The Arrival of the Young Mountain Bikers, 1988 to 1994

The influx of junior ‘mountain bikers’, led by Marco Faimali, certainly breathed new life into the Addiscombe. Ian Joseph wrote an account for The Gazette of a 50-mile sponsored WALK in the Chilterns he and two more of these new members, Marco Faimali and Stephen Thompson, had undertaken during the winter of 1987/88. After bedding down for a few hours in the comfort of a freezing cold hall along with about 200 others, by 4 a.m. it was breakfast and away into the cold and dark. A friend who had initially started off with them was forced to drop out. To quote Joseph “the three of us carried on, it must have been all the Sunday club runs with John Smith that increased our stamina”. As night fell not only did they get lost and cover an unnecessary four miles but with their feet blistered and sore after 13.5 hours non-stop walking they regretfully called it a day. Driving rain and gale force winds had not helped the intrepid three.

By the end of the year these new youngsters were all proving excellent club members. Stephen Thompson had recorded 25 mins 26 secs for a 10, and 1 hr 08 mins 02 secs for a 25 and won two junior road trophies and the novice’s medal. Marco Faimali took the junior 10-mile trophy with 25.01, and was the second fastest junior over 25 miles with 1.10.24; Vernon Ellis was next with times of 25.30 and 1.10.15, and Ian Joseph 25.58, 1.12.14.

Phil O’Connor spent “an exhausting three weeks” (his words) working at the 1988 Olympic Games in South Korea, a Games where Britain had won medals in several sports, and as Phil said “he was there”, as he would be at many more international events over the years to come. His recognition as one of the sports leading photographers, and all the travelling it entailed, meant he had to give up his post of general secretary but newcomer Stan Worrell was happy to step into the breach and even finished the year as winner of the Evening 10-mile Handicap Competition.

In January 1989 the club celebrated its Diamond Jubilee at the Post House Hotel, Purley Way. The eighty-eight members and friends included founder members Sid Armstrong and Bill Wells, pre-WW2 members Jack Finch and Bert Rolls, in addition to more recent past members Stephen Cockell, Dave Eldridge and Ray Root. Steve Davies was Club Champion and collected four other time trial trophies.

Steve Davies receives the Club Championship trophy from the President’s wife – Joyce Smith.

For the young members the season had started even before the club dinner. Marco Faimali reported that he, Alan Maxwell, Andrew Ince and Glen May had visited the Eastway Cycle Circuit in the January with their “coloured 18 speed mountain bikes equipped with monster tractor tyres and disk wheels on a couple of them”.

Paul Tunnell, President John Smith and Steve Thompson at the Diamond Jubilee Dinner.

While Maxwell travelled up with his father “who was interested to see what his son got up to on a Sunday afternoon that he came home in such a mess”, Faimali had borrowed his mother’s little Fiat to convey three lads, three bikes, three sets of racing gear and a super loud stereo. Two bikes ended up on the roof secured with bungy straps and washing line and they were off. About 160 riders took part in the morning event run fifteen times round the cross-country course. Rain the day before had made the climbs and descents tricky and Faimali wrote in the Gazette, “the most popular way down, but really the best, was to separate yourself from the bike somewhere near the top (not intentionally), pick it up at the bottom and straighten the bent things out before proceeding” He and Ince completed three laps before time ran out. They then retired to the free beer tent… …but the rest is perhaps best left unrecorded. One does wonder, how did they manage to get 30 cans of beer into that poor little, already overladen, Fiat before heading home?

While many members travelled extensively throughout Europe Keith Wawman undertook a rather different tour of 1,500 miles travelling from Botswana to South Africa, via Johannesburg, Pretoria, and the Northern Drakensburg mountains to Zimbabi, to visit a relation. On checking in at a motel 3 km off route, Keith was advised he should have transport back to the main road as there were wild animals roaming and he did in fact see lions and crocodiles – and return to England safely.

