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DE LAUNE CYCLING CLUB

FOUNDED 1889

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De Laune News     July 2001        No. 828 -72^nd Year

www.delaunecc.org

Nick Kinsey

THE PRESIDENTS REPORTS

If you remember, Brian Saxton said it would be a good idea to visit the graves of the lads we lost in the First World War and to leave a cross on behalf of the club. This we did in November 2000.

Brian knew I was going to Normandy this year, and asked me to visit the grave of a club member, Stan Edmonds of the 8th Battalion Rifle Brigade who was killed in action on the 26 June 1944. This was after the D-day landings. Stan was 32.

It would seem that Stan was attached to an armoured Regiment and was in a Half Track scouting south of Caen, when a direct hit by a shell killed the 10 occupants including Stan.

I found Stan in the St. Menview Cemetery just east of Caen. Like all our war graves, they are immaculate. To my surprise, Stan had a wreath at the foot of his grave, and no other grave had one. The flowers had died many months before, but who had laid it? His wife, his children, or his grandchildren? Perhaps we will never know.

Last May I again spent a few weeks in France. My first week was walking with a group in the Massif Central. Talk about walking fast, at times I had to run to keep up with a group of 20, it was more like a road race. I did manage to get two 2nds and a 3rd

In my second week I spent a few days with Clif and Kay Pendleton in their lovely home near Chambery, near the Alps. A lovely area of France, Clif and Kay made Pat and I very welcome. Clif was one of our prominent road racers in 60's. If I remember correctly it was Ted Macdonald, Terry Deeley (yes he did race) and Plonka who would stir things up at Crystal Palace.

Clif, who has now retired, has threatened to make a come back in the Old Members 10 in September. Well he has bought a new pair of cycling shoes, and that is a start (the story sounds familiar, with my old mate Johnny Darroch in Thailand who has bought a complete new bike) Clif sends his regards to all his old mates. Clif, I think Ted Macdonald has emigrated to South Africa.

I attended the club AGM last Thursday, and was a little disappointed at the turn out. Not a lot of bums on seats I can tell you. I would like to mention that Mike Peel has stood down from being club Chairman, and would like a rest. Mike you have done a great job over the years and you will be missed.

We have a new club Chairman, John O'Brien, who I think will do a good job and keep us all in order, especially as he is a schoolteacher. John took over the job just after 9pm we were all in the pub, and entered for the pub quiz, after the meeting by 10.15! Wicked.

The old peoples' home has let Tich Shambrook, Brian Saxton, Maureen Jackson, Roy Chittleborough, Ken and Dot Fuller, and my Pat, out for the weekend to watch the first two days of the "Tour " in the Pas de Calais, so look out for us. I will give you a full report.

Kav.
PS At the meeting we discussed a new racing strip, with matching racing caps. The only problem is do we have the peaks at the front or the back?

O.M.A. NEWS

O.M.A. LUNCH AT BRIGHTON

Many thanks to all you members that travelled down to Brighton on May 27th. The weather was not brilliant, but it stayed dry.

My thanks must go to Dot as well, for taking the trouble to organise things her end. The endless telephone calls paid off in the end, and 38 of us sat down to another very good lunch. Once again, Colin the chef did not let us down.

Unfortunately, Colin leaves at the end of this month, and to date a replacement has not been decided on. Once the new man starts, and over the course of the next few months we try him out, and all is well then I am quite happy to stay there for future lunches. Is that agreeable to all of you?

However, if you fancy a change, or things do not work out at the Golf Club, then I am more than happy to look elsewhere.

I wait to hear from any of you that have any comment to make.

PATRICIA

a.k.a. Pat

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We had another successful O.M.A. Lunch at Brighton 40 of us booked in for lunch, which was a very good carvery at the Brighton & Hove Golf Club organized by Patricia, as usual. We met at Pat's' place in Henfield for coffee and of course the chat, then onto the Golf Club for our lunch. Again the sea view was enveloped by sea mist (what's new) although it didn't really bother us, we really didn't get together for that it was to catch up with old friends again - what better reason is there.

