So the 5th iteration of our club winter Zwift League has come to an end. Points have been totted up and the final results are in. First of all I’d like to thank you all for logging on each week to race and making the league a success.
Thank you so much for being a member during 2022. Hopefully you managed to get out there and achieve some of your goals on the bike, and had a bit of fun at the same time. Especially during all that great sunny weather we had over the summer. And here’s hoping that 2023 brings more of the same.
This is all a long way of saying…
ALL CLUB MEMBERSHIPS ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR 2023 RENEWAL
To renew your club membership, please click our (now infamous) “Big Pink Button”. You know you want to…
Memberships run for the entire year, so now is the very best time to renew your membership. Plus, you’ll be in the first batch of super special awesome amazing membership packs that’ll I’ll be putting together in a couple of weeks. I’m planning a refresh of these member pack… so gone are the usual trinkets, in will be some sort of other new trinket! Also, I’ll be providing a club events calendar (inc TT series dates, and other such calendar-ey things).
• Senior: £26
• Junior: £10
• Family: £39 (2 adults and 2 children living at the same address)
• Supporter: £6 (for our non-riding friends of the club)
And if you’re a member of another club but would still like to support us:
• 2nd Claim Senior: £13
(Note: Supporters and 2nd Claim members are not eligible for anyclub trophy. 2nd Claim and Family memberships are reviewed before acceptance by the secretary… ME!)
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
If you’re receiving this email, you’re still very much invited to our AGM that will be held on Thursday 26th Jan 2023. You should get another email or two about that, but other club emails (news, events, announcements, etc…) will now only be sent to renewed members.
And with that, I’ll leave you to enjoy the rest of your weekend. Hope to have you on board again in 2023!
Wigmore Cycling Club has gained a qualified British Cycling Ride Leader.
Club Chairman and Club Ride Secretary Kevin Ford attended the 2-day course held at Cyclopark on 11th and 12th September.
With a range of pre-course learning, classroom, on site and external rides the course covered ride planning, supporting new and developing riders confidence, road skills and, of course, risk assessments!
The training will be used to provide improved experience for the Wigmore CC Developers group and where group abilities are mixed.
Wigmore CC typically provide a Developers (up to 15 miles, 10 mph), Intermediate (up to 45 miles, 13 mph) and Advanced (45 miles and above, 15 mph and above) group rides each Sunday.
Club Rides meet for a 9am start from Rainham Library car park, Birling Avenue, with free on street parking nearby should you choose to drive the start.
All group rides are inclusive with a ‘no drop’ policy and focus on the social aspect of riding, even when the group may be going a bit quicker. For more info, see here.
Wigmore CC also have a strong Go-Ride section for school age children to build cycling skills, along with a range of racing events throughout the year, delivered by a strong group of British Cycling-qualified volunteer coaches. Sessions run term-time only on Saturday mornings. For more info, see here.
Use the Contact form if you’d like to join us for a no obligation taster ride or for more information.
We have some updates to share, so please have a look below and respond if appropriate to each one.
End of TT season evening social
We’ll be having another meal at the Woolpack, Iwade after the final Iwade TT of the season on Wednesday 24th August.
This is open to WCC members and guests, and you certainly don’t have to have ridden to come along and join us and also celebrate the TT specific awards being presented.
You’ll need to pre-order this year by midday Wednesday 17th August, so the order can be placed that evening.
The menu is here and please use the simple table below so the orders can be collated.
*Please note I will not be chasing for responses or have time to transcribe lists etc into the table*
Adult ride leader training
British Cycling (BC) have been able to re-start Ride Leader training and have a range of dates available, including 10th and 11th September at Cyclopark.
Would you like to complete the training the help Wigmore CC further develop its skills and capacity?
The course is £205 with candidates asked to pay 50% with Wigmore CC re-paying the member after 6 months of actively leading rides.
Last weekend (6th and 7th March, 2022) saw the start of the Youth Road Race calendar, with the grandly titled Deux Jours de Cyclopark 2022 hosted by VC Londres.