It was acknowledged the mountain bikers had brought the club recognition. Early in 1990 it had looked as though Dave Hemming would become Addiscombe’s future star rider, especially after his performance at the World’s MTB Championships where he came away with a silver medal, but he was quickly drawn into a semi-professional team. The rest of the MTB lads were certainly getting in the riding miles. Marco Faimali organised all-day, mainly off-road, trips to places like Brighton, Ashdown Forest, Newhaven and Leith Hill. Four of them spent a long weekend in the Brecon Beacons and the cycling itself must have been a real joy after travelling 4-up in a Fiat Strada with four bikes, four spare wheels, four rucksacks and the inevitable sterio blaster – but you have read a similar story before! Faimali’s enthusiasm knew no bounds; Sunday off-road rides, Monday Eastway, Tuesday Crystal Palace, and Wednesday, well he just organised more runs before clubnight.

Another expedition by five members and three “prospectives” was the South Downs Way, 90 miles, overnighting in Truleigh Hill youth hostel halfway. The number of off-roaders rose to sixteen and teams participated in races as far afield as Birmingham, the Forest of Dean and the MTB Final at Snowdon where Nick Clarke riding in the senior 3.5 miles uphill race finished 8th out of 90 – and that was after travelling overnight to the event. Other encouraging results in their categories came from Vincent Kamp, one of the country’s fastest juveniles, Tim Davies, a junior picking up plenty of awards, and Paul Dalton, only 14 and more at home riding with juniors and seniors.

It was a rare occasion when a report of the Club’s Open Cyclocross appeared in the magazine, other than for a few thanks to the helpers. Paul Tunnell had been a regular supporter and organiser in this discipline and perhaps because of members’ successes a full report for the 1990 event was published. Ian Jewell, Festival R.C. may have won the event overall but of the thirteen club entrants, Tim Davies finished 3rd, 1st Junior and 1st MTB, with Pete Adams next home in 14th position. Paul Dalton and Duncan Benfield were 1st and 2nd in the Schoolboys’ category, Matthew Benfield and Talan Borkett 3rd and 8th Juniors, and riding in the Under 12’s event, Anthony Faimali and Mark Tunnell were 3rd and 4th.

If placings were non-existent for Addiscombe riders in the Club’s Open 10 and Open 25 miles’ time trials at least the standard of promotion remained high and usually with full fields. Steve Davies took the Club Championship for the seventh time, Gerry Marks completed his first 24-hour event with 374.33 miles and Stan Worrell won the only Open of the year in the club’s name, the Rodney 10. John Smith, making a mini comeback, finished fastest veteran on standard in the same event. Not to be outdone, the darts team had a good season, winning the Belle Vue Darts Knock-Out Team, Individual (Joe Wand) and Pairs (Pat Lacey and Joe Wand) competitions.

Gerry Marks who as well as completing his first 24-hour time trial also took the club’s Veterans’ All-Rounder trophy in 1989 and 1990.

The evolution of the bicycle is continuous and in 1991 tri-bars were first recognised by the RTTC and became a “must have” for many time triallists. Change proceeded at a rapid rate. Low profile machines, monoblade forks, stream-lined racing helmets, frames made from carbon fibre, magnesium, titanium, etc. not to mention newly designed components, all came on offer (at a price). When members raced on the road, toured and off-roaded fifty years earlier, using the same bike, who could have foreseen the advent of the purpose-built cross-bike, mountain bike and downhill machine, yet in 1991 the mountain bike owners in the club were talking of the need to get “a road machine”.

Early in the year Vince Kamp won the City of London Juvenile MTB Championship, Tim Davies was complimented on a 2nd place in a national event at Cannock Chase and Mark Tunnell had added yet more Under 12 wins to his tally. Competing in the Mountain Bike of Wales 66 miles 4-stage race, from a starting field of 80 riders, Ron Pilling, placed 27th despite equipment failure and punctures on the final stage.