The gathering was mainly of us 'old faithful's, Tony Purser arrived by chance he had spoken to Brian Dacey the week before, good to see you again Tony, as always it was reminiscing with old racing buddies, Brian Dacey passing on tips on how to ride the Track, its good that Brian is so keen again and helping to bring the De Laune to the fore of results once more. Good Luck to Brian for The Masters in Manchester later in the season. Roy Savery stepped in as 'Chairman', Kay our Pres, was away on a walking holiday in France, plus a visit to another O.M. Clif Pendleton, who lives in the Savoie Region of France. (I'm sure Kay will be reporting on this). And our Chairman Mick was away also in Borneo! Roy hoped that he has returned complete - having been to Borneo! oGood to see Val & Tony Peachey, Tony had attempted to ride a 50 in the morning, but unfortunately punctured and was a D. N. F (sounds like Alan Rowe). Roy did a good job standing in for the absentees, as he said 'it was the rubbish cart after the wedding - not true Roy - you filled in very well. Thanks again... So another successful day - thanks to everyone who made the effort to come along I'm sure you all enjoyed the day, so here's to nest time - I think this will be in September - as usual. Until then, maybe we will see more of you at

Malc's BBQ at the end of July, try to be there, its a great day, and Linda promises the weather will be good…until then, have a good summer. We are off on holiday in June, and unfortunately will miss the AGM Our apologies, and also Maureen & Roy's too.

A successful season to all Racers.
Dot & Ken

Summer 25 Result

A still wet morning, another excellent smooth ride from Matt. Charlie's time was done without tribars on his road bike, Pete Jenn had riden the National 50 the evening before in a hail storm (time 2:9:51), and with only 2 hours sleep driven over night from North Yorkshire to get to the club 25.

That's almost like Gary Birch getting a plane to Gatwick and riding straight to the start!

Youth Development - Update 14th June 2001

With the youngest of our racing members now into their 20s, it's been clear for some time that steps need to be taken, preferably like yesterday, to get younger people riding. This is in fact a nationwide problem, which the BCF has recognised, and about 3 years ago they introduced a scheme called Improve, to try and bring this about.

They have issued guidelines to clubs to help them build up the infrastructure necessary to get regular training sessions going for groups of young people, and have worked out that in order to set up something that will last, it takes the good will and commitment of at least 8 people. There's a lot of sense in this, because in a youth scheme it's crucial for such sessions to take place EVERY week, and with duties spread over a smaller number of people it becomes more likely that volunteers' enthusiasm can flag, and less likely for the scheme to last.

In De Laune I've been able to find 4 people, including myself, to train as coaches. Myself, Alaric Lester and Alan Male attended a BCF Level 2 Club Coach training course in Feb/March, and Nick Sutcliffe will attend one in September or October. We plan to pool resources with those of the new club London Phoenix and start a feeder club, separately constituted, which will be called Herne Hill Youth CC. Hopefully other local clubs can become involved as well, as we hope it will benefit them all.

The plan is to give local children some training in off-road skills, and some tuition in riding and maintaining bikes in a traffic-free environment. Since most kids either ride mountain bikes or BMXes these days, we will be targeting these kids directly, and hopefully attract some new talent into the sport, who would otherwise probably be playing computer games or getting into trouble. We also want to create some scope for crossover into Track and Road cycling.

We have made plans to build a small off-road circuit on the land at the back of Herne Hill Track. This has been used for some off-road racing in the past, which had limited success, as the land is extremely bumpy, so it needs to be smoothed out a bit to make it faster, and more interesting for kids.

We have applied for funding from Southwark Leisure Grants Unit, and from Awards for All, which is a unit that combines the Lottery, English Heritage and Sport England. We got approval for funding from Southwark in March, for £1500 to go towards paying coaches fees, and last Friday (8th June) we heard from Awards for All, to say that we have got a further £3000 to spend on mountain bikes, funding for coaching courses and publicity for the new scheme.

