May 2002

MAYOR'S BALL

On Saturday 13th April a champagne reception was held at Birkenhead Town Hall hosted by the Mayor, to recognise the various achievements or the people of Wirral.

The North End was represented by our Junior National 25 mile team champions (even though it was two years ago!) of Chris Byrne, Mike Garner and Dave Leftbridge. (Er, I think it was three years ago! Ruaraidh)

Dave Leftbridge was unable to attend due to a recent car accident from which he is recovering well. Doug Phillips was the spokesman for the team and gave his usual entertaining speech.

The lads were presented with certificates to mark the occasion then enjoyed a magnificent buffet a and free bar!

Needless to say the reputation of the North End and their ability to drink was well upheld!

SID OLD REPORTS FROM DOWN UNDER

Dear friends,

How are you all? Thought you may like to hear how my cycling is going. I am certainly getting fit at last. The group I go out with are very hard riders and don't take any prisoners, believe me. I find the hills difficult especially when I have been dropped but I am determined to stick with it.

Sunday 17th March I rode the W.A Vets Crit.Championships. Run in five-year age bands the course was 12 laps of 2.5mins. One side in bottom gear the other side in top. I set off from the start, led the race until the last corner into the finishing straight, then the remaining eight riders all came over me in the sprint.... yes I finished last.

Sunday 14th March. I rode the W.A.Vets.40km.T.T. Championship. I had to get up at 4am.drive in the dark 77 miles to the start and was pretty tired when I found it. This course was out in the wilds; it started with a 7.6km.circuit then straight out for 17.4km U-turn to the finish close to the start. The corners were covered with gravel and sand and the road was rough. I was advised not to put too much pressure in my tyres and not to use my disc. The official said I could not use my racing helmet, it did not conform to the Aussie standards.125 riders faced the starter. The winner did 1-05-23 plus 13-32. Yours truly 1-13-33 plus 8-22 to finish 15th.  No silver medal this time.

The result sheet was received in three days giving the following information. Turn time, finish, average speed, plus and minus and positions.  I got it all off the net on Sunday evening though. Not bad eh!

Next Sunday 6th April will be the last of the Crits (That is the end of the summer season) the following week the road season starts (winter season) with the temps still in the 30c plus. Would you believe... we have only had 5 minutes of rain since we arrived here 4 months ago. And that was not enough to wet the ground.

How about a BNECC training camp over here?

Yours in sport

Sid Old

JEFF VERNON’S SEASON SO FAR

Had a few results in April - 9th Frank Morgan Memorial, 4th Pete Gannon Memorial, which I was particular pleased about as it was in Yorkshire and the riders are as hard as nails up there!  Did a 2 day last weekend, 8th in the tt, 6th on the stage two, 15th on stage three and 8th on the GC.

Jeff Vernon

CLUB TIME TRIALS

Check out the results of the club time trials on the events page

First club 25 of the season: Terrible conditions, very strong wind, which gave no real assistance to the field it being cross or head wind, very little tail.

John Moore showed his strength and Ian Hawkins also did a very good ride.

Special mention for John Kent who got within a minute of his PB when most other rides were at least 4 to 5 minutes down on their normal times.

Danny Baird the only juvenile and riding his first 25 decided to go straight on at Christleton despite the frantic waving from marshals. Not only that he then continued down the A41 only realising he was off course when he saw Chester Zoo!!!!!!

Webmaster's note: Our Broxton correspondent reports that John Moore was subjected to a vicious and unprovoked attack as he circled the far turn in this event. A young child allegedly under the control of Les Kennedy was heard to try and intimidate John with a cry of "Come on you big puffball!" John bravely put it behind him, and no doubt used the experience to spur himself on to victory, although he is understood to be undergoing psychiatric counselling for post-traumatic stress disorder. More news on this as it comes in.

SPOT THE MISTAKE

The more observant of you may have noticed we have been running a deliberate mistake competition i.e. calling John Burgess John Burgers and Steve Light Steve Large! Can you spot this month's mistake?

Webmaster's note: I think I can. The third member of the Junior National 25 was called Dave Rightbridge. Am I correct?

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2002 January February March April
2001 January February March April May June July August September October November December
2000 January February March April May June July August September October November December
1999 January February March April May June July August September October November December
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