The races, number of stages, points scoring and circuit varied for different age categories. U10s had to race for 15 mins each day, U12s for 30 mins and U14s had two races per day of 30 and 45 mins in which they could score bonus points on certain sprint laps.
The U10s field had 26 riders, 43 riders in the U12s and 20 in the U14 Girls.
Day 1 saw the riders compete clockwise round the circuit in the wet conditions.
Day 2 was competed anti-clockwise. The Day 2 weather was dry but much colder! A big shout out to the Sunday club adult riders who made a stop at Cyclopark as part of their ride to cheer everyone on.
Overall results for the weekend based on the GC (General Classification) were:-
U10
8th Riley
16th Ewan
23rd Ben
U12
40th Joe
U14 Girls
4th Millie
Also well done to one of our former Wigmore CC Go-Rider, Finn, who placed 4th in the U18 Boys. Well done Finn.
… and last but certainly not least, thanks to Luke for marshalling.
For anyone interested in taking part in future races, please check out the British Cycling events page for the Regional Youth Road Race Series where there are four more events throughout the year.
Also, don’t forget that Spring in the Park (at Cyclopark) starts on Friday evenings from 29th April. This is a great introduction to road circuit racing for Go-Riders.
Please feel free to ask coaches for further information on any of these events.
Here is a list of open event Time Trials, kindly collated by Phil Appleby. Big thank you Phil. All events are run according to Cycling Time Trials rules.
The East Kent Cyclocross League was very well attended with a total of 20 riders taking to the start line throughout the 2021/22 season. (12 Go-Ride and 8 Adults).
Hopefully, you will all be back in September and maybe we will see some new faces have a go and join the WCC CX tribe!
All 5 rounds were completed this year with each rider’s four best results counting towards the final league tables.
Here is a reminder of what happened in each round.
Henry had a very strong season and overall took the top spot in the under 10’s
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“Really well! I was on the podium in every race and really enjoyed it.”
Which was your favourite course and why?
“Betteshanger. It was fun going through the woods and in the mud.”
Will you be back next season?
“Yes of course! Because I really enjoy doing it.”
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“I have improved on hills and enjoy doing the off-camber training we’ve been doing. I am more confident and the coaching we get at Wigmore has really helped.”
Riley Wastall 🥈
Riley Wastall
Just 4 points behind Riley finished 2nd overall in the under 10’s.
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“My races went well because I got 2nd’s constantly and a 3rd.”
Which was your favourite course and why?
“My favourite was Lydden Hill because it had two bits to it. Those two bits were the stones to sprint on and the technical bits.”
Will you be back next season?
“Definitely😄“
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“Sprinting, and throwing the bike forward at the finish line.”
Miles Anderson
Miles Anderson
Miles finished the season in 6th.
Q&A
Which was your favourite course and why?
“Betteshanger, I had lots of fun. Mostly running and rolling around the banks with Henry!“
Will you be back next season?
“I will be back for more cross after some BMX and Circuit this summer. “
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“I learned that I need to use harder gears when it’s fast and easy gear when it’s slow.
Summer Cass
Summer Cass with her brother Joe
Summer finished the season 6th overall. A great effort and her first try at CX racing.
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“This was my first season in CX, I entered three races this season, I found it hard! Especially in my first race when I ended upside down tangled in tape, on a tree stump!”
Which was your favourite course and why?
“Astor College was my favourite course, I got a third in that race!”
Will you be back next season?
“I’ll be back next season, on my bigger bike, perhaps even another podium finish”
Ben Bailey
Ben Bailey
Ben finished the season in =8th.
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“CX has gone well this year”
Which was your favourite course and why?
“I liked Betteshanger the most as it was bumpy.”
Will you be back next season?
“Definitely back next season.”
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“I’ve learnt how to change gear and dismount/remounting, and running up muddy hills “
Ewan Delaney
Ewan Delaney
Ewan finished the season in =8th.
Q&A
Which was your favourite course and why?
“My favourite course was Jon’s washing machine of doom at Go-Ride”
Oliver Young
Oliver finished the season in 10th.
Oliver Young
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“My racing went really well. This year has been my first try at racing and I loved it.”
