At the moment the RT’s are still on, but for safety (potential ice), we are delaying the start by 1 hour to 10:30 for the first group on the road. Signing on will now be from 10:00 in the Rugby Club.
Nick and Wayne will review the conditions on Sunday morning, and make a final decision.
Originally scheduled to start this Sunday Jan 18th, the club Reliability Trials will now start on Feb 1st. We have taken this decision because of freezing weather forecast for Sunday. the full programme is.
29 or 49 miles Feb 1st.
65 miles Feb 15th
100 miles March 1st
Hilly 33 March 15th
155 miles Ludlow and back April 5th. To be confirmed.
The club’s traditional New Years Day walk had eleven walkers for a 7 mile tramp around a circular route between Holmes Chapel and Goostrey. The weather was kind. It did not rain until all were safely in the Red Lion, where the walkers were joined by four others to enjoy lunch.
The main photograph shows from L to R Roy Hayhurst, Roland Bainbridge, Bob Norton, Hilary Gwilt, Jayne Eardley, John Jervis, Georgina Norton, Denise Hurst, Sarah Jervis, Gill Jervis. Graham Mitchell took the photograph.
There were a couple of close encounters with the animals on the way round!
More photo’s taken by Graham Mitchell can be seen on the clubs Facebook page
Jamie awarded the Mountain Bike Trophy.
Mike Jones awarded the L H Brooks Trophy
In 2014 we beat Macclesfield Wheelers. Congleton C.C. is engraved on the trophy for the first time. Bob Norton is shown making the awards.
Wayne Powell with Senior BAR Trophy and Mike Cotgreave
On December 6th the club held its annual dinner and awards presentation at Astbury Golf Club. The event was attended by 50 members, including Tony Willis, the club President and his wife Margaret. Also in attendance were 16 others, who were family of members and friends of the club. Following a three course meal, the formalities were opened by Stephen Kane, who welcomed the guests, in particular, the guest speaker, Mike Cotgreave of the Stockport based club Westmead Team 88, and his wife Julia. Mr Cotgreave has recently set a new age (aged 70) related World hour record for a solo bicycle by covering 41.26 km riding on Newport Velodrome in South Wales. He entertained all by describing what was involved in preparing for and completing the ride.
Mr Cotgeave then presented the club’s trophies to the 2014 winners assisted by Bob Norton (club chairman) and Nick Decker(racing secretary).
Sue Blake gave a reply on behalf of the prize winners in which she thanked all the club volunteers, before Bob Norton gave gifts to the chief guests and to Georgina Norton who received a round of applause for organising the event.
The raffle raised £198-WOW. Thanks to all who donated prizes in particular Cyclestore.co.uk who gave many cycling items.
The major award winners were.
| Ladies Touring. | Denise Hurst |
| Mens Touring | Stephen Jackson |
| Audax – GRAHAM McCARGO CUP. | Denise Hurst |
| Juvenile Hill Climb 10:23.4 | Joe France |
| Junior Hillclimb 6:43.6 | Tristan Roberts |
| Lady Hillclimb 8:47.7 | Sue Blake |
| Veteran Hill Climb 6:53.6 | Mike Jones |
| TONY WILLIS CUP Senior Hill climb 5:41.6 | Ben Norbury |
| MOUNTAIN BIKE TROPHY | Jamie Willetts |
| BEARTOWN TROPHY ROAD RACE | Mark Allen |
| ALAN WAKEFIELD TROPHY Track Racing | No Winner |
| Junior BAR 23.388 mph. Second Tristan Roberts 22.624 mph. Third Joe Langford 22.545 mph. | Mark Allen |
| JUVENILE BAR | No Winner |
| Ladies BAR. 20.866 mphSecond Sue Blake 20.442 mph. | Denise Hurst |
| Denby Biddulph Plate- Fastest 10 20:53 in Pendle Forest 10 | Steve Hulme |
| Geoff Burt Memorial Trophy Fastest 25. 55:29 Stone Whs 25. | Pete Smith |
| VEN MACHIN TROPHY FASTEST 50mile 1:54:48 Manchester Wheelers 50 | Kelvin Milward |
| L H BROOKS TROPHY FASTEST 100mile.. 4:33:28 M&DTTA 100 | Mike Jones |
| DENBY BIDDULPH TROPHY BEST FASTEST 12hr 223.91 miles in Team Swift Nat Champs. | Edgar Reynolds |
| BILL MEES TROPHY Club Events on speed. 26.623 mph Second Pete Smith 25.595 mph Third Kelvin Milward 25.103 mph, | Ben Norbury |
| LYNDON TROPHY Veterans Club Events +45:13Second Pete Smith +39:33 Third Wayne Powell +33:05, | Kelvin Milward |
