The reason for the revival of the Addiscombe appears once again to have been kick-started by Marco Faimali. Following a quiet period on the MTB front, Faimali and Andrew Ince had purchased new machines and by the beginning of the new century they had the off-road section back in action with regular Sunday morning expeditions. Pete Adams, Andrew Montgomery and others quickly joined the rides. The instigators had obviously done their homework and came up with a surprising network of bridleways around Croydon, plus expeditions over both the North and South Downs. As will be noted from Faimali’s initial entry into the club in 1987 his philosophy was that riding a bike should be for fun, and thrills and spills the lads certainly encountered! He organised a weekend ride across the South Downs and was busy devising an off-road route from Croydon through to Brighton.
Another brilliant idea from Marco Faimali at the start of 2000 was the club’s very own website, www.addiscombecc.freeserve.co.uk, later changed to www.Addiscombe.org. Started in the days when Eurosport’s coverage of continental racing was taking off on British TV with David Duffield their somewhat controversial commentator, Faimali hit on the idea of a “We Love David Duffield” section. Duffield was known for his quaint sayings and his ability to continue describing the food or countryside just at the moment an important break was taking place in the race. What started with a few “Duffieldisms” quickly took off as people looked in on the website and contributed their own favourites. All this was done with great affection for a man who had spent his younger days racing and record breaking. He was warmly received when he joined the club a year or two later as their annual dinner guest. In the meantime, the website flourished, and as a result, so did membership.
Many of the new members of 2000 like Phil Nash, Sylvain Garde, Chris Colford, Mark Cole and Robert Royle-Evatt are still keeping the Addiscombe to the fore at the time this history goes into print. For his work in rejuvenating the club, both on-line and through the local papers (writing as Marco Framboli), Marco Faimali was voted recipient of the Memorial Trophy in 2000.
Despite the influx of new members clubroom attendance rarely exceeded ten. Where the change came was in the number of new members wanting to be out riding their bikes. Dave Palmer, runs captain, had been taking a small fairly fast run to Charlwood on a Saturday morning. Initially a monthly ride for new members was introduced to give the impression of lots of newcomers coming together. Vice-captain Andrew Montgomery took charge of these enthusiasts and it soon became clear a regular weekly ride was needed. Soon two Saturday runs regularly left South Croydon, picking up more members outside Coulsdon South station.
The Sunday off-road ride continued; Jason Thomas introduced a Tuesday evening off-road night ride and Richard Claridge organised a Sunday morning ‘training ride’ into the Kentish countryside. To encourage even more members ‘off-road’, in the autumn Marco Faimali threw out a challenge to road racing and time trial enthusiasts to try a cyclocross. If they cared to nominate one of their events, he guaranteed to give it a try in 2001. Cyclocross may not have got any extra riders that winter but a delighted Faimali summed up the 2000/2001 season. Of the 123 riders registered for the London League, ten were Addiscombe riders and as a team they took a well-deserved second place, only 7 points behind the winning Catford C.C.
In the Beastway MTB series at Eastway during 2000, Huw Griffiths and Richard Munday (pictured) were regular competitors.
Keith Knight entered the North Road’s 70-mile ‘Tour of Hertfordshire’ road race. With a full field of 50 riders that included 1st cats. and Elites, Knight admitted after almost 50 miles he was ‘shelled out the back’ but he had experienced a top-class event complete with an accompanying police car and nine police motorcyclists controlling traffic.
Keith Knight and Paul Tunnell failed to get the necessary points to retain their 2nd cat. licences that year, but Mark Bayliss and Richard Claridge moved up from 4th to 3rd cat. status to join them.
On the time trial front in 2000, the Open 25 saw 34 riders inside the hour with South Londoner Paul Mill, riding for the dealer “Edwardes”, a clear winner with a 2 min. 36 sec. margin over the second fastest. The overall number of Addiscombe members time trialling during the season may have been low but there were nine on the start sheet of the Open 25; Paul Tunnell, Steve Davies and Dave Palmer won the Moon Trophy as the fastest Croydon & District C.A. team in the Counties 25; Doug Rollins rode the Redmon 73-mile Hilly for the second time, and Colin Davies was turning a nifty pedal nearer to home in the eastern counties.
Clarencourt’s 4-up team time trial saw three Addiscombe teams competing, one up on the previous year. Mark Bayliss, Paul Tunnell, Dave Fletcher and Keith Knight placed 5th; Dave Palmer, Nick Mann, Steve Hehir and Doug Rollins, 15th, with Mike Rivett, Ron Halfacre, Andrew Montgomery and Richard Claridge 19th. Jim Trenowden received a special presentation from the Croydon & District C.A., the Stan Butler Award, for his many years of time trialling.
Due to space, club time trials do not get the attention they sometimes deserve in this history. What was special in 2000 was that for the first time in 16 years the Addiscombe BEAT the Norwood Paragon in the Inter-club 10, since when the trophy has continued to yo-yo back and forth. The traditional ‘President’s 10’ also saw a field of 26 members and prospective members competing with Dave Fletcher taking the Handicap trophy.