Marco Faimali organised another 2-day South Downs ride for eight members at Easter, as well as taking out regular runs over the North Downs. His runs were popular and what was encouraging was the number of youngsters he was drawing into the club. For this he was awarded the club’s prestigious Memorial Trophy at the year end. Faimali also has a lively sense of humour and this came through in his race reports. By the time the July issue of the Gazette was published he decided to issue Ten Commandments to the group of off-roaders.

Marco’s Ten Commandments:

Thou shalt not invent an off-road tricycle.
Thou shalt always ride downhill faster than thy pursuing Warden in his Landrover.
Thou shalt not race through soft horsh on thy bridlepath when I am on thy wheel.
Thou shalt not give Paul Dalton my new work telephone number.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s titanium seat bolt.
Thou shalt pay homage to thy North Downs Way every Sabbath.
Thou shalt endeavour to land properly at thy jump at Eastway lease thou crack thy gonads on thy crossbar.
Thou shalt claim to be a Paragon rider if thou get caught trespassing off road.

The Editor, Bill Wells, used his discretion and omitted to publish 9 and 10!

In addition to the area nearer home, the Addiscombe was represented in off road events in Wales, Plymouth, Cannock, Catterick, and at Aviemore where in the Grundig International from a field of 300 in the Pro/Expert/Sports class Pete Adams finished 51st and Rob Pilling 68th. At Cannock Paul Dalton had placed 4th Juvenile and 1st Downhill – the first occasion when a Downhill award is credited to a club member. Another first in 1991 was mention of Joel Kirkwood finishing in “a Triathlon” at Bath.

A change to the club kit, designed by Pete Adams, was accepted and Rob Pilling handled the orders. The new clothing proved so popular that Pilling was soon placing a second order. By the end of the year the name of the Addiscombe cycling club was very much to the fore and recognised not only by the new strip but also by the numbers competing off-road.

Testing the new kit out on Shirley Hills

The Revolution Off-Road Series at Eastway attracted a good entry and on completion of the eight counting races Alex Ford was declared the overall winner of the Expert class, Paul Dalton winner of the Junior class, and Pilling placed 4th in the Sports section. To give an idea of the strength of the club’s riders, in a Pro/Expert/Sports race at Brands Hatch the lads may have missed the winning spot but Vince Kamp placed 2nd, Pilling 3rd, Dalton 5th, and Nick Taylor 8th. In a junior event at Aldershot Tim Davies finished 2nd with Talan Borkett 15th. An MTB race at Reading resulted in Ford 1st, Pilling 2nd, Dalton 4th, Mark Phillips 5th and Joel Kirkwood 6th.

While not always claiming first place, the lads could usually be found closely packed at the top of the finishing list as in the City of Westminster race on Shirley Hills where Kamp, Ford, Pilling, Kirkwood and Phillips took 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th and 9th respectively. Perhaps no surprise our members had not taken the top award as this went to Paul Lasenby, who had placed third in the World Junior MTB Championship.

Reporting on events in the December 1991 Gazette, Marco Faimali wrote “… no sooner have MTB races ended than the cyclocross events kick off. My legs are killing me all the year round now”. In the cross events that autumn Mark Phillips won an event at Dorking with Vince Kamp 1st Junior and Paul Dalton 3rd Junior, Dalton added several 1st Juvenile and Junior placings to his credit before the winter was out. A new juvenile by the name of Rob Young was also starting to be noticed. The Viking Wheelers race was another example of Addiscombe domination – Vince Kamp 2nd, Alex Ford 4th, Joel Kirkwood 5th, Tim Davies 6th, Pete Adams 7th, Mark Phillips 9th, Dan Milner 11th, Paul Dalton 14th, Rob Pilling 15th, Marco Faimali 20th.

For the traditional clubman life continued undisturbed. John Smith remained very much the driving force in the club, encouraging and supporting all riders. It was on one of his rides out to support a road race at Ottershaw that he was found lying by the road by a member of the South Western R.C. Obviously injured, an ambulance was called and he was rushed off to hospital where he was found to have a broken collarbone, cracked ribs, a fractured skull and a heart defect. Despite this Smith was back in action in the autumn taking out Saturday morning and Sunday runs.