| FRANK BIDDULPH MEMORIAL SENIOR BAR 23.241 mph.Second Mike Jones 22.964 mph. Third Pete Tatton 22.538 mph. | Wayne Powell |
| GRAHAM McCARGO TROPHY Veterans BAR +37:19. Second Mike Jones +25:15, Third Wayne Powell +20:55. | Edgar Reynolds |
| CycleStore.co.uk Trophy. Evening TT League Second Steve Hulme, Third. Wayne Powell | Ben Norbury |
| Evening TT League Ladies Second Denise Hurst, Third Claire Thompson | Sue Blake |
| Evening TT League Veterans Second Wayne Powell, Third Pete Smith | Steve Hulme |
| Evening TT League Juniors Second. Joe Langford, Third Tristan Roberts | Mark Allen |
| Evening TT League Handicap Second Ben Norbury, Third Joe Langford | Angelo de Angelis |
| Karl Austin Memorial. Most Miles in TT’s1860.53 miles. Inc 2 X 12 hours and 2 X 24 hours. | Edgar Reynolds |
| Karl Austin Inter Club 25 Shield. Beat Macclesfield Whs by 30:40 on aggregate | Congleton C.C. |
| SID HANCOCK PLATE for Club run points. 35 points </> | Bob Norton |
| BOB JOB TROPHY Attendance 100 points</> | Bob Norton |
| Club Person of the Year | Adrian Pennington |
Ken Norbury took photographs during the evening. These can be seen here.
A compillation of photographs (compiled by Adrian Pennington), depicting the club year was sreened throughout the evening. This can be seen Here
The Sunday destinations have been shuffled about slightly for the following dates:
23/11 will now be Ice Cream Farm
30/11 will now be Lavender Farm, Dunham
14/12 will now be Beeston
(see the Club Run List on the right for the amended full list)
On Thursday Oct 30th the club held its Annual General Meeting to elect the club committee, set its subscriptions for 2015, and to receive reports on 2014 from its executive officers. Twenty two members attended the meeting. Club Chairman Bob Norton thanked all of the committee members for their contributions during the year, in particular Andy Farr who was standing down as acting press secretary. The meeting heard that the club membership had risen to 126 (105 in 2013), with a significant rise in its female membership from 20 to 31. There have been increases in all areas of the clubs activities from racing to leisure rides. Bob summarised by saying “2014 was a year of continued growth in all aspects of the club, continuing the trend of the last few years. Activity, particularly racing activity, has increased significantly. “Finances have increased, along with membership, and we are now in the process of setting out a new club plan for the short to mid – term future”.
Just prior to the AGM, Stephen Kane gave attendees feedback on a recent survey of member’s views which will aid this process. An analysis of the results will be sent out to members in due course.
The officers elected for 2015 were:
Chairman Bob Norton
Vice Chairman Rob Waghorn
Secretary Denise Hurst
Club Runs Secretary Denise Hurst
Membership Secretary Sue Blake
Treasurer Dean Roberts
Racing Secretary Nick Decker
Welfare Officers Georgina Norton & Dean Roberts
Social Secretary Georgina Norton
Press Secretary Rob Dale
Clothing Rep. Wayne Powell
Mountain Bike Rep Vacant
Under 18 Rep Tristan Roberts
Web Master David McVitie
British Cycling Delegate Wayne Powell
Cycling Time Trial Delegate Kelvin Milward
Non Executive Member Tony Eliott
The clubs President Tony Willis, and Vice Presidents, Mr S Sebire, Mrs K Biddulph, Mr R Little, Mr and Mrs B Wakefield, Mrs G McCargo and Mr B Fox, were all re elected.
The clubs annual hill climb championship on the 1 mile Mow Lane (Ganney Bank) course had 23 entries on a fine warm day and a slight breeze which was a three quarter headwind for the riders.
The Overall winner was Ben Norbury in 5 minutes 41.6 seconds from Nick Decker 6:28.3 and Tristan Roberts (fastest junior) in 6:43.6. Mike Jones was 4th overall and best veteran in 6:53.6. Ladies Champion is Sue Blake who’s time was 8:47.7. Twelve year old Joe France was best juvenile in 10:23.4.
The full result can be seen HERE
Photos here taken by Ken Norbury
The Awards will be made at the clubs annual dinner and prize presentation on Dec 6th at Astbury Golf Club. Tickets are available now from Georgina.
