are actually short of the full 25, starting at Pearl Lane, as before, turning down the A41 at Christleton island, and running past Broxton to Malpas island, U-turning and retracing the route to finish before Christleton outside the sports club. Our open 25 is on the D25/14, which starts at Milton Green, running down to Whitchurch and up the long drag to Forest Hills island on the A49, before turning to retrace to Milton Green. Both courses are, unfortunately, a bit hilly. Maps of both courses are available on the events page.

Still on the marshalling rota, Sid Old is appealing for someone to swap with him. He is down to do the Shropshire ‘100’ on Sunday 11^th July (7am start), but cannot make it. If you can help him out, ring him on 01244 382503.

THE PRUTOUR

When you’re watching coverage of this month’s Prutour (Sunday 23^rd – Saturday 30^th), pay close attention when the riders get to the 1km-to-go point. The large inflatable Tour de France-style archway that you will see there (high winds and steep hills permitting!) will have been supplied and erected by the Birkenhead North End’s very own Ian Boult (well, actually his company, CDC Playsafe), and he and Les Kennedy will be on-site at every stage to rig and de-rig the whole unit. (Mind you, I wish they’d got some other members of staff on hand as well: Les doesn’t even work for CDC – he’s only going along to meet Michaela Strachan and the Isostar dancing girls. I’ve seen these two putting up a tent, and it’s not a pretty sight: tent all over the place and mallets being bashed into fingers. I just hope the whole thing doesn’t come crashing down as O’Grady makes a charge for the line. What? Bitter? Me? Oh no…J )

JOHN DALTON

Eagle-eyed readers of Cycling Weekly may have recognised John Dalton, an associate member from High Wycombe, as the writer of a couple of letters in the past month (one of which was awarded Letter of the Week) about Eurosport’s coverage of the sport. John was concerned that "British Eurosport" (the signal transmitted on digital telly) would not show as much cycling as its "continental" cousin. David Duffield took time out from commentary of one race to allay John’s fears, saying that the ‘regionalisation’ of coverage would be limited to the news bulletins. Well done John, and I look forward to seeing photos of you time trialling in your prize pair of shades!

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY

The Club Dinner will take place this at the King’s Gap Court on Saturday 11^th of December. This is the same venue as last time, so I apologise to people who found fault with last year’s event. Hopefully, more information will be available next month, including details of ticket prices (there I go, writing cheques my body can’t cash…)

AND FINALLY…

Dave Parry was faced with a long walk home when the Creature from the Black Lagoon took a liking to his bike.

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