Sixty-three years on from the World Record of 49km 991m set by Mills and Paul the record was finally broken at the Manchester Velodrome. The Rutland C.C. pair of Simon Keaton and Jon Richards set a new record of 50.068 km. Bill Paul was one of the first to send his congratulations.
The “Foot & Mouth” epidemic had serious effects on off-road events at the beginning of 2001. Again quoting from The Gazette, the lads conducted a series of local experiments on drop-offs and local dirt jumps “to further man’s knowledge of the countryside”. Word went round that on some rides club kit should NOT be worn – you were not in the Addiscombe if challenged! As areas of the countryside became usable again tales of events formerly unknown to the more traditional club members, were recounted on the website and within the club magazine.
Another type of off-road riding was the 24-hour event either ridden as a relay or singly. However these MTB ‘24-hour races’ were like nothing the club’s RTTC 24-hour Champions of the 1950’s had ever experienced. Beer, pot noodles, burgers and jacket potatoes were hardly the diet they would have considered! Sylvain Garde and Kirkwood rode the “Red Bull” 24-hour relay race as part of a team and finished 31st out of the 200 teams entered. “Sleepless in the Saddle”, a similar relay race saw Garde, James Foreman, Pete Kerr and Adam Stephens finish 23rd in the Sports category at Trentham Gardens, Birmingham. Team members rode a lap each of a tortuous course before handing over to the next man which meant, if they were lucky, they could grab a couple of hours sleep in their tent or vehicle before their next effort. A later solo-24 attempt by Kirkwood was unsuccessful.
Other off-road events that proved attractive were the Pedalhounds Downhill, the “Gorrick Series”, where 14 member partipated, the Southern Area Mountain Bike Series and the weekly ‘Beastway’ rides at the popular Eastway circuit. Joel Kirkwood had developed cancer when in his mid-20’s but came back into racing and won the summer-long Sports category at Beastway. Sylvain Garde put up strong performances in the latter series, winning one event and taking second overall in the Sports class with Richard Munday placing 19th overall in the Master’s class. Evans Cycles staged an event on the South Downs that entailed navigating a course in a set time using signposts and OS maps. Marco Faimali, Jason Thomas, Adam Stephens, Joe Plommer and Jonathan Jayal returned with four gold and one silver award between them.
An off-road venture also worthy of mention, and one that would surely have caused the club’s founders to raise their eyebrows, was Sylvain Garde’s 4th place (out of over 200 international competitors) in the second World Single-speed* MTB Championship. As Garde described the “beer-swilling event” run off in Wales, “…not really of the competitive type … think of them as the Hell’s Angels of cycling”. It is unsurprising that Garde, being French, frequently returns to the continent. Jason Thomas joined him for La Free Raid Classic in June 2001, an event that drew over 2000 enthusiasts to Switzerland and which Thomas summed up as “riding mostly downhill in some of the best scenery in the world on trails that really test your skills and bike to the utmost”. Another of Garde’s achievements was a tough cross-country race in the Alps where he finished 192nd out of over 1300. His time of 8 hrs 45 mins gives some idea of the length of the race.
* “Single-speed mountain biking, like regular mountain biking, is held over difficult testing terrain. Single-speeders turn their backs on the current mountain bike technology that can provide up to 27 gears. They prefer to ride bikes with just one single gear claiming that 27 gears can be heavy and unreliable when conditions get muddy. Lack of gearing does therefore mean that only the strongest climbers can contemplate riding a single-speed bike to its fullest advantage.”
July 2001 was the year the Tour de France started in Dunkerque and members were inspired to cross the Channel. They travelled by various means. Marco Faimali and Eileen Lam cycled and camped; some used an organised coach trip; Chris Colford and Paul Tunnell went over by bike for the day; others, like Andrew Montgomery and Phil Nash, arrived by car and slept that night in a bush while Chris and John Watts drove, camped and spent the next two days soaking up “tour fever” in the countryside. Dunkerque’s Hotel d’Ville on the route of the prologue was suggested as a meeting point. As twenty-one members and friends arrived from different directions it soon became obvious the Addiscombe had taken over the terrace of a conveniently placed café where lunch was taken as the cavalcade of trade vehicles rolled by.
Steve Bayliss had started his 2001 season as an Elite rider with the De-Nardi team in Italy. He returned to England late in the year and rode first claim with the club again. His continental experience showed through and he was well placed in several Hillingdon E/1 races, a 2nd place being his highest achievement. Of the other 15 riding road races Keith Knight got a late season 1st cat. upgrade, and Mark Bayliss, Paul Tunnell and Richard Munday finished the season as 3rd cats. Mark Bayliss had ridden strongly throughout the year, placing 4th in the club’s J. B. Memorial race, but was dogged by punctures and missed a 2nd cat. licence by just one point.
Although it was apparent that the club was fast emerging from its completely time trial image, Jim Trenowden had opened the TT season in February before going off to have a pace-maker fitted! Doug Rollins, Nick Mann, Richard Claridge, Chris Colford and Mark Cole all rode a 100. Not content with this achievement five members decided to tackle the Sussex C.A. 12-hour, not one of them having attempted the distance before. With plenty of support and encouragement round the course all five finished and deserve a mention. Robert Wilson 236.316, Richard Claridge 235.656 and Nick Mann 219.324 took the team award, Chris Colford was not far behind with 218.301 and Steve Dennis, relieved to have finally finished, on a re-check was credited with 200.189 miles.
