24/11 The annual Witham Wheelers Dinner and Prize Presentation took place at Belton Golf Club with over 90 members and guests attending. Special Guest of honour was Barry Hoban and his wife Helen. Barry is a winner of 8 stages of the Tour de France back in the 1970s and he regaled us with stories of how he started as a club cyclist in the UK before going on to have such a successful career as a professional on the continent, long before the advent of Team Sky.
Following his talk Barry helped present the prizes to the winners of this years club trophies with the committee awards going to: Touring Achievement – Bill Harrison, Most Improved Rider – Reece Egner, Merit Trophy – Tony Hardenberg, Young Personality – Adam Egner, Club person of the Year (voted for on the evening) – Janet East.
The evening was rounded off by the usual raffle, with some great prizes this year, including Cycling clothing and a 2012 Olympic issue kit bag donated by club life member and now top Sky Team coach Rod Ellingworth, clothing and nutrition products from the Metaltek Scott professional racing team and a signed picture of Sean Kelly donated by Mike Breckon.
A great evening was had by all, rounding off a very sucessful year for the club that has seen a significant increase in membership across all ages and levels of ability. On the racing front standards have improved all round with members performing well and not just at local level but also nationally. Attendance on club rides also continues to rise with many members just enjoying the social aspect as well as getting fit.
Next year we look forward to more of the same with hopefully some better weather!
Don’t forget the AGM next Tuesday evening 7.00pm at the Cricket Club on Gorse lane.
Photo back row, from left Tony Hardenberg, Martin Hedley, Sean East, Trevor White, Louise George, Barry Hoban, Karl Baillie, Patrick Cutmore, Reece Egner, Peter Cocker, John Farmer, Adam Egner.
Front Row, Eleanor Crawford, Jessica East, Kerrigan Robb