We have negotiated with Fusion, who runs Herne Hill Stadium, to pay a contractor to build us a mountain bike course on the land at the back of the stadium, and we expect this work to go ahead during July. With any luck, the Herne Hill Youth CC will be up and running by the Summer Holidays. The idea is that its members will be aged 8-16, and at age 16 will be farmed out into local clubs, such as our own.

I've just heard that VCL are about to be given Improve status; this means that, together with Catford CC, they are afforded special benefits from the BCF. My hope is that the Herne Hill Youth CC will also get Improve status before long. We would like anyone with children in this age group to contact me (020 7735 9605) and find out about exactly when we are starting (in late July or early August). Also if anyone is interested in giving up some of their time - probably one Saturday morning in 4 - to help us, we'd be very grateful for your help.
Bill Wright

Report on De Laune CC Memorial Clubroom. 14th June 2001

Since the last general meeting we called to discuss the building's future, a working party has met several times to try and identify how the future of the Club can best be served by the retention, letting, or disposal of the Memorial Clubroom. The main questions have been:

• Where would we meet, were we to move out?

• How could we ensure the best possible return of income, were we to dispose of the building?

• Would it be in the best interests of the club, to leave behind this building, which is not just a memorial to club members who died in the Wars, but also a monument to what were probably some of the best years in the Club's history?

We have had a great deal of open discussion upon the options open to us, and although not everyone agrees that we should move, it is generally accepted that if we did, the best place to move to would be to Herne Hill Stadium. It wouldn't be a progressive step to move to a church hall or pub or even to a sports club - if we weren't to do any cycling at club meetings, so if they were our only alternatives, we may as well stay where we are.

The first, and most obvious reason to go to Herne Hill would be that we could actually do training, or even racing at Club meetings. It is clear that this would be a great draw for existing members to attend on Thursday nights, and would be very likely to attract new members too.

A visit to one of our Special General meetings last year from Neil Simpson, the Greater London Cycling Development Officer, told us that the great majority of the new BCF Improve Clubs meet at locations where cycling, rather than tea drinking, takes place.

Pete Harris and myself have had meetings with Fusion Leisure, who run Herne Hill for Southwark Council, to investigate the possibility of moving in there. Unfortunately there are other uncertainties about this - the lease at Herne Hill is up for renewal this year, and there have been some question marks over the continued funding of the centre by Southwark. Once this has been resolved, which we hope it will be in the next couple of months, we will have a clearer picture about whether we're in a position to move out.

In the meantime, we have had 2 unsolicited approaches from people who are interested in using our clubroom for the purposes of a nursery school.

The first is from someone who wants to set up a private kindergarten. She would prefer to have sole occupancy of the building, and could pay us quite well for this. In the future she would be interested in buying the building from us, if the school was a success. She would also like to use the storage yard next door as an outdoor play area. We have been in contact with the owners of the yard, who currently have a planning application outstanding to build a house on the site. Given the size and shape of the proposed building, their application doesn't have a high chance of success - however, we must wait for the outcome of this before we can proceed with any plans for the nursery.

The second is a similar enquiry for a day nursery, but this is a local one with charitable status. They don't need an outdoor area (although one would be nice), and they don't need sole occupancy. However they can't pay nearly as much as the other one.

We will continue to look at options to sell the building - however, since the future of Herne Hill has not yet been confirmed any options to move have been put on hold. We want everyone to be reassured that any proposal we put forward will go before at least one, if not two General meetings of the Club, in accordance with the rules, and that we will go as far as we can to ensure that the Club's assets are secured.