Always a great social event, the Clarencourt 4-up team time trial saw FIVE Addiscombe teams ride. Placings of 9th, 13th, 26th and 33rd were achieved, the fifth team of just three off-roaders, Marco Faimali, Joe Plommer and Mark Dancer, claiming that at least they were not last. And to prove that time trialling within the club was still very much alive, eighteen members rode the Open 25; with the influx of new members promoter John Watts was still able to raise the necessary complement of marshals. Following five years of storage of the women’s trophies, Linda Good and Hannah Reynolds ensured the 10 and 25-mile cups came back into use.
The final of the Roller Racing Series was held at the Addiscombe’s clubroom with Chris Colford taking 2nd place to Jon Frost of the Redmon C.C. Steve Dennis finished in 3rd position. In the Veterans’ competition, after winning all preceding rounds Paul Tunnell had an argument with a motorcyclist prior to the final, broke his leg and had to see the title go to another Redmon member, David Eccles. For once Paul’s excuse was unquestionable!
The cyclocross season started well with Steve Bayliss chalking up a win at Rainham followed by a 4th at Addington. Five riders contested the full London League, namely Nick Franklin, Alex Protasium, Chris Colford, Mark Cole and Richard Munday, with others riding individual races. A battle between Cole and Munday for the club ’Cross trophy ended in an anti-climax with the last race of the series being cancelled, Cole being declared the victor.
The annual dinner in January 2002 was another jubilant occasion and the season soon got off to a good start. The lads had finally designed an off-road route from Croydon to Brighton. Plans were made with like-minded off-roaders and twenty-one finally met up on 23rd February and set off along the North Downs heading for Cranleigh. Not quite such a direct route as straight down the A23. James Foreman’s parents had kindly agreed to provide a support car and met up with the group at suitable road crossings, the first being at the bottom of Box Hill. Then it was on over Ranmore, Leith Hill, Holmbury Hill and Pitch Hill and eventually onto the Downs Link. Leaving Horsham about 5 pm, the group was down to thirteen. This being February, lights were needed well before reaching Truleigh Hill and another meeting with the back-up vehicle. After following the South Downs Way to the top of Devil’s Dyke and a drop down into Brighton, fish and chips at the Pier-head had never tasted so good. For the record, the group of ten males and three females that finally made it into Brighton through inclement weather, had been on the trail 13 hours, 9 of these being “in the saddle”, and had covered 86 miles off-road.
Andrew Montgomery had taken on the duties of Treasurer and Club Captain at the AGM. His enthusiasm was boundless, and he gradually organised the club runs into groups to suit the various capabilities of members with the total on the runs reaching approximately fifty by the year end.
Andrew Montgomery also introduced a very successful coaching session to members at Herne Hill. As a result, several took part in the regular Saturday morning coaching sessions.
In the Track League, at the close of the season Hannah Reynolds was placed 6th in the women’s section and David Gillen (pictured) 15th in the youth section despite only having started riding halfway through the year.
Inspired by tales from the previous year’s two participants, a party of eleven MTB enthusiasts went to Avoriaz for “La Free Raid Classic VTT”. Though not a race, competitors complete a number of timed sections that have to be within the time limit set for their chosen category. The group decided to stage their own competition over two runs, Jason Thomas emerging the fastest (but is reported having returned home with a broken ankle). Later, a team consisting of Joe Plommer, Sylvain Garde, Pete Kerr and Adam Stephenson drank/rode their way through the Red Bull 24. Six rode the “Sleepless in the Saddle” event at Trentham Gardens, another 24-hour race that attracts a huge field.
Marco Faimali, remembering his early days with the club and the talks John Smith and Eddie Mundy gave the youngsters regarding the joys of riding “a fixed wheel”, decided to ride the UK Single-speed Championship at Thetford. (But Smith and Mundy never rode with a mobile disco strapped to their bike pumping out “techno tunes” at high volume. On the other hand, their courses did not include jumps, drops and bomb holes!) Marco reports he officially finished, the sound-system hampering any rapid progress. On completion he was awarded prizes for the loudest sound system on a bike.
Promoting his eighth and last Addiscombe Open 25 John Watts was delighted to receive an initial entry of 159, Steve Dennis – the fast one from East Grinstead C.C. – taking the honours for the second year. With Interbike RT riders, led by Pete Tadros, taking 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th placings there was no dipute over the winning team.
A new venture promoted by Paul Tunnell was a three-up team time trial. Of the 35 teams entered, 10 were “Agreeables” (as the club members had dubbed themselves), our fastest team of Robert Royle-Evatt. Jon Hemming and Richard Mundy finished 10th fastest and Maria David, Gail Brokenshaw and Tamar Collis took the women’s award. Sadly the MTB team suffered a puncture and were given up for dead by the last marshal. They missed the turning and were eventually spotted by the timekeeper on an adjoining road having covered four miles extra – and not off-road. With the riders really fired up by these team time trials, seven teams (six male and one female) rode the Clarencourt 4-up. Four members rode the National 12-hour Championship, organised in 2002 by the Eastern Counties C.A. As an affiliated club of ECCA Colin Davies, Paul Tunnell and Keith Knight were delighted to be awarded the ECCA 12-hour team championship.