Looking through the time trial reports one comes across the occasional new name like Chris Newell and Dave Fletcher, in addition to the hardcore of riders like Jim Trenowden, Keith Wawman and Gerry Marks. While Steve Davies was heading for his eighth win of the Club Championship Stan Worrell and Paul Tunnell were in serious competition against each other over the shorter distances and turning out personal bests at 10, 25 and 50 miles.

The opening club 10 miles time trial of 1992 saw fourteen riders competing, at least five of whom had started out as off-roaders. Pete Adams was one who performed really well over the shorter distances and was Addiscombe’s highest placed entrant in both the Club’s Open 10 with 23.10, and the Open 25 where he finished 8th with a personal best of 1.01.11. John Sadler was another youngster who took several 1st Juvenile awards in open 10 and 25 miles’ time trials. A team entered the traditional 4-up 55 km time trial promoted by the Clarencourt C.C. and although Dave Collins, Rob Pilling, Alex Ford and Pete Adams only recorded 19th fastest there were another twenty-one teams slower than them.

Past Presidents Sid Armstrong and Eddie Mundy out marshalling on the Poole Wheelers 12-hour time trial.

Tracing off-road results proved more difficult after Marco Faimali handed over the secretarial reins for this discipline. The minutes do not give details and the Gazette frequently quoted riders by their nicknames. On record, the club had twenty members racing on mountain bikes in 1992. Alphabetically, the seniors were Pete Adams, Simon Chesworth, Dave Collins, Marco Faimali, Alex Ford, Alan French, Brian Paterson, Mark Phillips, Rob Pilling and Nick Taylor, and the juniors, Duncan Benfield, Talan Borkett, Paul Dalton, Tim Davies, Peter Gromit, Vince Kamp, Joel Kirkwood, Anthony Welsh, Ashley Whiteside and Rob Young. Of these Rob Pilling had placed 4th in the Sports category of the National Championships. Locally, Alex Ford had secured wins and placings in the Expert field, at the Eastway Revolution Summer Series Rob Pilling and Paul Dalton had taken the Sports and Junior overall categories and in the Southern Area Team Championship at Poole, Addiscombe placed fifth.

On the road, John Sadler, at just 16 years of age, convincingly won a 3rd cat. Surrey League race. Kevin O’Brien placed 2nd on at least three occasions plus sufficient top-6 placings to give him his 2nd cat. licence. Always a rider to be feared, Alex Ford had a fine win in a Surrey League event. Amongst the juveniles riding the Crystal Palace circuit, Ben Fancourt was frequently in the first six and won the series as the most consistent finisher.

By Christmas, riding cyclocross, Alex Ford (pictured) had collected three 1st and two 2nd places. One of Ford’s wins had been the Addiscombe Open ’Cross at Faygate, efficiently organised by Paul Tunnell, with Rob Pilling filling 2nd spot. Mark Phillips was another rider to be regularly placed in the top six.

Quite a few of the older members rode with the mid-week 40-Plus group. Six of them took part in a 100-mile ride round the Essex lanes. All had gone well until Joan Brown’s seat pillar snapped and the only course of action had been for husband Stan to ride back for the car. The other four, Joyce Smith, Sid Honeyball, Keith Wawman and Ernie Oakford completed the course and finished a very pleasant day out with a pub BBQ. Meanwhile the more sedate darts team had triumphed, winning the League Championship, Belle-Vue Knock-Out competition and Pat Lacey taking the individual championship.