Once we have a little more information about the status of Herne Hill Stadium, we are planning to resume the Club Working Party meetings. These have been quite far-reaching discussions about what it is we actually want our Club to be, so we haven't just been talking about bricks and mortar issues. All are welcome, so if you would like to come along please get in touch with Pete Harris (020 8997 7852) or myself.
Bill Wright

" …lying doggo at the back".
d.duffield cliches no:5
Road race news

With the long summer evenings and Foot and Mouth restrictions being lifted in most areas there is plenty of racing to be had by all. Only the no-show, as yet, of the Tuesday night Crystal Palace crits stops you racing virtually every night of the week in South London (in my dreams!).

Your diary could look like this:

Monday - Herne Hill Monday Comp.
Tuesday - A local open '10'/ Crystal Palace / Hillingdon
Wednesday - Herne Hill Summer League / Beastway
Thursday -- Eastway (no, please, no… aaargh!) Supporters League
Friday - Try and repair your domestic life!
Saturday - Morning training at Herne Hill, or find a good solicitor depending on how well the previous day went.
Sunday - SERRL (on real roads, with real hills…at last) / Ciclos Unos Summer Series / Surrey League

The full SERRL calender is now up and running (see previous DLN for dates) on their proper circuits, so give me a ring if you want to enter any of the events. The club covers your entry……. I'm sure you all know the mantra by now!

There are also a couple of circuit races at Brands Hatch coming up. One will have been and gone by the time you read this, but the next one is on 10/7/01 @ 7.30pm, give me a ring for full details.

There have been plenty of good results coming in (see race diary below) so more power to your legs and keep them coming.

Eurosport
The major stage race season looked to be off to a spectacular start with the Giro d'Italia. Cipo's skin suit for the prologue was a bit of a laugh, check out www.cyclingnews.com for a picture, and then Belli attacked a spectator who later turned out to be (eventual winner) Simoni's nephew on one of the climbs after the nephew had verbally abused him. Dario Frigo's star was in the ascendant…. but then, how the mighty fall. Caught with two flasks of an untraceable and medically unavailable red blood cell/oxygen booster when the police raided the teams hotels and buses in San Remo. No wonder he kept saying he'd never tested positive, that's because they haven't got a test for what he had! It would seem that most of the other riders are/were all at it as well, so all eyes will be on France during July. Let's hope that the riders see sense because the buck will always stop with them. They are the ones who, together, can say yes or no.

Next up is the Tour of Cataluyna (21/6/01 onwards), so expect 'duffers' to be waxing lyrical about Spanish cuisine being washed down with gallons of Rioja. What a job, eh!

Race Diary (reports by B. Neville unless otherwise stated)

20/5/01 (SERRL) & 27/5/01 (?) Eastway (sob,sob,sob!)
I can't remember much about these! All Eastway races are blending into one long trial by boredom. The picture on our web site shows me pulling up the hill with everyone grimacing behind me. I assure you by the end the tables had been well and truly turned. I managed to steal 8th to get my first BCF point of the season. The second race is even more indistinct, I can't even remember who promoted it. Finished 9th - just out of the points.

23/5/01 Inter club hilly ITT, Cudham, 9 miles
I know this is a time trial but it appears that Christmas is coming early (see a previous DLN). I got within 33 seconds of God (better known to us mere mortals as Matt Goodes)! He got first and I was second. We were also well represented by Alan R. and Charlie C. I had a very pleasant ride back into town with Charlie, riding towards a beautiful sunset and chatting away - cheers mate!

3/6/01 SE Divisional Championship RR by James Peckham
Well my preparation was up to its usual standard, bed at 01:00 baby up twice during the night. Arrived at HQ, eventually, found it by following other lost cars, and was not sure whether to play it cool or ask Matt Stephens for his autograph, it was the last time I saw him.

The course consisted of 7 laps of the Smallfields circuit not particularly hilly and 4 laps Bletchingly as I was to find out VERY hilly, total race distance 90 miles. Rolled out at the front, doh, with Stuart Blunt and chatted at the front for 2-3 miles. Bunch started jumping around came back together, Stuart jumped Matt Stephens went + 3 - 4 others last I saw of them. The main bunch continued hurtling round at a fair rate, how they stayed away I don't know. Anyway groups of 2's and 3's managed to jump across. Every time I tried I failed and the next group would succeed, that is so annoying! After about 50 km at average 42 km/hr the pace eased back and the gap grew too the front group which was about 15 - 20 strong. About this point I lost my water bottle and realised I should have picked up a banana or 2 on the way to the race doh!!

