Annual Prize Giving 2016

West Suffolk Wheelers & Triathlon Club held its annual awards presentation for 2015 at Risby village hall on Saturday afternoon. Club chairman Neville Pettit thanked all who had contributed to the continued success of the club, which has seen yet another increase in club membership across all age groups, and congratulated all club prize winners for their hard efforts and determination.

Time Trial Records

Of the many awards presented by Club President Don Picking, special mention goes to four of the winners. In the 25 mile team time trial, the trio of Darren Davis, Paul Vickers and Karl Procter smashed the existing club record. Their combined time of 2 hours 42:54 took an extraordinary 6minutes 25s off the previous club record. The club’s 10 mile team time trial record was also broken, this time Darren Davis and Paul Vickers were joined by Dale Sturman whose combined time of 1:04:29 was over 1 minute quicker than the previous record.

In her 1st year of competitive triathlon for the club, Laura Brown won the Novices Cup (awarded for best rider in 1st year of competitions) whilst also in her debut year of competition, cyclist and time triallist Zoila Gilham-Fernandez, in between training for the epic Race Across America with three club mates in June 2016, was crowned winner in no less than 3 categories.

First up was the Quantrill Cup (for fastest women’s 10 mile time trial time), then came Ladies TT Champion (best club woman time triallist), and the Millennium Trophy (highest placed woman in the Points Category).

Supporting the Air Ambulance

Following on from the most successful club reliability ride to date on the 7th February, when over 160 cyclist took part in the club’s annual Suffolk Punch event, the club was also very pleased for the opportunity to present to the East Anglian Air Ambulance, the club’s chosen charity, a cheque raised from donations made that day. Club President Don Picking presented £500.00 to the Air Ambulance’s Peter Down and thanked the charity for its hard work and superb achievements. Accepting the donation, Peter thanked the generosity of club members and said the donation was gratefully received, and would allow one hour of air ambulance flying time, and, just as importantly, represented a life saved.

Honorary Life Membership

One final, and very special award, was the presentation of Honorary Life Club Membership to 94 year old Cockfield resident and World War II Bomber Command veteran Norman Gregory in recognition of his cycling achievements which until very recently included cycling 100 miles a week. Norman was recently recognised by the French Government, which awarded him the Legion d’Honneur for his exploits as an Avro Lancaster bomb aimer in WWII. His last war time mission was over Dortmund in May 1944, when his Lancaster was shot down. 5 of Norman’s crew mates perished, whilst he ended the war in a prisoner of war camp.

Full List of Winners: