For those of you who weren't (all) there last night, thought you might be interested in the review of the year that was in the Order of Proceedings:
REVIEW OF THE YEAR2008At this year's dinner and prize presentation we once again celebrate some fantastic club and individual achievements. We've had successes large and small across all cycling disciplines, recruitment continues and membership currently stands at over 300
Club-runs2008 was another roaring successful year on the road clubrun, as the weather was kinder during the winter of 2007/2008 we had 100+out most Saturdays, throughout the year we had 80-110 out. Two notable rides were to Brighton & were aimed at the whole clubrun rather than a specific group-83 & 85 out. Normal groups include 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 & training group, with the first Saturday of month being a just for fun ride. We even had an off-road clubrun to the cafe, which we hope to resurrect in spring as a once a month event. We had rides to Isle of Wight & Monty's 8th Tour of Mallorca plus numerous specific group rides into Surrey, Kent & Sussex, and Paul Tunnell led a small invasion of France. All the above stats are taken as the norm in ACC; in any other club they would be sensational. The road clubrun has now had 9 years of year on year success after the previous 5 yrs of decline, which translates into on average 1 member joining ACC per week, every week, for 9 yrs!!!!!!!!!
- Sunday rides about once a month have returned; a mixture of beginners' rides and training rides. A Saturday off-road clubrun to Charlwood has been pioneered by Aodan Higgins and has been very successful. Rides to Leith Hill are now also becoming regular.
Road-racing
- In his last year as a Junior Stuart Chamberlayne picked up enough points to retain his 2nd Cat status and had two trips to race in Belgium with the South of England Team, on one of the occasions showing his Addisombe colours off in Europe. Racing in this Country his highlights were an 8th and 5th in SL Handicaps during May and an 8th in July.
- Keith Lea used the Hillingdon Winter Series to progress from 4th to 3rd Cat including two 2nd places. Continuing his racing in the Surrey League and SERRL races his best results were a 7th at Benenden in May, and then a 3rd and a 5th at Crystal Palace later in the year.
- Daniel Gower also moved to 3rd cat with one 2nd place in the Hillingdon Winter series and then competed in a number of Surrey League and SERRL races as well as at Crystal Palace.
- Paul Hone raced early season including a 9th in March in the Surrey League before switching to DuathLons where he was 4th in the World Age Group Championships in Rimini.
- Marek Siwicki was back as an Addiscombe regular, his best result a 5th in a SERRL race in May.
- Toks Adesanya was also back racing in Addiscornbe colours and regained his 2nd Cat licence with some excellent performances late in the season including a win at Goodwood, a 3rd and a 2nd at the newly opened Hog Hill [Redbridge) circuit, and a 2nd in a Surrey League race in September giving him the points he needed.
- The find of the year amongst the men was Andrew Ellis who raced well to a solo win in a July SL Handicap, and then two 6ths in SL races in September.
- Crystal Palace was again a good stomping ground for Addiscombe with lots of riders competing (some novices) in the 3/4 cat. Highlights were Hal Bransby with eight top 10 placings including a 2nd and two 3rds, and gaining his 2nd Cat licence.
Mike Wallace finished 3rd in his first road race!, Steve Broomfield had five top 10 placings including two seconds and one 3rd . Sylvain Garde had a 10th and a 7th in the E/1/2 races during the season.
- Our club championships switched to the roads around the Home circuit and was duly won by Adam Cotterell who as a second claimer relinquishes the title once more to Stuart Chamberleyne. Antloony was a strong 'B' race winner
- For the women Tamar was back competing in a number of Crystal palace races but the star of the show was Michelle LeBrun. She started her racing in the Hillingdon Winter series and continued throughout the year gaining excellent results and progressing to 2nd Cat. Michelle's best results during the season were a win in May at Chertsey and a 2nd in July at the same circuit, a 4th at Thruxton, and 10th in the London Criterium Challenge at Hog Hill in September. The undisputed performance of the year was 4th in the BC South East Region Women's Road Race Championship.