It is not possible to list all the new members joining the Addiscombe but 1993 saw the arrival of another person who like Marco Faimali would have an impact on the future of the club – Andrew Montgomery. Three past members also rejoined – John Withey, Jack Griffin, and Bob Halfacre together with son Ron. At the AGM, John Smith had stood down as President and handed over to Chris Watts and following a year without a general secretary, Glyn Durrant stepped into the breach. He and his wife Kristin proved an asset to the club. Bill Wells, a founder member and past president, who had kept The Gazette in production through some lean years, passed away suddenly and Kristin took the magazine over for four years bringing in new ideas.

Another major change at the beginning of 1993 saw a move of headquarters from the small church hall in Morland Road to Christ Church Methodist hall. Being a much larger room it was possible to reintroduce table tennis and darts.

John Smith continued to keep the social and time trialling side of the club alive. He led regular Saturday morning runs to Charlwood and on one notable occasion, seventeen arrived at the café.

Eastway was the venue for the final round of the Mountain Bike International Winter Series. Contestants for the Sports class numbered over 130 but Rob Pilling (pictured) had the advantage that he was currently leading the Series. After a head start he was passed by a Pro-Circuit rider, who eventually succumbed to a puncture, then a Nishiki rider took the lead but Pilling knew he only had to hang in and the Series was his, together with a useful cheque for a well-earned victory. The only other club member riding that day was Brian Paterson, a London courier by day, who had been gradually improving his racing and finished 34th.

As the time trial season opened eighteen riders took part in the first club 10, the fastest being Paul Tunnell and the slowest father Peter Tunnell. John Withey rode seven time trials where he was placed no lower than 9th, his best placing being 2nd fastest in the Farnham R.C. 25. He was our highest finisher at 13th in the Club’s Open 25.

Sixteen years old John Sadler had a good year in time trials and completed his year by taking the Southern Counties Junior BAR run over 10 and 25 miles. In Surrey League races he took two 3rd placings and was closely run in events by another junior, Ben Fancourt. The two of them were part of the 4-man winning team that represented Croydon in the Youth Games at the Crystal Palace. In the 60-mile Junior BCF Surrey Division Road Race Championship, Fancourt was unlucky to miss the leading break but Sadler got away only to puncture with three laps to go. Senior rider Kevin O’Brien was also unfortunate in the 100-mile BCF Senior Division Championship. When lying in second position on the road a bogus marshal directed him off-course. Not the first occasion when this happened in the Ockley area where some local residents were known to take an unfavourable view of all forms of cycle racing.

Ten years old Mark Tunnell (pictured) won the Surrey heat of BCF Challenge ’93, a youth promotion scheme to find the country’s best young riders. He then went on to represent BCF Surrey Division in the final at Milton Keynes where he finished 6th overall in the under 13’s category.

Ron Halfacre and Ernie Oakford joined in the annual London to Brighton ride. Oakford was a great supporter of this charity ride run in aid of the British Heart Foundation and would go on to complete 25 rides in all, his last one in 2005 at the age of 82.

For many of his rides Oakford would first cycle to London (Hyde Park Corner in the early days) before heading south for Brighton. He would then cycle home to Reigate calling at a certain pub en route to collect his sponsorship money from the publican, plus a welcome pint.

Jack Griffin, known in his younger days as one of the Checkley brothers, returned to the club after a period of some sixty years proudly wearing his original club badge. He first purchased a power-assisted tricycle but found the battery did not last long enough for his rides. Griffin eventually got the Higgins machine he hankered after and at the age of 87 took himself off for a two-week tour of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, completing a total of 350 miles. The tricycle was eventually left to the Addiscombe to be sold to boost club funds.

With mountain bike events taking place throughout the year it is worth recording the distances some of our members were prepared to travel. For the National Series, round 1 – North Yorkshire, round 2 – Plymouth, round 3 – Aldershot, round 4 – Beddgelert, North Wales, round 5 they appeared to miss, and round 6 Eastridge, Shropshire. Highest placed in the finals were Experts – Alex Ford 17th and Sports – Rob Pilling 17th. The National Championship was held on the Malvern Hills with Ron Young 38th Junior and Brian Paterson, somewhere in the top 100 Sports. Riding Round 2 of the Mountain Bike Club Summer Series, Rob Young finished 10th Junior, Rob Pilling 2nd and Simon Chesworth 3rd Sports, and the winner in the Experts class was Alex Ford. Overall in this Summer Series Pilling won the Sports class with Ford 2nd among the Experts.