On the Hillingdon circuit, Hannah Reynolds and Tony Kelly both got early season 4th placings in their respective events. In Surrey League races, Phil Watkins (pictured) won a 2/3/4 cats. 70-mile event at Kirdford and he, Tony Kelly, Keith Knight, Dave Kennett and Mark Cole achieved top 10 placements in their various categories.
Member Glen Watts and his wife invited three Agreeables to their Belgian apartment and so gave them the opportunity to ride the Tour of Flanders Randonee. With no previous knowledge of riding the cobbles, Watts had wisely recommended the group consisting of Danny Collins, Patrick McCoy and Andrew Montgomery tackle just half of the route. Following this successful trip Glen Watts then organised a 104 km day-ride from Calais with 23 members crossing the Channel.
A Southern Counties C.U. shield that had been missing for years, turned up in a garden shed during a house clearance! The donor, C. Cooper Rawlinson, had given the shield in 1906 to stimulate interest and participation in events and over the intervening years it had been used intermittently for this purpose. The Counties put “the Rawson Shield” back into service in 2000 for the club fielding the largest number of entrants in their various road events. With encouragement from John Watts, who was, by coincidence, holding the SCCU Presidency in 2002, the club beat the previous holders, Epsom C.C., by the slim margin of 44 to 41. Since then the trophy has remained with the Addiscombe except for 2006 when the Bec C C triumphed.
The sport of DOWN-HILL riding was growing ever more popular so the club, with the encouragement of Jason Thomas, ran its own competition at Penshurst Off-Road Centre with Rik Oberoi emerging as the fastest. What with drop-offs, tree roots, not to mention bushes for disappearing into on slippery off-camber corners, to the road riding members it all sounded rather different from a fast descent down, say, Reigate Hill.
The ‘We love David Duffield’ section, complete with ‘Duffieldisms’, on the Addiscombe website still attracted viewers and contributors, and greatly amused the man himself. A colleague of Duffield’s at Eurosport had been tipped off about the site and on Duffield’s next visit to the London studio found a series of his quotations adorning walls!
Clubnights over the winter months of 2002/3 received a huge, but short-lived, boost with three talk/discussion evenings by John Ibbotson on nutrition, Steve Bayliss on triathlons and Keith Butler discussing race preparation and tactics; Paul Tunnell demonstrated cycle maintenance and club member/professional photographer Phil O’Connor gave a visual presentation of many of his favourite and unusual photographs; Mark Dancer ran a weekly turbo-training session.
In February 2003, a two-day ‘Triathlon Cycling Running Exhibition’ at Sandown Park attracted the interest of several South London clubs. Alex Protasiuk, Steve Dennis and Jayne Toyne booked and organised an eye-catching stand for the club and rallied support from those members not out seeking early-season fitness in Spain and Majorca. Steve Dennis produced the artwork and banners, and leaflets were available for handing out.
As part of the live demonstrations taking place the Surrey Cycle Racing League staged an exhibition race in which Paul Tunnell participated and finished third.
While the Exhibition did not appear to bring in many new members at the time, as with the Catford CC and Kingston Phoenix RC who also exhibited, it was a great way of projecting one’s name.
On Friday evening 11th April George Clare of Geoffrey Butler Cycles specially opened his shop to the Addiscombe for the launch of their new kit. Organised by Andrew “Monty” Montgomery and his wife Tracy, about 60 members dropped by to sample “Monty’s bubbly” and the enormous cake, and to keep the shop till ringing. The kit, stocked by the shop, has proved to be a huge success.
The Southern Counties C.U. were celebrating 100 years of their “Good Friday Meeting” at Herne Hill and a star-studded field attracted over forty members, ex-members and family. John Watts was currently SCCU President. Following on Marco Faimali’s meeting with David Duffield the previous autumn, Duffield was delighted to come trackside to meeting his fan club and later gave the club a real boost during his chatter on Eurosport while commentating on the Amstel Gold race.
Road racing really took off that spring and by the end of April Chris Colford reported at least 63 competitive rides by members, the outstanding newcomers being Darren Lowndes, Robert Fallon and Maria David. The season proved an excellent one. Thirty-eight members were known to have participated, Tony Kelly competing in 45 events that included a win and the coveted yellow jersey on stage 3 of the Surrey League 5-day race. John Sadler proved the best 2nd cat. rider getting a win in a South East League event and 4th place in the J.B. Smith Memorial race promoted by Paul Tunnell. Brett Perez , an Australian roadman who spent a season with the club, although having to start as a 4th cat. quickly showed his class by taking a win at Goodwood, followed by 2nd in a 3rd cat. race a week later and 3rd overall in the Isle of Wight 2-day race. Tamar Collis rounded off her season in October by winning the South East Division women’s championship at Goodwood. Addiscombe were named “Best Club of 2003” by the Surrey Cycle Racing League.
