The Victoria Park Criteriums are due to take place on Saturday 4th and Saturday 18th April. As always these races can only take place if we have enough volunteers to help on each day. In order for me to judge how many people are prepared to help, I should be grateful if you would e-mail me at steve.r.hesketh@ntlworld.com saying if you are able to commit to either or both of the days and also expressing a preference for task allocation if you have one.

Can I also take this opportunity to remind Club members who intend to race that a completed entry form should be sent to me as soon as possible, together with fees (which will be refunded after the race on the assumption that we can cover our expenses through having enough riders take part) as there are no entries on the line.

Another great event – lots of help, good weather, good club results and only one crash ( two riders, both not too badly hurt, bikes damaged).

Our first rider of the day was ‘Charlie’ Hesketh in the U16 event. Charlie did really well in her first ever race, hanging onto the bunch for a long time then keeping with a smaller group – she seemed really pleased with the fact that her computer had registered 28.4mph, but wasn’t too pleased with her aching legs!

The 4ths races had Stephen Hopkins, Andy Webb, John Williams, Tom Blackmore, Dom. Harrison and Nick Bosworth taking part. In the first race Andy Webb took 2nd overall and two primes, John Williams took the other prime. In the second race they were definitely targeted riders, despite this Andy Webb finished 3rd overall and took all three primes!

In the 3rds races were new 3rd category rider Steve Allen, Neil Goodridge, Mac McGready, Lance Ravenhill and James Webster. Just to keep up the clubs clean sweep of primes James took the first and Steve Allen took the next two. Steve made a break from the bunch for about 10 laps, some good blocking by our riders failed to keep him away and with only a few laps to go Steve got swallowed up by the bunch.
The second race looked as if the clean sweep of primes would continue with Lance taking the first and James taking the second, a non club member got the third – oh well, it would have been a little embarrassing to win them all. There were no top three placings for our riders in either event.

The Under 12s races were full again, lots of styles of riding and bikes.

Overall the three events have been a great success, marred only by the theft of a bike at the second event.

Having good numbers of helpers meant that the marshalls could have a break, the park was set up well in advance of the races and everyone could do their job well – many thanks to everyone who helped over the three events (too many names to list).

The main team of organisers will be having a meeting about the races in the next couple of weeks, if any club member has any ideas, suggestions or comments, for discussion at the meeting, please email them to Val :-val@vravenhill.freeserve.co.uk

Found property
Found at start/finish area, girls Next grey coat with pink fleece inner age 3-4.

Only a few days to the last event, full fields in all categories with many entries returned.

The forecast has changed again today – not for the good, we have got away with it the last two events so lets hope we do again!

Just a reminder about bike theft, as you are aware a competitors bike was stolen last event. If you are at the event please be aware of your personal belongings and watch out for others.

Also a complaint has been received from a resident in Archery Road about congestion, if arriving by car please be aware not to upset the locals.

This event we have 14 senior club riders in the 3rd and 4th category events and 1 rider ‘Charlie’ Hesketh in the U16 event – come on, lots of support and results!

More offers of help would be good, the extra help we had last event made such a difference.

Val

What a good event! Thanks to everyone who turned out to help, it makes it so much easier when there are so many of you to cover all the jobs.

Great results from our riders. Weather conditions much better than the last event and much better than forecast – no rain! Mostly sunny – breezy but not the cold biting wind of two weeks ago.

Firstly the bad news – one rider had his bike stolen from the races, it seems that a man rode in on a yellow Apollo road bike, dumped it and then went off with the Specialised (details on the website). What a shame that our bikes are not safe at an event, please be aware.

The event had full entries (40) in all categories apart from the U16 (one rider short) and the trikes (10 riding). Lots of entries were turned away for the other events and it looks as if the next event will be as busy with some categories full already.

The U12 races saw the usual mixture of ages and bikes, all trying their hardest and enjoying it, it was good to see local children, not connected to the club, riding – they had read about the event, watched it last time and decided to have a go.

The U16 races saw more competition than last time with more riders fighting it out for the primes and top 3 places.

We had 6 riders in the 4th cat. races, the first race saw Andy Webb 2nd and Tom Blackmore 3rd, in the second event first time racer Steve Allen ( who only had his cycling shoes 3 weeks ago, having ridden for the last year in trainers) won the event with Andy Webb 3rd who also picked up a prime. John Williams and Dom. Harrison were always in close competition but just missed out and Steve Hopkins improved by keeping well in the bunch.

The trike race had two chicanes put into the course, the trike riders love the twists and turns and it is amazing how fast they corner. A small group took control of the race with Geoff Booker winning and Jeff Jones who had just ridden the 3rd cat. event coming 2nd.

More club success came in the 3rd cat. races. In the first race James Webster took two of the primes and Lance Ravenhill took the third. In the second event James took two more primes and Lance came 3rd overall. Mac could only ride the second race, he was not feeling his best. Mark Allen got round with the bunch.

An addition to the days events was a raffle organised by Geoff Layhe. A large (very) poster of Stuart O’Grady plus others was donated by Geoff, raffled at £1 per ticket by Andrea, raising £70 for the Marie Curie Cancer Charity – later this year Geoff is doing a charity ride to raise more funds. Guess who won – Chris Steele!

Lets hope for another successful event on the 26th with good club results – well done and many thanks to everyone.
Val

Specilaised Allez Comp. red/white 52cm as in photo. Stolen from Victoria Park during the races 12.4.08. Thief dumped yellow Apollo road bike and took the Specialised.
Any information to Police or Val.

The Kenilworth Wheelers versus Leamington C&AC inter-club time trials are here again, and they start next week. There’s only six events, starting with a 5, then a 25 and four 10’s later in the year. Just turn up, sign on, get a number and your in. Full details of the dates and courses are on the Leamington’s website here. Points are awarded for the first ten men and first 10 women with every entrant gaining a point for their respective club. The winning club being the one with the most points after all six events. So lets see plenty of people there and hopefully we can win this year.

9th April (5 mile)
30th April (25 mile – men/10 mile – ladies)
15th May (10 mile)
10th July (10 mile)
31st July (10 mile)
20th August (10 mile)

As an added bonus it was agreed at the AGM that the Club will pay the entry fees for Club members entering the Inter-Club time trials this year. The entry fees would in fact be £2 per event this year so you will save £12 if you enter all the races! No excuses now!

As most people will now know, after a long stint at the helm, Steve Meredith has decided to stand down as event organiser for Victoria Park as of next year.

For many years the Victoria Park races have been the traditional season opener for a large number of riders and are held in high regard by riders and spectators alike due to the friendly nature first class racing but above all else it’s superb organisation.

So Victoria Park 2008…..

2008 may seem some way off, but for The Vicky Crits to continue the committee has to make the decision if it is feasible to run the event by late summer. For 2008
The Committee are asking for volunteers to take on organisational rolls to spread the work load rather than it fall on one pair of shoulders.

The jobs break down as follows:

Senior Organiser
Senior marshal
Refreshments Organiser
Signing on / licensing
Master of Ceremonies on the day + assistant
Senior Judge
Site Organiser
Gear Checker

Dates for next year are as follows

29 March 2008
12 April 2008
26 April 2008

If you are interested in helping to ensure that the Victoria Park Critiriums continue and would like to volunteer or would like more information on specific jobs please email me chris@coventrycyclecentre.co.uk or call me on 07714328282.

Regards

Chris Steele