Time-triallingAddiscombe riders competed for the club in 97 open and association events throughout the year, ranging from the 700 yard Bec hillclimb to the ECCA 12 hour and all distances in between.
- No club records were broken this year, closest was "new boy" George Brent who got within 1/2 a mile of the 12 hour record at his first attempt. George also made a clean sweep of the club TT trophies. Tamar did likewise for the ladies trophies, Paul Tunnell won the vets BAR trophy, and Stuart Chamberlayne won the Junior 10 trophy. Five riders (George Brent, Sylvain Garde, Robert Royle-Evatt, Paul Tunnell, and
Andrew Green) competed in the National Championship 12-hour, and all of them finished. George came 10th overall, and with Sylv and Rob finished as 3rd team.
- At the end of April, Tamar Collis successfully organised our open 25 mile time trial on the 625/53 course at Horsham. As well as the numerous people required to marshal this course, we also managed to field ten of our own riders in a full field of 120. The event was won by Paul Mill.
- Our Open 10 in September was organised by Jon Hemming and was won by Keith Coffey. the only man to go under 22 minutes on a very wet day. Five ACC riders took part in the event, three of whom (M.McLaughlin, S.Davies, & P.Tunnell) won the fastest team prize, and Tamar won the ladies prize.
- Final standings in the BBAR competition were G.Brent 38th [24.033mph], Paul Tunnell 74th [22.700mph]. R.Royle-Evatt 88th (22.399mph) and A.Green 144th (19.973mph). In the women's BBAR Tamar Collis finished 30th (22.452mph).
- In the Southern Counties Cycling Union "Rawson shield" competition, the Addiscombe riders took a convincing win again, way ahead of any other clubs.
Cyclo-sportivesACC jerseys were seen far and wide across the UK and Europe, as people took to the roads in the still growing cyclo-sportive scene. As many as 20 ACC riders can turn out at local events and even the Etape and Marmotte saw double figures of ACC entrants
TrackA fairly quiet year on the track, with only a handful of riders taking part in the Monday and Wednesday track league and open events at Herne Hill. Unfortunately our club championships fell victim to this summer's weather
Off-roadACC mountain bikers had some great results in races during the year.
- The Gorrick Spring Series kicking off in January; Simon Day (Masters on singlespeed, 20th, 24th, 27th), Aodan Higgins (Super Masters on mtb with racks & lights, 20th), Neil Me Lennan (Masters, 41st), Chris Kestell (Beginners, 6th), Sylvain Garde (Super Masters. 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 3rd overall) and recent recruit Serge Hunt (Open. 1st, 2nd, 10th, 12th). Gorrick Enduro in May, Sylvain 2nd in 6h44, 1"40 behind endurance vet Anthony White who passed him on the final lap!
- Southern XC Series: Sue Ritchie (Open, 3rd), Serge who kept winning in Open, then 6th and 7th in Sports.
- NPS: Serge 1st and 2nd (Open), then 5th place (Sports), Sylvain 9th (Masters).
- National Champs: Serge 5th (Sports).
- Beastway Series: Grahame Baker there most weeks as part of the organising team. Sylvain 1st (Masters), Marco making his comeback. Promotion night in July - over 12 helpers, with Andrew Green racing (4th, Experts (!!)), Paul Tunnell (25th,Vets).
Go-Ride
- On achieving his Level 2 qualification, Huw Williams' status as a BC coach qualifies the club for national Go Ride status and the paperwork is currently being processed by British Cycling. Huw is currently undertaking the arduous task of coaching a few ACC members while pursuing a level 3 qualification as well as delivering Go Ride sessions to local schools and helping the regional Olympic youth talent team coach to spot our future generations of track/road stars.
SocialAway from their bikes, the members of the ACC darts team showed their talents in other directions, and were throwing arrows around various south London venues in the darts league. The clubroorn is currently open weekly on Wednesday evenings for Pilates classes organised for club members and talks on a variety of subjects this year have been as diverse as lactate balance point testing to bike maintenance. Other ideas of how to make full use of the clubroom are always welcome. We also switched the venue of our annual dinner to Selsdon Park Hotel to much praise from those in attendance.