Still finding time to join club runs when his training schedule permitted, in May Steve Bayliss became the 20-25 year olds’ World Long Distance Triathlon Champion. This was a truly brilliant achievement that later in the year saw him featured on the August cover of the Triathlon magazine. From here Bayliss would progress to becoming a full time professional triathlete taking his first National (Mid Distance) Championship in 2005. Realising triathletes like Bayliss and Maria David had fine-tuned their cycling with the Addiscombe the club affiliated to the British Triathlon Association. Dan Benson was one of the first members to take up the challenge of a 500 m swim, 23 km ride and 5 km run and finished a creditable 61st overall.
In reporting on members first full season of “down hilling” Jason Thomas was pleased to record “a fair measure of success”. “The sport involves hurling oneself and machine down a steep slope littered with drops, jumps, tree roots and rocks”. Whether the members’ tally of a broken shoulder, broken wrist, dislocated arm, loss of teeth, suspected broken neck, concussion, cuts, and bruises, represents the “fair measure of success” with which Thomas begins his annual report, he does not say, just that it was “an enjoyable year”.
For the first time in ten years the track trophies were got out and dusted off and sixteen members fought it out at Herne Hill. Chris Colford, Paul Tunnell, Steve Dennis and John Hemming were the fastest team over 5000 metres, just missing club record by a few seconds, Simon Johnson took the sprint title and Steve Dennis won the 5-mile event. Among those competing in the Herne Hill evening track league, Robert Fallon and Keith Knight performed particularly well.
Attempts to organise a club trip to Calshot had been made on various occasions with poor response until December 2003 when eleven attended and enjoyed a session organised by Keith Butler.
As with the other disciplines, time trials were well supported. Robert Royle-Evatt had a full year stretching from February to October, the only rider to complete a 12-hour that year. Doug Rollins, Dave Kennett and Steve Hehir took an early team win in the Sussex C.A.25. Mark Cole (pictured) had an exceptionally good year that included a time of 54.09 in the API Bikes 25. He tackles a hill climb. Maria David placed 1st in the Festival Women’s 15 and with Tamar Collis 3rd and Linda Good, took the team award. The women’s club records had stood unchallenged for too many years but Collis looked set to change that when she broke Joyce Smith’s 15 year old 10-mile record with 25.25.
Other achievements by the women included triathlon successes by Maria David, and with more and more people taking an active part in the Cyclo-Sportifs, Tamar Collis had travelled to the Vaujany and returned home with a gold medal for her ride. Jayne Toyne had decided to take up coaching.
Linda Good had taken on promotion of the prestigious Open 25 but her task was made harder in 2003 by the death early in the year of Gus Andrews. Since joining the club in 1945 Andrews had been National 24 hours champion, club champion, general secretary, president, and instigator of “the President’s 10”. Of late he had been the person who organised the marshalling for the club’s Open time trials, an arduous task at the best of times and even more so when membership had been at a low point. The club is grateful to have, and have had, such dedicated workers.
Across the water, Rory Black, Will Penwarden, Aodan Higgins and Sylvain Garde had made the trip to Verbier, Switzerland, to ride the Grand Raid Cristalp. The course, 131 km (81 miles), crosses six valleys that involve 4,600 m (15,000 ft) of climbing, some sections proving even too steep for riding. Feeding stations are situated en route and around 3,000 riders participate in this hugely popular but severely demanding event. That the four finished at all sounded an achievement. In their age categories Black finished 87th in 9 hrs 31 mins; Garde 137th, 10.11; Higgins 259th, 10.55, and Penwarden 290th, 11.20. Back home, the UK Single-Speed Championships at Thetford were supported by Garde, Foreman, Shaun Bayliss and Jason Thomas.
At the 75th annual dinner held at The Rayon D’Or restaurant in the old Croydon Airport building in November 2003, members were delighted to welcome David Duffield as their guest. While younger members knew Duffield as the commentator for Eurosport’s international cycle races, older members remembered him as a keen tricyclist who broke the RRA’s 1,000 miles record in 1956; Land’s End to John O’Groats record in 1957 riding it, unusually, from north to south, and the End to End route again in 1960, this time starting at Land’s End. The main recipients of the club’s trophies that year were Robert Royle-Evatt, Mark Cole and Tamar Collis.
A publicity boost for the club was a five-page spread in the January 2004 issue of Cycling Plus magazine on “the Agreeables of the Addiscombe Cycling Club”. Reporter Simon Withers had interviewed “Marco Framboli” and their photographer accompanied various rides over one weekend. The resulting article was excellent for the club and was intended to act as a guide to other clubs whose membership had seen a decline in recent years.
A party departed to Majorca for early season training. Back in 2000, Andrew Montgomery invited a couple of club friends to his house in Majorca. The visit proved so successful that he has gradually extended the invitation to the point where by 2004 he was able to recommend accommodation, rides, details of pro’ races to view, etc to a much larger group of members. Such is the enthusiasm for these early season breaks that support continues to grow. Just another way “Monty” has contributed to the success of the Addiscombe of the twenty-first century.