Which was your favourite course and why?
“My favourite race was Betteshanger as it was lots of fun.”
Will you be back next season?
“Yeah!!!!!”
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“I have learnt how to go round corners.”
Jude Tippins
Jude raced his first CX race in round 5 and finished 13th overall.
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“I really enjoyed my first taste of racing this year and am looking forward to giving it another go.”
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“The main skills so far have been using the gears properly and having my first go at what it is like to race.”
Under 12s
Rowan Murphy 🥈
Rowan Murphy
Rowan took a very impressive 2nd in the final tables for the under 12’s.
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“Quite good.”
Which was your favourite course and why?
“Betteshanger, because I felt like I did extremely well. The muddy bit was good fun. “
Will you be back next season?
“Yes, absolutely”
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“Probably power, ride faster and harder all the time.”
Joe Cass
Joe Cass
Joe scored points very consistently throughout the season and finished 6th in the under 12’s.
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“Being my first full season of CX (I only did Betteshanger in December 2020), and being in the under 12’s was challenging. My first race at Sandwich was a great race, I fell off four times but still finished! I’ve practised my cornering since then! The final race at Betteshanger was a great race too, being head to head with Miles for most of the race was good fun!”
Will you be back next season?
“I’ll be back next season, it would be good to get on the podium!”
Under 14s
Sammy Bassett
Sammy Bassett
Sammy finished the season in 7th
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“I had an OK season.”
Which was your favourite course and why?
“Betteshanger.”
Will you be back next season?
“Of course, I will be back next year.”
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“I learned that the placing is not important.”
Millie Dean
Millie finished the season in 8th.
Millie only rode two East Kent races this season, at Sandwich Tech and Northbourne Park. Millie’s early-season London League results were good and she had five podiums! Millie had to cut short her cyclocross season due to injury to her knee sustained at a crash in a circuit race at Colchester and came back to ride the regional champs at Cyclopark but her knee wasn’t 100% healed and she never raced cross after that.
Her favourite course this year was Canada Heights in the London League as it was a brand new course and very hilly. Millie says what she learnt this year was don’t listen to her Dad when he says ride a circuit race in Colchester! Millie’s looking forward to riding both London League and east Kent League cyclocross next year and is stepping up to the under 16 girls.
V40’s
Luke Anderson
Luke Anderson
Luke finished the season in 25th.
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“I didn’t get to race much due to injury.“
Which was your favourite course and why?
“My favourite course was the new version of Betteshanger.“
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“I learned that I need to try the tricky bits more on practice laps to make the most of my skills when fitness is so bad.“
Chris Murphy
Chris Murphy with Jon Bassett
Chris finished the season in 33rd.
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“The first few races were a struggle due to lack of saddle time first half of the year, but felt stronger as the season went on.”
Which was your favourite course and why?
“Lydden Hill was my favourite full lap due to it having a bit of everything from a long straight, to a few short sharp climbs, muddy off-camber and little banks.”
Will you be back next season?
“Oh yes.”
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“I learned that even though I don’t finish up the front of a race, I still love every painful second of the race, and what skills did I use most? The simple answer is, I don’t have any skills lol.”
Jon Bassett
Jon finished the season in 47th.
Q&A How did your CX racing go this year?
“My season is just getting started. I feel the best is yet to come.
Kevin Ford
Kev finished the season in 79th.
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“My one and only race was more challenging than i’d hoped for, having had to stop my regular daily cycle commute and therefore the chance to train to ride under effort.
I knew I was there for the fun and more importantly to support our younger members racing, so entry was a spur of the moment as the race had plenty of spaces.”
Which was your favourite course and why?
“I only raced at Betteshanger, and as I knew from my one other CX race in 2019, the East Kent league is very friendly and encouraging.
The big dip was daunting to look at, but all over and done with once you had committed to it.”
Will you be back next season?
“I’m hoping to be fitter for 2022 and subject to work, joining the training sessions and entering a race or two, but just for fun.”
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“Jon Bassett gave me a great tip for dismounting (foot over axle when unclipped) which really helped me have confidence coming up to any dismounts. Thanks Jon.”