Mark Tilstone
Mark Tilstone has just returned from a visit to see the Vuelta A Espania. He says “This was my fifth attendance at the Vuelta since my first trip over there in 2006.” He witnessed Chris Froomes valiant attempt to win the race on stages 14 15 and 16 against the Spanish trio of Contador, Valverde and Rodrigez. In the end he was beaten by Alberto Contador. Mark’s visit to the Asturias region involved some serious climbing. Stage 15 finished with the epic ascent to the Lagos De Covadonga. His visit involved riding about 200 miles during which he climbed over 24000 feet.
You can read more about Mark’s trip Here
Joe with Stephen Roche
Hats off to Joe Langford who has just completed a 4 day Alpine Challenge event based at Annecy in the French Savoie region. Joe needed special dispensation to ride as he is not yet 18.
Riding in breathtaking scenery, Joe completed the ride which was about 110 km per day and a total of over 8000 meters of ascent in fine style wearing the club jersey. Following a stunning warm up ride around Lake Annecy on arrival, the events started with a timed mountain Prologue which is used to seed riders into appropriate groups.
Joe
Thereafter, 3 mountain stages followed, scaling some of the famous Tour de France mountain climbs such as the Cols des Aravis, Col de la Crox Fry, Semnoz and Col de la Forclaz. Each day there was a flagged timed climb, with the aggregate times deciding the Leaders Jersey winners (male and female).
Joe got a photo of himself with Stephen Roche (winner of the Tour de France, Tour of Italy and the world Championship triple in 1987), and also met Magnus Backstedt (winner of the classic Paris Roubaix race in 2004)
The event is televised on Eurosport 1 this Friday the 12th, after the Live Vuelta coverage at 16.45 and repeated at 21.45 if anyone would like to see what it was all about.
The clubs annual open 50, which took place on August 16th 2014 on the J4/16 course had 80 entrants. In a strong westerly wind there were some really good times. The winner was Charles Taylor (South Pennine R.C.) in 1:45:24 from Simon Bridge (Manchester Wheelers) in 1:47:21 and Ian Holbrook (Stone Wheelers) in 1:53:29.
The club had 11 members participating. Best was Ben Norbury 1:56:59 (PB). Others were Kelvin Milward 2:07:55, Mike Jones 2:10:01, Pete Tatton 2:10:23, Matt Tatton 2:11:08, Edgar Reynolds 2:18:44, Duncan Poole 2:22:39 (PB), Angelo de Angelis 2:24:48, Denise Hurst 2:31:46 and David Hurst 3:18:20. Jamie Willetts was DNF with a puncture.
Duncan Poole
For Full Result see Here
Thanks to Ken Norbury for all the photos.
Twenty seven members and twelve guests rode the 10 mile TT on the Gawsworth course last night in cooler and cloudier weather than recent weeks. This did not stop the torrent of “personal bests” which included nine members lowering their handicaps.
Frequent guest Mark Lovatt continued his winning ways with the fastest time on the night at 21:14 ahead of Steve Hulme on 21:49 who kept scratch league leader Ben Norbury out of maximum points by a single second. Pete Smith (23:14) completed the podium of members in the scratch competition.
Tristan Roberts
In the hard-fought junior league, personal bests by both Tristan Roberts (25:20) and Joe Langford (25:25) could not stop Mark Allen (24:44) from taking maximum points and eating into Joe’s lead.
Meanwhile, the ladies league has already a clear winner in Sue Blake (27:51 for another maximum points on the night) as she can’t be caught by chasers Denise Hurst (28:29) or Claire Thompson (28:43) between whom second place will be settled over the remaining two events.
In the handicap competition, Angelo DeAngelis still leads but could be caught by Ben Norbury or Joe Langford. All of these three riders are having to discard points each week they ride, so the pressure is on to ride close to or better than their handicaps to close the gap. On the night, Tristan’s PB was sufficient to claim maximum points.
The veterans league is under Steve Hulme’s control, although there is a mathematical possibility that Wayne Powell could still win.
We are on the Gawsworth course again next week, followed by the final event on the Holmes Chapel course on the 12th August.
See Full Result Here.
Ben Norbury
Last Tuesday evening was a near perfect one to ride a time trial. Twelve riders got personal best times and several more seasons bests in warm calm conditions on the Chelford course.
The winner was Ben Norbury in 21 minutes and 52 seconds, with Steve Hulme 22:22 second and Mike Stretch (Macclesfield Wheelers) 22:33 third. Third spot for the club competition was taken by Pete Smith 23:12 who just beat Wayne Powell 23:15. Ben maintains his lead in the scratch league from Steve, with Wayne in 3rd spot.