As the cyclocross season opened up Alex Ford proved he was as adept on a cross frame as on his MTB. He won an event at Reading, took various 2nd placings including the Club’s Open at Faygate, plus several 3rd awards, the best of these being the bronze medal in the South of England Championship at Lancing. It was in this event, run in atrocious weather conditions with six members competing and a further ten cheering them on, that Ford led Alan French (15th) and John Withey (17th) to an Addiscombe team victory. Earlier in the day Mark Tunnell had finished 5th in the Under 12’s and Rob Young 6th in the Junior event.

New Year’s Day 1994 saw Alex Ford and Rob Young 6th and 10th in a cyclocross at Southampton, and the following day, back home again and racing on Addington (Shirley) Hills, where they finished 4th and 9th respectively. The following weekend they returned to Southampton for the ’Cross National Championships where Ford at 31st position was the club’s best placed senior and Young 13th in the junior event. A week later Alex Ford, Rob Young, Rob Pilling and Alan French were riding at Bingley, Yorkshire, representing London in the Inter-Area Championship.

In February Mark & Paul Tunnell scored a double when Mark was first U12 and father Paul won the senior race. It was also the month two brothers joined the club who would soon make their names known, Mark and Stephen Bayliss.

John Sadler opened his season well recording fastest junior in the Croydon & District C.A. Hardriders, as well as being the highest placed at 10th of the club’s entrants.

By the end of the 1994, as well as improving his times against the clock he was also riding extremely well in road races.

John Smith prepares to push off John Sadler.

Addiscombe riders were still showing well in MTB events with Rob Young, a junior, riding exceptionally well and always highly placed. Brixton Cycles decided to sponsor a series of evening meetings at Eastway in 1994 with clubs assisting with the promotions and in return receiving a boost to their funds. Initially proposed as six meetings Brixton Cycles quickly upped the number to twelve. The Addiscombe took on two events that year with over 100 starters on both occasions. The duties of the club involved helping lay out a course, marshalling during the hour long race, recording, clearing the site after the last rider was in and producing a finishing order. Bill Wright and Marco Faimali were the driving force in the early years. Faimali wrote the software to enable full results to be collated for all riders, a version of which is still in use in 2006.

Various members rode this ‘summer Series’ at Eastway. Overall that year, in the Sports category Pete Adams placed 7th, Bill Wright =40th and Brian Paterson 66th, with Pilling =25th of the Experts. Rob Young rode exceptionally well in the junior events, was always highly placed and finished 1st overall in his category. He also rode in the Kent Series at Penshurst where one week he even won the main event. In the BMBF Championships at Shrewsbury Young finished 22nd junior. Rob Pilling finished 4th Expert at Yateley in an April event. Rod Yarr placed 5th in the Sports category in both the BMBF National Points Series at Fort William and the Pedal Hounds Challenge at Longmoor. Later in the year Yarr finished 2nd in the Festival R.C.’s promotion on Addington Hills with Mark Bayliss 8th and Glyn Durrant 14th.

The Surrey Heat of the BCF Challenge 1994 was held at Dorking. Mark Tunnell was 1st Under 12’s and Steve Bayliss 1st Under 16’s, both qualifying for the finals to be held in Manchester in the autumn. Riding in their respective categories at these finals, in the l lap time trial both Tunnell and Bayliss finished 2nd. The Skills Test saw Bayliss 5th and Tunnell 18th giving the lads overall positions of Bayliss 2nd U16 and Tunnell 10th U13. They also competed in the Greater London Criterium Championships, Bayliss placing 1st U16 and Tunnell 1st U13. Tunnell also competed in the English Schools’ C.A. National Track Championships winning the U11 Sprint, 2-lap Pursuit and 6-lap Scratch races. Bayliss was competing on the track and placing well as a juvenile, especially in Monday Competition events, where the only other club participant was Paul Williams.