Dave Wastall
Dave Wastall
Dave finished the season in 82nd.
V50’s
Dave Bishop
Dave finished the season in 32nd.
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“Not as well as I thought, still an over-hang from Covid!“
Which was your favourite course and why?
“The one at the school as it’s not hilly but fast and technical and I had my best result.“
Will you be back next season?
“I will be back next season and in better shape hopefully “
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“My balance and control of slides is pretty good“
Senior
Jamie Harris
Jamie Harris
Jamie finished the season in 10th
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“This year went well and happy with 10th overall having not raced CX since the 2017/18 season. The technical cobwebs blew off pretty quickly but my fitness could have been better.
Aside from the slipping and sliding in the mud at Lydden Hill, I only had one crash which was on the off-camber at Dover so I’ll take that as a win!”
Which was your favourite course and why?
“Lydden Hill was my favourite course and the gnarly conditions suited me too.”
Will you be back next season?
“100%.”
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“To go hard on the straight or hilly sections and to go easy/smoothly on the technical sections.”
Cameron Carthew
Cameron Carthew
Cameron finished the season in 18th
Q&A
How did your CX racing go this year?
“My racing went OK, I didn’t have many expectations as I only did one race prior to 21/22 season.”
Which was your favourite course and why?
“My favourite course was Lydden, the different terrain with steep banks and a lot of mud. It wasn’t the course that suited me the best but I enjoyed it the most.”
Will you be back next season?
“I will be back next year but for the EKCX again only.”
What do you think you learned most from your racing this year?
“From a skills side it was pretty clear I don’t have many🤣 I need to put more time into riding the Cross bike, dismounting, tight corners etc. So have a few areas to focus on”
With COVID bringing an abrupt stop to our 2020 activities and a late start to our 2021 calendar, we are pleased to look back and think about what an amazing year we have had!
Starting back in March under COVID rules, we had to restructure our sessions into lots of smaller groups. We feel that this worked really well and particularly benefitted some of the younger riders getting their basic skills mastered.
We’ve welcomed lots of new riders and also had lots of regulars returning week after week.
Alongside the weekly Saturday morning sessions of road rides, CX skills and ride outs at Capstone, the summer months saw some of our riders participate in the following activities:
Weekly TTs at the Iwade course
Circuit racing at Cyclopark & Betteshanger
Regular BMX coaching at Cyclopark
Autumn brought about the start of the Cyclocross season, and we’ve had record numbers of riders enter these races in both the London League and the East Kent Cyclocross League with many podiums for our riders.
We were invited to run a Go-Ride session at the Medway Mile event in September and the coaches were completely bowled over by how popular we were. For 3 hours solid, we had queues of kids waiting to have a go. It was hard work, but such fun.
We started Zwift group rides during the first lockdown and these have continued at times when we couldn’t run physical sessions. The Winter Zwift League also added a Go-Ride competition which has been supported by our riders and continues on a weekly basis when the Time Trial season stops during the colder months.
As the year has gone on we have been able to work in larger groups again which has been a fantastic opportunity for the riders to all get to know each other, share their skills and make friends. This has also allowed the coaches to work with all the riders and watch them progress (AMAZING!).
We have also been thrilled to organise for the club riders (and their parents and coaches) introductory sessions to BMX at Cyclopark. It was great to see our Chair, Kevin, join in with one of these sessions.
We were also able to bring back our combined Awards Evening with The Grown Ups for presentations and prizes for riders.
As the year drew to a close and Christmas grew closer, many of our riders took part in the famous, traditional, annual Mince Pie Ride from Rainham to Bredgar cafe and back again. Lots of cake was consumed!
As a club, we are continuing to improve our coaches skills. This year has seen Jon obtain his specialisation in Cyclocross coaching and Paul in Mountain Biking. Dave is currently working to upgrade his Level 1 Coaching Award to a Level 2 Award, which he is hoping to achieve early next year. All these qualifications help us to improve and broaden the range of coaching we can offer.