With the gap to the front group at around 1 min tried one last time to get across and 3 of us clipped of the front, 5 miles later and a very strong head wind we rejoined the main group. 82km and Smallfields circuit ended and Bletchingly started, some bright spark pointed out we where just over halfway, nice. What could be called the main bunch was 30 or so strong.

First climb of the circuit everyone scrambling for the 39, phew survived that one, group about 20 - 25 strong. Next climb not quite so steep but still small ring, then another climb into Bletchingly, started really regretting my attempt at bridging gaps, just about clung on, group now down too 12-15 with me playing elastic band at the back. It was 5 flattish miles back to the start of the torture again, my brain arguing with my body the need for liquid and food, anyway started the first climb again and went straight out the back. Decided liquid was more important than 2.5 laps of this so rolled back to HQ. My average speed at this point 38.2 km/hr our group had lost 3 min to the leaders on one lap of Bletchingly, how fast where they going???

It has to be said you De Laune hill climbers would have done well (I know, I hang my head in shame about missing this one - RR sec.), 80 starters 29 finishes furthest back over 15 min. 3 Sigma boys clipped away and took overall, 1st Dave Berkley, 2nd Roy Chamberlain, 3rd (surprisingly) Matt Stephens, must have been a gift. Overall pretty happy with the way I rode for the first 100km, next year sleep, race food and liquid high on list of preparation, then maybe my endurance will last a little longer. James Lett will laugh I am usually giving him grief for all of the above. Next race for me is the ZipFit area champs, aim to get to the national finals with my form picking back up see no reason why not. See you in the Broom Wagon,

10/6/01 Surrey League, Lyne Circuit, 3/4/J/W by James Peckham
Welcome to my second race report for the month of June. After my adventure racing shoulder to shoulder, well more like grovelling in the wake, with ex-national champions I returned to my true level cat 3 / 4 Surrey league. The race 09:30 Sunday 10th June, the circuit Lyne, just North of Woking. The Lyne circuit is a pretty easy circuit, 2 short climbs evenly spaced make this, unfortunately a negative race. At the Cat 3 /4 level, race winning breaks rarely happen and a sprint is the norm. With this in mind I decided to attack at every opportunity, and attack I did.

The best chance came after 35km of racing, 6 of use drove off the front over the longer climb and the hammer went down. I think this was the first time I had really experienced a well organised through and off break at 45 - 50 km/hr. I was thinking there was no-way we would get pulled back, 2-3 managed to bridge and join us and for several miles the bunch hovered at 200-300 metres, surely we shall succeed. The group had representatives from all the larger teams, the bunch must give in soon. I look back, 2 Twickenham are driving the front, hang on??? There are 3 Twickenham in the group??? Nice tactics, at this point the steam started to go from the break, I try countering with a guy from BA its closed down, a sprint it shall be.

The last few laps a spent with several futile attacks and I hover around the front policing dangerous ones. Any strong boys go I jump across and work it, normally the wind defeats us. Last lap jockeying for sprint position begins. The finish is always dangerous here. A fairly narrow road with a lot of traffic leads through to a gentle uphill finish. If you do not stay in the top 6 forget it. Elbows and knees out swearing and cursing begin. I use the cars coming the other way as blockers and stay wide just sheltered waiting for the loon to go early and start the sprint. A Farnborough chap obliges, I am 4th in line perfect, one by on they die, the guy in front dies a little soon but I dig in and power towards the line. 30 m from the line, still out in front, 20 m a hear someone coming round me, damn just to strong, takes me 10m from the line, second.