With the CTC Croydon Group sharing the clubroom their regular members had taken out membership with the Addiscombe. Tim Wainwright attempted to introduce traditional Audax events, and took on a new role as “Audax secretary” at the AGM. An enthusiastic supporter of these events for over fifteen years, Wainwright described them as long distance, non-competitive, unsupported endurance rides ranging in distance from 100 to 1400 km. With the exception of the TOSH (Tour of the Surrey Hills), club interest failed to materialise in Audax events. Massed ride “Cyclo Sportifs” were growing in popularity and proving more attractive (and more costly) than Audax. Charities too had seen an opening for fund raising. The long-established British Heart Foundation’s “London to Brighton” now had to compete for support with sponsored rides world-wide. The recognised plus-side to all this is that there are far more “bums on bikes”.
Robert Royle-Evatt and Alan Burns opened the 2004-time trial season with Burns recording 56.02 in the Redhill Sporting in late February. Team time trials proved popular with teams riding in the Border 2-up where Doug Rollins and Dave Kennett took 3rd handicap, and the East Sussex 2-up with Dave Kennett and John Sadler getting 3rd handicap.
The South Eastern 2-up attracted three club teams (one of which was women), and at the end of the season the Epsom 2-up, Lewes 2-up and Redmon GP also drew support. Of the eleven members in the club’s Open 25 Doug Rollins was fastest with 58.21, and in the Open 10 of the four club riders Mark Cole proved fastest in 22.53.
National Championships move around the country and on behalf of Cycling Time Trials the Norwood Paragon C C promoted the 25-mile in 2004 on the Horsham course, the event being won by Stuart Dangerfield in 48.44. Of the five Addiscombe entrants Mark Cole finished in 57.08, Doug Rollins 58.02, Fred Schwarz 1.00.16, Huw Williams 1.00.43 and Robert Royle-Evatt 1.02.10.
Royle-Evatt proved himself in the longer distances and took the club time trial championship with Linda Good and Amy Robinson claiming the women’s trophies. For the ninth time the prestigious Southern Counties 100 Team Shield was won by an Addiscombe team, that year comprised of Doug Rollins, Royle-Evatt and Richard Viney. The best-supported club event was the inter-club against the Norwood Paragon with 18 entrants – and a win for the Addiscombe.
While competitive riding off-road is not everyone’s choice, in May 2004 Rory Black and Sylvain Garde had travelled to Wales to compete in the Afan MTB Enduro, an event of 62 km. Despite two punctures, Garde considered this one of the very best cross-country races he had ridden with good technical sections and plenty of forest tracks. Black finished in 3 hrs 46 mins and Garde in 3 hrs 43 mins. The inclusion of a non-competitive event saw John Shurmek finish in 6 hrs 43 mins.
Later that month, at the invitation of Cycling Weekly, members took part in a photo-shoot for a TV advertisement designed to be aired on Eurosport ahead of the Tour de France. In full cycling kit, twenty-plus members eagerly rushed to the door of W H Smith’s in North End, Croydon (just for once forgetting they were riding in a pedestrian precinct) to be handed their copies of the Cycling Weekly magazine. Passers-by were bemused by it all and rumour has it that one lady got pinned against Smith’s window!
With memories of tales from The Tour, and in particular Tom Simpson, Doug Shaw had an ambition to ride Mount Ventoux and found a like-minded companion in David Lombari. Tamar Collis, Maria David, Robbie and Paul Brown who would already be in the south of France, joined the two for the climb.
On the outbound flight to France, it did not help when Doug Shaw’s bike was trashed by EasyJet. With only one gear available to climb Mount Ventoux he unsurprisingly chose to ride in the lowest. The climb for Shaw was memorable in that his low gear meant he trailed alone well behind the others. He admits he suffered, but he achieved his goal of a climb ‘somewhere between 2 and 3 hours’ with 32 minutes to spare, and that included a stop to pay his respects at Simpson’s Memorial. (pictured)
Elliot Merrony produced three attractive issues of The Gazette. Mailing proved difficult. Of those sent out by email 25% bounced back and some forty members did not have email facility. More thought was given to communication with members, also to the continued lack of clubroom support. Alan Burns had found it impossible to continue as general secretary and Joyce Smith took over the responsibilities once again.
The Darts team had another good year winning the League Championship and Pairs competition.
Two worthwhile training days took place. On an army closed circuit at Aldershot, Keith Knight organised road racing coached by Jayne Toyne, and Simon Johnson held a novices’ track day at Herne Hill.
At road racing the club certainly did not have the same strength or depth as in previous years. John Sadler put in some good top-10 performances and moved up to 2nd cat. In the Revolution 5-stage race he finished sixteenth overall after placing 2nd and 4th in two of the stages. Dave Kennett gained his first win and some good top-10 placings before being sidelined due to a high speed crash halfway through the season. Marek Siwicki joined the 3rd cats. in May and continued to ride well, finishing the year as third highest points scorer in this category in the Surrey Cycle Racing League.