We have also, just this month, been reassessed for our Clubmark accreditation (which ensures systems are in place to run the club to a good standard), which we are pleased to say we PASSED!
We hope you have a lovely Christmas and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2022.
With all good wishes from your Go-Ride Team: Mike, Paul, Jon, Simon, Dave, Steve, Rowan and Kirsty.
Saturday 20th November 2021 saw the return of our annual awards, held in person at the Howard Memorial Hall.
A lot of hard work goes into delivering any club event, so thanks must go first to Helen Masters, Social Secretary for shouldering the burden of the work with support from Michael Finch and Martin Trice. Thank you.
Following our meal, we presented Tom Odell with his two awards prior to his early departure for a night shift.
Nick Howlett then led a discussion and Q&A from some of our seasoned members who each have a strong interest in different areas, providing a comprehensive view of cycling:
Anthony Bee / Short & long distance time trialling;
Jamie Harris / Zwift;
Keith Walker / Short & long distance time trialling and road racing;
Michael Finch / Community Cycleworks; and
Richard Master / Bicycle maintenance and technology
Clin Maisey, Club President then presented the main body of our Annual Awards, with of course well earnt flowers and chocolates to Helen Masters first.
The full list and images are below with some notable winners being:
Adrienn Rocco, Cyclerama Award for completing her first 100km ride to Sandwich to support members of Wigmore CC racing in the Cyclocross races;
Rowan Murphy, Paul Buckley Go-Ride Champion and Junior Zwift Award for being such as strong competitor and entering many areas of cycling as a sport; and
Tom Odell, 2nd Evening Scratch League, who riding a road bike gave TT bike riders more than a run for their money in the Evening 10 series.
The traditional raffle followed, with our great friends The Bike Warehouse Gillingham donating 3 great helmets as prizes; thank you!
We hope everyone had a great evening and is looking forward to next years challenges, maybe with a new bike or gadget from Father Christmas, or indeed The Bike Warehouse!
After many years battle against Parkinson’s, Geoff sadly passed away on Sunday 4th July.
Geoff joined the Wigmore CC in 1960. He suffered with asthma and started cycling to improve his breathing problems, and it certainty worked.
When he started riding with the club, he used an inhaler to help his breathing, but by the time he was 30 years old he no longer needed the inhaler. One thing he never did was use an inhaler before an event, he classed that as cheating.
Geoff was a keen trike rider and set many club records, in fact he still holds three records. They are the 30 mile trike record of 1h 20m 47s, set in 1969. The same year he set a 50 miles trike record with a time of 2h 17m 13s. In 1977 he was one of the members that set a solo team record for 30 miles with a time of 3h 38m 43s.
He had an attempt at road racing but could not handle the fast start. When asked what happened, his reply would be , “they would not wait for me”!
Geoff was always a willing helper with club events, and when I had to stop driving, Geoff took me to the evening events.
Geoff was married to Angela for 49 years, and our thoughts are with Angela at this sad time.
The funeral is on Thursday 29th July, at Bobbing crematorium, 11 am.
No flowers, but you can make donations to Parkinson’s UK and sent to John Weir funeral directors 127 Watling Street, Gillingham ME7 2YY .
Just pop down to 
Last weekend (6th and 7th March, 2022) saw the start of the Youth Road Race calendar, with the grandly titled Deux Jours de Cyclopark 2022 hosted by VC Londres.
Also well done to one of our former Wigmore CC Go-Rider, Finn, who placed 4th in the U18 Boys. Well done Finn.
Henry had a very strong season and overall took the top spot in the under 10’s
Dave finished the season in 32nd.
With COVID bringing an abrupt stop to our 2020 activities and a late start to our 2021 calendar, we are pleased to look back and think about what an amazing year we have had!
Alongside the weekly Saturday morning sessions of road rides, CX skills and ride outs at Capstone, the summer months saw some of our riders participate in the following activities:
Autumn brought about the start of the Cyclocross season, and we’ve had record numbers of riders enter these races in both the London League and the East Kent Cyclocross League with many podiums for our riders.
We were also able to bring back our combined Awards Evening with The Grown Ups for presentations and prizes for riders.