Fastest lady was Denise Hurst in 27:53 from Claire Thompson 28:19. The ladies league is led by Sue Blake, from Denise and Claire.
The best junior time was Mark Allen 24:28 from Will Booth 24:39 (PB) and Joe Langford 25:27 (PB) and Tristan Roberts 27:50 (PB). Joe is still league leader from Mark and Tristan.
The handicap competition was won on this occasion by Roy Hayhurst, in his first event this year, with 25:35 giving a net 18:19, from Nick Wood 25:15 net 18:54 with Will Booth net 19:10. Nick’s ride was his first try on a TT bike, as opposed to a road bike, resulting in a PB by more than a minute. Ben Norbury currently leads this league as well, but Angelo de Angelis is close behind in second with Joe third.
Since we have passed the limit of 15 counting rides, the league tables are beginning to discard the worst scores of the most frequent riders. See full result here.
The final club 25 for this year was held last Tuesday. Fastest of the 33 riders was ex international Mark Lovatt (Planet X) who started his career with Congleton Cycling Club. He completed the two lap undulating course in 57 minutes and 16 seconds. Steve Hulme 58:23, just beat Ben Norbury 58:25 for top club member spot, with Rob Dale taking third place points in 1:00:39.
Pete Smith, 1:3:00 was only 5 seconds behind Rob at half distance but he had already ridden the VTTA 30 with a 25 mph ride the same afternoon!
Ben, who leads the scratch league from Steve and Wayne Powell, has also moved into top spot in the handicap league from Angelo de Angelis and Joe Langford. Steve now ties with Angelo at the top of the Veterans category, with Edgar Reynolds in third.
Competition for fastest lady was also close, with Sue Blake 1:14:52 narrowly beating Denise Hurst 1:15:23. Sue leads the ladies league from Denise and Claire Thompson.
Mark Allen was top junior in 1:8:50 from Tristan Roberts who did a massive PB of 1:9:58 to take the top handicap spot with a nett time of 45:20. Joe Langford insisted on riding despite not being well, took the third junior spot, but is still the junior league leader, ahead of Mark and Tristan.
Steve Sladin was the only other rider to achieve a PB on a course not known for them, and was second on handicap on the night. He attributed his 1 min 22 sec improvement to “shaving his legs”, although the aero helmet and recent bike fit advice from Pete Smith might have had something to do with it.
This was the 15th event of the club season. Riders best 15 results count in the league tables, so the rankings can be expected to change rapidly in the remaining 4 weeks.
Thanks to the event volunteers (9) and the Ken Norbury for the photos and Adrian Pennington for video at the Congleton turn.
The club congratulates junior rider Mark Allen for gaining his first British Cycling national ranking points. Mark finished 3rd in the Royal Sutton circuit race at Curborough near Lichfield on Wednesday 25th June, and then returned a week later, and finished second, so now has the first 3 ranking points of his racing career.
There have been two Manchester and District Time Trial Association championships recently with good participation by club members. In the 50 mile championship on June 21st, club members times were as follows. Peter Akers Smith 2 hours 3 minutes and 30 seconds, Wayne Powell 2:8:46, Mike Jones 2:9:36, Kelvin Milward 2:11:33, Pete Tatton 2:16:44, and Duncan Poole 2:28:21. We had five riders in the Manchester and District Time Trial Association 100 mile TT on June 29th. They all finished. Mike Jones finished with a PB 4:33:28, Pete Tatton 4:53:03, Wayne Powell 4:58:42, Edgar Reynolds 4:59:01 and at the time of writing Matt Tatton’s time is to be confirmed but was around 5 hours, Waynes time tells a story. At about 35 miles he was clipped by an approaching car wing mirror (on a bit of road narrowed by white lining work) and fell heavily. He got going again and did extremely well to finish. The photo shows some of the damage, His helmet saved him from worse. He was still smiling.
In the Warrington Road club team time trial over 25 miles our team of four consisting of Ben Norbury, Steve Hulme, Pete Smith and Wayne Powell were a creditable seventh in 55:30.
Over the same distance in the East Lancs Road Club 25 mile TT, on a windy and damp afternoon Ben Norbury returned 58:05 with club ladies Denise Hurst doing 1:13:09 and Sue Blake in her first open event 1:14:31.
Club long distance specialist Edgar Reynolds competed in the National Championship 24 hour TT in Sussex, where he recorded 391 miles although he is in discussion with the the organiser who reports his distance as 367 miles. The higher distance would win the Veteran Time Trail Association 24 hour championship which was incorporated in the event.
