Kingston Phoenix Road Club Hon Gen Sec's Report 2002 Another year gone by, and another successful one for the Club. Membership is holding steady in the mid-thirties – the only real problem with this size being that it's difficult to muster orders of at least 12 garments when we order more clothing. We have welcomed 2 new members. Colin Cape – a one-time Phoenix fast man – returning after a long absence, and finding that regaining racing fitness is a challenge when you haven't done it for some years. And Chrystal Sheldon who was lured into riding the Clarencourt 4Up as her first ever race. She seemed to enjoy it and is keen to try other races next year. On the racing front, as Frank will no doubt have said, I think that we have had a very good year. Joe Bertorelli has come into his own and truly made the transition to "fastman" status, he deserves to be Club Champion this year. On the other hand Brian does not deserve to leave the Club Dinner almost empty handed, as he surely will. He put up a valiant battle, based primarily on experience, despite no longer having the necessary time to devote to training and racing. He could easily have thrown the towel in and not bothered to complete the last of the distances once he was looking outgunned, and I'm sure someone could have found plenty for him to do instead with the time; but no, he wouldn't give in. On the other hand, the 12 Hour in August was a pleasure to be part of (for those of us who could disappear into the car every time it tipped it down!). Our three riders were reasonably well matched and, fortunately for the helpers, actually spent most of the day within about 20 minutes of each other. Ann rode well to improve Cis's 12 hour record which had stood for 40 years; Brian enjoyed his 12 as ever (well, maybe just a little bit) and Joe took a leap into the unknown and now knows that he can go somewhat further in a 12 – you are supposed to ache a bit the next day! Joe has managed a full house of pb's this season, Ann just missed by not improving at 25 miles, but then again she only rode two 25s and one of those was the Medium Gear – too busy riding Women's National Team Series road races for the Surrey League! Tony Tugwell scored pb's at the two distances he rode this year. All in all I make a total of 13 pb's in 2002 and an untold number of "best for x number of years" amongst the other members. The magic hour has eluded both Joe and Pete Edwards this year, but they are both capable of "going under" given the right day. There were also a series of pw's (personal worsts) as we suffered the worst weather conditions in Kingston to Worthing history. A roaring headwind and intermittent, cold, torrential downpours allowed Simon to swipe the "slowest ever winning time" from Ron! Our District Committee has done a survey of the 2001 racing season, comparing the numbers of rides in Club Events throughout the season against the number of places applied for. As far as I can make out the Phoenix comes out of it quite well. It seems to me that we are one of the most active clubs in the district: applying for a large number of places, and filling almost all of them. The only clubs that seem to have more people riding Club Events are clubs that are substantially bigger than our own. After a successful visit in 2002, Jake has organised another trip to Majorca for March. This time avoiding the date of the Open 10, after this year's unfortunate clash. She is also organising the Club Dinner again. February 22nd 2002, put the date in your diaries. I think that the website has been a success this year. Colin Cape found us again due to the website and I've been having a long distance tussle with him over improvements to our 10 times – I thought I had him, and then he trumped me twice at the end of the season! I know that there are a few people who look at the site on a regular basis and I have tried to keep it updated during the season, but it's flagged a bit in the last few weeks with the approach of the AGM and other demands on my time. I have had to change where the actual files reside several times, but always look for it at http://www.kprc.org.uk and you will find it wherever it is. This year I have been listing all Open event rides – the ones that I have found out about – ridden by members, but I know some members have done rides and I don't have the details. No names – yet! But please keep Frank, Brian and myself updated with all your rides in 2003. Last year we invited the Clarencourt CC, who had become homeless, to join us by having their clubnight at Worcester Park and on the same evening as ourselves. I rarely get to the Clubroom myself these days, but I gather that it has been a success. In June, Clive Oxx had quite a nasty accident on a Sunday Clubrun, and was carted off to hospital. That afternoon there was a lot of telephoning and running around in an effort to contact his family. We knew who his sons are, but not how to contact them, especially not in a hurry. Frank's argument with a coach a couple of weeks later also gave us pause for thought. As a consequence we decided that I should start a database of contact information for members. Basically I need to know who should be