On behalf of S.E. Division, Keith Knight took on the promotion at Goodwood of a round of the Men’s Under 23 National Series. The event was sponsored by G B Cycles.
Separate events were the final round of the National Women’s Road Road Series, sponsored by Dauphin Cycles and the club, and an event for Men (E123).
The club’s three road race promotions – two Surrey League and a circuit race at Crystal Palace – could have done with more back-up support from “the Agreeables”. Paul Tunnell was left enlisting last minute help to ensure all races were carried out to Addiscombe’s usual high standard.
With the site earmarked for redevelopment for the 2012 Olympic Games, for the eleventh year the Addiscombe took on promotion of a Beastway evening. Highest placed members were Rory Black, 4th Master, with Sylvain Garde 1st Single-Speed.
The beginning of 2005 saw five club groups leaving Coulsdon on a regular Saturday morning basis. New members continued to join and when resignations occurred it was usually because the person either moved on to a sponsored team or found a club more suited to their particular area/requirements. Among those who “moved on” at the end of the year was Dave Palmer, a great contributor to the club over the past eight years as both a competitor and time trial secretary; Nick Mann, competitor and editor; fast-man Dave Kennet, and Doug Rollins, competitor, driver (and part-time actor who would suddenly brighten up a TV ad’ or programme by his unexpected appearance).
The year’s track activities were severely disrupted in 2005 by Dulwich Estates’ closure of Herne Hill stadium. A few members made a trip down the M4 to Newport stadium in April to experience indoor racing but were pleased when Herne Hill finally reopened in August. The club’s track championships were then hastily arranged and resulted in twelve members contesting the trophies.
Maria David (pictured) reported on the women’s participation in various events. In return for marshalling duties during the Women’s World Cup event at Newport, along with Tamar Collis and Jackie Morgan-Smith, they received free entry to the Bike Wales cyclo-sportif where the three opted for the 103-mile ride amid the Brecon Beacons. All three finished within 26 minutes of the fastest woman. They had a good year road and circuit racing. With a couple of guest riders, Addiscombe women placed 8th in a National Team Series; they supported Surrey League handicap races; events at Hillingdon, Eastway, Crystal Palace and a women’s day at Ellens Green. Morgan-Smith and David gained top ten places in the Women’s C.R.A. National Series event at Goodwood. Collis moved up to 2nd cat. and finished 5th in the Women’s Division Championship.
In the Men’s Division Championship Phil Watkins placed 5th; scored a fine win in a race held at Chertsey and in another race finished 3rd behind ex-continental pro’ Sean Yates. Watkins received a trophy as overall winner of Surrey League’s time trial series and was the club’s highest scorer of BC Points that year. Running Watkins close in the Points table was John Sadler who rode an epic race in the Surrey League 5-day, wearing both the yellow jersey as race leader and green jersey as points leader during the race. He finished 6th overall.
Fred Schwarz, Richard Viney, Robert Royle-Evatt, Dave Palmer, Terry Hill and John Hemming opened the season’s time trialling riding in local sporting events. By May Royle-Evatt and Doug Rollins were inside the hour in the club’s Open 25 with eleven others supporting. Despite some good times by these members, including two ‘pbs’, Peter Tadros of In Gear Quickvit RT proved superior and won the event as well as leading the winning team. Three handicap awards were won in the SCCU 100, Tamar Collis 4th, Viney 1st and Royle-Evatt 5th. The latter two rode the Eastern Counties 12 with Viney’s ride sufficient to give him the club time trial championship.
Races at Hillingdon proved popular with members, as did the “Addiscombe day” organised by Rob Fallon. Crystal Palace was another well-supported venue, the most consistent top-10 finisher being John Sadler. Dunsfold Aerodrome was a new venue for Surrey League events where Doug Rollins and Dave Palmer put up good performances while Max Ramirez pulled off a win at Eastway.
While appreciating some riders were probably competing for the first time, Dave Palmer, time trial secretary, recorded an astonishing 88 personal bests by various members in 2005, plus two club records – Tamar Collis lowering the women’s 10 with 25.02 and riding with Paul Tunnell setting a new mixed-tandem 25 record of 54.35.
Club evening 10’s were very well supported with twenty-seven turning out for the ‘Jack&Jill’ evening, nine pairs of male/female and nine men riding solo. The inter-club time trial, although attracting a good entry, saw the trophy back once again with the club’s old adversaries, the Norwood Paragon. The President’s 10 again attracted twenty entrants, the Stan Harvey Shield for first on handicap being won by Mark McLaughlin.
Two of our most enthusiastic off-roaders, Simon Day and Sylvain Garde, participated in the Saab Salomon 24-hour race in Herefordshire as part of a four-man team and rode the UK Single-Speed championship in Mid-Wales, Garde taking the title despite a heavy crash.
Despite the rain at the end of July the club were pleased to promote the final event in the 2005 MTB Beastway series. During the season Richard Munday achieved five top 10 placings in the Masters’ category, Kevin Rynne scored respectable placings in the Sports category and in the Single-Speed, Sylvain Garde got two 1st places and a 2nd. Grahame Baker gave valuable assistance most weeks building the course in addition to getting three top ten places in the Single-speed category.