Wayne Powell after 100 miles.
Rain a couple of hours before the event did not deter 32 riders from signing on to this week’s club 10 at Gawsworth. At least nine riders set new personal bests in a light northerly breeze on drying roads.
Overall fastest was ex GB roadman Mark Lovatt (Planet X) with 21 mins 23 secs. The club honours went to Ben Norbury with a new PB of 21:37, with Keith Dutton (Wills Wheels) 22:37 in third. The “podium” places in the club competition, were filled by Rob Dale 22:47 (PB) and Charlie Evans 23:04 on a road bike. Bens time is, I believe, the fastest 10 by a club member this season, taking over from Steve Hulme’s time of 21:43 set a few weeks ago. Steve, who is Ben’s main rival in the league table, was recorded as a “did not finish” on this occasion.
The ladies honours went to Sue Blake with 27:35 (PB) from Denise Hurst 28:23 and Claire Thompson 28:36. Sue leads in the ladies league, having not missed
Want to take part in “ It’s a Knockout competition”? Now’s your chance. It’s on Sunday July 13th in Congleton Park. The club entered a team last time in 2012 and had a great time.
See whats involved.
Interested? To join or for more info contact Georgina.
The close fight for top points in the scratch competition between Ben Norbury and Steve Hulme continues with Ben best on this occasion with 21:58 to Steve’s 22:02. Jamie Willetts was 3rd best club rider with 23:50 which included a 15 s late start. The actual top three were visitors this week. Joe Evans of the Haribo Beacon Cycling Team (winner of the 2014 Junior Isle of Man Tour), was quickest in 20:53, followed by Jack Green (V.C. St Raphael) 21:08 and Mark Lovatt, who started his cycling career with us, now with Planet X third, in 21:28.
Sue Blake earned top points in the Ladies competition with another PB of 27:54, ahead of Claire Thompson 28:20 and visitor Paige Milward (Bike Pure) 29:27.
Mark Allen, was best club junior in 25:12 followed by Tristan Roberts 26:32 and a fast improving Joe Langford 26:37 (PB).
A lovely summer evening on the J2/1 course at Chelford this week produced at least 7 PB’s amongst the 32 riders. Club treasurer Dean Roberts improved by over a minute with 29:19 to be best on handicap this week with a net 18:59.
See a full result here.
Ken Norbury’s photo’s. Thanks Ken.
Thanks to the 11 volunteers who helped run the event. They all earn a point in the Bob Job points competition which was updated last week and can be seen through the quick link on the right of the screen.
We all look forward to Adrian Penningtons video which this week was shot at Chelford Island.
Bill Boynton of Congleton Cycling Club was a member of the large GB team at the “Worlds” competing in the ITU Duathlon. He won the bronze medal with 3rd place in the M70-74 Standard distance event in a time of 2 hours 38 minutes behind Tony Marshall (USA) and Carlos Leite (Portugal).
The initial 10k run comprised 4 laps of 2.5k on streets and pavements through the old town lined with hundreds of spectators. The bike route from the stadium immediately crossed the river Lerez and followed a long ascent of nearly 200 metres over 10 km to a turning point on the Santiago road. Fast sweeping descents at 40 mph brought competitors back to the river and the start of a second tiring lap. The race was completed by a further two run laps of the town and a stadium finish.
“When not racing, I would reckon that the climb towards Santiago was fairly easy and never more than 10% but after running hard for 47 minutes, it was a very attritional time trial course, the hardest I’ve ever done. It was all about slipping down a gear and maintaining speed while managing the cramp. The two descents round a series of tight bends were exhilarating and much safer as the circuit was traffic-free.”
With so many age groups in action, finishing positions are never clear until results are posted. Confusion reigned for five hours as the electronic timing system had failed and organisers resorted to backup methods before announcing results. Soon afterwards Bill was on the podium to receive his medal and later celebrated with Newcastle Tri Club teammate Julia Matheson who was dominant in winning F50-54 and setting the fastest time of any woman at these World Championships.
Winning a medal was a great result after finishing 5th in 2011 and injuries in the subsequent two years. ‘It’s a mad event’ says Bill, ‘maybe I’ll think of doing Sprint (half the distances) in future’.
Bill brought his medal to the club social evening last week (26th June) to show everyone.
The Start
Full Result Here.
Video courtesy of Adrian Penninton.
Photos courtesy of Ken Norbury
Tristan Roberts
Mark Allen
Ben Norbury
Club Treasurer