contacted, for each member, in the event of them being carted off to hospital. Some of us live alone, and others might prefer to nominate a friend to be contacted, it's your choice who you put on the form, but can everybody return the information to me before the start of next season at the latest. I propose that the list be held by a number of accessible people so that one or two phone calls are all that is required to find the information. This probably falls under the scope of the data protection act, but it will be used solely in the event of an emergency and can be updated at any time you wish. Several years ago, Cis George presented the Club with a wonderful trophy in memory of Bert George. This trophy is awarded for services to the Club and has been decided by a sealed ballot at the AGM (postal votes accepted) for the last few years. However it is doing the rounds of the same three "obvious" members who seem to be winning it by gaining 2 votes when almost everyone else in the club gets one! Thus we have decided that the committee should put forward a short-list to guide the voting slightly. A case for receipt of the trophy can be made for almost every member of the Club, but to start with the "finalists" for this year are: Cis George: Cis kept the club together in it's early days during the war and later as Club Secretary for many years. Doreen Powney: Doreen has been stuck with the club for many years whether she liked it or not: making teas, baking cakes, feeding the committee. Currently she is Treasurer, tea stall at the evening 10's and even emergency timekeeper. George Powney: George was Time Trials Secretary and also Club Timekeeper for many years. Grant Pyke: Grant is responsible for finding us our current clubroom and has saved the club rather a lot of money since the move. Den Rosendale: Den, like George, was Time Trials Secretary and also Timekeeper for many years. Sorry, Ron, your name is already on the back of the trophy. The "sealed" vote is so that the recipient is not common knowledge until the Dinner, so it will still go ahead at the AGM as usual. Anyone unable to attend the meeting may send their vote in if they wish: post, email or even telephone – I can sort out the results this year as there is NO likelihood of me winning. As of December 1st 2002 – after a life of 55 years – the RTTC will cease to exist. Some of you may know all about this, I assume that many of you will not. The RTTC will become a Limited Company "Cycling Time Trials". This has all come about due to the threat of litigation should someone die whilst involved in a Time Trial (unfortunately this does happen occasionally, for a variety of reasons) and their relatives decide to sue everyone and anyone involved for all they can get. We are told that because Time Trials will now be promoted on behalf of this company, the people involved in the promotion will be protected from litigation. I am afraid that I am not convinced by this as we have had lectures at my place of work impressing on us that each and everyone one of us could end up liable if someone were to be injured by a product made by our company. However, I understand that the BMW Motorcycle Owners Club have gone down this same path for the same reasons as the RTTC. Largely because of this, your club delegates voted in favour of the transfer to the limited company – although it has come as a shock to realise that it does mean the end of the RTTC. The familiar RTTC logo will still be used, but I notice that it now has 1937-2002 added underneath the letters. All this means that there is a new entry form that has been issued. It is already available from the RTTC website, and I am expecting to receive some copies along with other information in December. I guess that all the RTTC paperwork will have to be reissued with a new heading. Copies of the forms etc will be available from Frank and myself as soon as possible. Can everyone please throw out their old forms and put in requests for new ones. Anyone planning on entering Christmas events (Anne ?) will need copies of the new form asap so give me a call. Finally, our District Committee is always looking for new blood – I did a couple of years as a committee member, which was interesting, but attending the meetings got too much to fit in. However this year our long-standing (and long-suffering) Secretary, Chris Watts, has given notice that she really needs to retire from the job. So they are looking for someone to take over. Ideally they want somebody computer literate as they do acknowledge that computers are the way forward. They have indicated the possibility of carving the job up and, I think, Chris said that she would stay on for a further year – or at least be on hand to assist – if someone or several someones could be found to take over. If anyone thinks they might be able to do all, or part, of the job let me know and I will put you in touch with Chris to discuss the matter. That's all for another year, if I've forgotten anything I'll post it on the website. Best Wishes for a safe and speedy 2003 Lisa Lisa Colombo: November 2002 This page last updated on November 26th 2002 by Lisa Colombo Return to the Phoenix Hompage