Mark Tunnell and Steve Bayliss, joined by Victoria Tully of the Anerley B.C., were selected as part of the team representing Croydon in the London Youth Games at Crystal Palace and finished 4th best juvenile team. At the same Games, older brother Mark Bayliss, John Sadler, Ben Fancourt, with Richard Tully, Anerley B.C. riding as a team, won the junior event. In the Triathlon section club records state “Mark and Steve Bayliss annihilated the opposition”. The Croydon youngsters were the overall winners.

On the road-racing front, Alex Ford and Kevin O’Brien rode the Surrey League 3-day event over the Easter weekend finishing 17th and 23rd overall. Ford and Rob Pilling both scored wins in the Kent League 3rd/J Series and John Sadler won a 56-mile Surrey League event at Ripley. A race result that is fairly typical of some of the Kent 3/J races of 1994 reads “Sissinghurst, 31st July, Pilling 3rd, Sadler 4th, Ford 8th, Paterson 9th and Kennett 10th”. O’Brien too had a good season being well placed in 2/3 cat. events and obtaining sufficient points to gain his 1st cat. licence. Ford and Pilling moved up to 2nd cats.

Members rode a full season of time trials. In the Clarencourt’s 4-up Alex Ford, Rob Pilling, Dave Kennett and Pete Adams finished =15th in a full field, and Ben Fancourt riding with the two Bayliss brothers took the junior team award. Adams (58.12) and Sadler (58.14) recorded personal bests in the end of season Southern Counties 25 and with Steve Davies (59.49) won the team prize. Mark Bayliss and John Sadler rode in the National Junior 10 Championship finishing 17th (22.52) and 27th (23.34)

As the season for one discipline finished the lads moved over to another and as winter approached there was still cyclocross. Over four weekends in late September/early October Alex Ford finished 3rd, 5th, 7th, 3rd and 7th. On Addington Hills on 8th October Ford was 3rd, Rod Yarr 5th, Rob Pilling 10th (to complete the winning team), Mark Phillips 14th, Alan French 15th, Karl Brooks 16th, Marco Faimali 20th, Paul Williams 26th. In the accompanying events Steve Bayliss finished 3rd juvenile and Mark Tunnell 1st U12. The following day the Addiscombe promoted an event on Redhill Common that saw Rob Young 4th (and fastest junior), Ford 7th, Yarr 15th (to complete the team), Pete Adams 16th, Brooks 23rd, Paul Tunnell 28th, Paterson 32nd. In the event for juveniles, Steve Bayliss was 3rd and Mark Tunnell 7th and 1st U12. These young men raced week in week out with similar results and the rest of the local clubs must have wondered where they had gone wrong.

Alex Ford was invited to ride for the London team in the BCCA International cyclocross at Southampton on 30th October and placed 26th. In the supporting All Categories event Rob Young at 4th was the club’s highest placed rider.

Left to right: Alex Ford, Pete Adams, Alan French, Rob Pilling, Rob Young and Brian Paterson

The South of England Championships were held in December 1994 at Penshurst. Mark Tunnell was 1st U12, Steve Bayliss 3rd Juvenile and Rob Young 6th Junior. In the Senior event, Rod Yarr finished 5th, Rob Pilling 6th and with Paul Tunnell 25th, they took a well-deserved team award. Glyn Durrant placed 35th. In the English Schools’ South of England Championships at Southampton, Steve Bayliss was 6th in the Over 15’s and Mark Tunnell 2nd U13. Club membership now stood at 103 with 41 participating in racing of one sort or another. It is unclear whether this latter figure included Phil O’Connor who had taken up running and placed 2nd in the Belle Vue club’s 5-mile run on Farthing Downs. Overall, not a bad year for the club!