The cyclocross season of 2005-06 closed with Phil Watkins and Richard Munday being our most consistent competitors. Mark Cole organised the sixth round of the London Cyclocross League, Phil Watkins finishing 11th with Andrew Green and Mark Leedham completing the team.
Sean Hogan set up a weekly computer-based Digest and appreciating how informative The Gazette had been, Keith Knight made a worthwhile attempt to reintroduce this by publishing a Winter edition that was obtainable as a hardcopy or via email. His personal commitments meant he was unable to continue with this, but the on-line Digest has continued and a Forum for members to exchange news and views has proved very popular. Chris Watts sends out an annual newsletter to ex-members, some very-X, who have maintained an interest in “the old club” despite living in far flung places.
By 2006 the Addiscombe were enrolling an average of one new member per week and the total attendance on Saturday club runs one week reached an astonishing ninety-three. Andrew Montgomery remained ‘the man at the helm’ with ten vice-captains sharing the work of shepherding riders in small groups safely out of Coulsdon, down to Charlwood and back again. Renate Waller’s work in handling all her customers in the tiny Pine Shop café at Charlwood is another story!
Huw Williams has kept the interest growing in Sportive’s, not least by appearing occasionally in the pages of Cycling Weekly in such events wearing his Addiscombe attire. By coincidence the club is based close to the offices of that same magazine and Williams is on their staff!
In his club report Williams noted that with so many UK and domestic rides going on it had proved impossible to keep track of all the club riders participating. He did give honourable mention to Tamar Collis, Maria David, Gavin Beveridge and Richard Viney who rode the Marmotte, and to Maria David in particular ‘who seemed to be doing a different sportive in a distant corner of the world every weekend’.
Open promotions included an Audax event, two time trials, two road races, one circuit race and the London League roller competition, while club event promotions numbered eight, plus off-road expeditions, talks and demonstrations at the clubroom and of course, the club’s annual dinner.
In time trials, Jon Hemming (pictured) recorded seventy individuals competing in over one hundred events throughout the 2006 season. Richard Viney claimed the club championship for the second consecutive year with personal bests at every distance and a club 10 record of 19.53. Royle-Evatt recorded a personal best in the Eastern Counties event to take the club’s 12-hour trophy meanwhile in a close fought finish in the S.E. SPOCO series Hemming won the handicap competition. Tamar Collis continued to improve her times and set new women’s club records at 10, 25 and 50 miles.
Promising riders appeared in road races. Fourth category wins were achieved by Steve Broomfield and Matt Ives at Hillingdon, Neil Stone at Chertsey, and Tim Harris on the Eastway circuit. Two members scored 3rd cat. wins, namely Toks Adesanya at Crystal Palace and Marek Siwicki at Alfold. New member George Brent was another showing a nifty turn of speed during the Crawley Town Centre criterium. This all bodes well for the future.
Sylvain Garde travelled to Sweden for the Single-Speed World Championship. He admits there was much socialising and drinking over the weekend but that the race itself was “super-tough”. He finished in 4th place behind a Norwegian, an American and a Swede before almost passing out due to dehydration. With no water available at the finish he settled for four litres of beer but admits to not remembering the four-mile ride back to town!
To conclude, the club has organised a ‘Beastway’ evening at Eastway since its inception in 1994 and its final year cannot go unrecorded. 2006 really was to see the last series before the bulldozers moved in and ruined a highly popular venue that has seen regular circuit races, off-road and BMX events. It will remain to be seen whether the proposed new Velodrome (initially for the Olympic Games of 2012), and the much debated replacement road circuit, will have the same appeal to the hundreds who have regularly used Eastway’s facilities. Seven Addiscombe riders contested the final series with the usual points for placing being recorded weekly. Simon Day ran out the overall winner of the Single-Speed category with Sylvain Garde taking the Masters award. On the very last evening, a team race was held. The club entered two teams, one of which included Marco Faimali whom the Beastway management team had asked to be a guest starter. At the prize giving ceremony, Faimali, who was on the first organising committee and wrote the results’ software, made an impromptu speech thanking Bill Wright and John Mullineaux of London Cycle Sport for their work towards improving cycling sport in London.
- An Introduction to our History
- The 1883 Addiscombe Cycling Club
- The 1906 Addiscombe Cycling Club
- An Historical Background to the Road Record Associations
- A Brief Historical Background to Cycling Time Trials
- The Club’s Revival, 1929 to 1939
- The Club in Wartime, 1940 to 1946
- The Post-War Years, 1947 to 1957
- Post-War Track and Roller Racing
- The Men in Post-War Time Trials
- The Women in Post-War Time Trials
- Post-War Closed Circuit and Road Racing
- An Influx of New Riders and the Passing of a Statesman, 1958 to 1964
- The Club Heads Towards its Golden Jubilee, 1965 to 1978
- Membership Declines, 1979 to 1987
- The Arrival of the Young Mountain Bikers, 1988 to 1994
- Another Period of Declining Membership, 1995 to 1999
- New Century and a New Look for the Addiscombe, 2000 to 2006