17/6/01 SERRL Lamberhurst E/1/2/3/4/J/W 105kms (my computer said 111)
This was supposed to have been for 2/3/4 but on arrival at Bells Yew Green village hall we discovered the E/1 add-ons - bum! Overcast but dry we set off on 5 laps of a rolling/hilly 13 mile circuit. Damn, I need to go to the toilet. It immediately started to break up as the attacks came thick and fast. After 1.5 laps it had settled down into a lead group of 5, a group of 3 (inc. Matt) and then the bunch (inc. me) - I Really do need to go to the toilet! Mark Daly (T. Omega) attacked from the bunch so I and a Gemini rider jumped on his wheel and tried to get a pull up to Matt. Unfortunately Mark was too strong for us and left us as we crossed the line for lap 3. We were then stuck in no mans land 200m from Matt's group in front and the main bunch at about 500m behind. It stayed like this for about 5 energy sapping miles until the bunch finally pulled us back. No sooner had this happened than I jumped in with 3 others and we went straight into through and off mode - it worked. We sped away from the bunch and bore down on Matt's group, catching them after a few miles. Throughout lap 4 our 7 worked well together and the bunch seemed to lose interest in us as we moved further and further away from them. I really, really do need to go to the toilet.

As this was Matt's first long road race for over a year and a half he said he felt a bit cooked, so as I was psyched up for this race I asked him to attack with everything he had left at the foot of the climb up to the line in the hope of taking the sting out of the others. This he did in spades, as the others laboriously got onto his wheel I sat on the back 'doggo' and bided my time. Ivan Jordan (Wigmore) led out the sprint from about 70m but was countered by a VC Londres rider and myself. I just couldn't drag myself round him so had to settle for 2nd in the bunch sprint and 8th overall. Matt coasted in 12th.

By far most fluent and rewarding move I made was the one in which I leapt clean over a five bar gate in cycling shoes and found a very convenient bush. Aaaaah! A happy man at last. BCF points and fat Cubans all round.

17/6/01 Zipvit 3/4/J/W Nat. Champ. South Eastern Heat (by James Peckham)
Bearing in mind this was for national roads race final Keith (organiser) decided to run a knockout competition??? Groups of 10 for one lap, top 5 through. I won all my heats but shagged the semi and missed the final. Teddy firmly out the window!!!

All the format did was encourage negative racing.

19/6/01 Brands Hatch Criterium, E/1/2/3/4 (by Matt Goodes)
Hard and fast, still feeling knackered from Sunday but still managed to finish at the front of the bunch somewhere in the top 20.

There were also some of the Thursday evening TLI Eastway Supporters League races but I can't bring myself to attempt to relive them for you. Round and round and round and round. I think I now lean permanently to the left!!!!?

Keep your reports coming.

Avec travail d'equipe
Ben Neville
b.neville@lcp.linst.ac.uk or 020 8692 9918

Webmaster:

I have stumbled across a little gem here. Your web site is probably the most interesting and informative that I have so far made a hit on.

You may wonder why my enthusiasm is directed so freely at yourself? Please allow me to explain.

I was searching under De Laune for two reasons. Firstly, I work in an area of Walworth that shares many street names with the family names of your club's great heritage. You have mentioned the facts in your history page. Secondly, I am also in close contact with the Lynn Athletic Club in Wells Way, Camberwell.

The Lynn is a child of De Laune CC and was founded in 1892 after the Boxing section of the original De Laune Institute at 22 New Street felt that they needed extra room for the increasing numbers of boxers during that boom period. The Lynn has been in existence ever since. There are one or two older boxing clubs in the world but none that has been in continual existence for so long!

By sheer coincidence, the Lynn AC is holding a little party on Friday evening this week between 6.00 and 7.00 pm. The occasion is the launch of the Kid Gloves Boxing project. It would make a fitting gesture to the people of south-east London and an interesting chapter in both our great clubs' histories. I hope time can be made for the occasion.

Brian Saxton

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DISTRIBUTED BY BRIAN SAXTON

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