www.NorwoodParagon.co.uk Christmas 2009 Editorial This festive edition of Blah has a modest Christmas theme, mainly because it’s the fourth edition of the year and it’s out in late December! Our cover shows two of our riders, James and Angus, rowing across the sky and while they are from different sporting backgrounds they are now confirmed cyclists and have done pretty well in their first proper season by picking up club trophies and moving up the road race categories. Our riders are still active with some bravely competing in winter series road races and others out on club runs which are now in full swing. Do take a look at Marcus’s regular email updates detailing the numerous on and off road club runs. With the year almost done we can now think ahead to next years’ targets. Personally, I like a challenge and in recent years it’s been the London Marathon, The Three Peaks yacht race and last year the Transalp. For next year I’m musing over the channel swim or a 12 hour, decisions decisions! Our new club kit order will be here early in the new year and my question to all the racing members is who will take our first victory wearing the new club strip? Free tea & cake will be available to that rider at a subsequent club run. Happy Christmas and all the very best for New Year. Stephen Roach Newport Velodrome Track session Sunday 14th November 2010 12-3pm There’s nothing like a bit of forward planning and James Stuart has done this by booking Newport Velodrome for a private club track session next Autumn. The original plan was to book something this Winter, but with the seeming popularity of cycling the track was booked out to midsummer! This will be a great opportunity for you to ride on a world class 250m velodrome and see how easy or hard it is. We’ll book a coach to tutor us as necessary but also run some races / competitions. This could also be a great opportunity to go for a club track record, if you’re that way inclined. Have a look at the handbook and see what you could go for. We’ll let you know further details next year, but for now – get the date in your diaries. Mallorca training camp We shall be running our training camp again next March at Arenal to the east of Palma. The last few years have been a great success with fine weather and a solid week of riding that really got our riders started for the season. John Masters is www.NorwoodParagon.co.uk 2 Christmas 2009 co-ordinating participants for the camp, so please contact him to express an interest & he’ll let you know further details. Casual Wear We shall be buying a supply of short sleeved polo shirts in gold with the club motif emblazoned on the breast. Orders will be placed in time for next season and they will be great to wear post race, ideally for podium presentations. They will also be handy at our open promotions where officials, organisers & marshals alike can stand out from the crowd. Predicted cost for these shirts is £11 Club Subs 2009/10 Annual Subscription: C an you please make John Pocock’s job easier by sending your subs in to him asap. Senior First and Second Claim - £20.00 Social - £10.00 Juvenile / Junior £5.00 Cheques made payable to: Norwood Paragon CC Retirement Maurice Jefferies has been a member of the Paragon for over 50 years and made the long trip from Canada to attend our centenary dinner in 2004. He still has many friends in the club who would be interested in knowing that he has retired from International Commissairing. Maurice has spent 37 years as a UCI International Commissaire working at many World Championships, Regional Games and International events, both as a commissaire and an anti-doping inspector.. ________________________________________________________________ Racing Review 2009 The club has had a great year of racing with even more victories than in 2008 with over 80 podiums and 32 wins in races, competitions and team events throughout the year. This is a great achievement and underlines our strength in depth with 10 different riders claiming victories in 2009. Several riders have progressed up through the ranks with another strong finish to the year from the road racers. Following on from two successful training camps in Majorca the Paragon team has bonded well to work as a cohesive unit on the road helping ensure there is always a Paragon in the break or lining out the bunch for the sprint with Steve Calland in particular proving unbeatable on many occasions. Here are some of this year’s highlights across the disciplines: Road Racing st Steve Calland – South East Divisional Champion, winner of the Easter 3 Day with a 1 www.NorwoodParagon.co.uk 3 Christmas 2009 and 2 nd places in stages 2 & 3. Steve also won at Chertsey and in a 2/3 race on the Bletchingley circuit promoted by Addiscombe. Calland was 3 rd in Surrey League rankings and gained promotion to 1 st category. Steve also rode very strongly in the FBD Insurance Ras in the Surrey League team where he got a top twenty finish in one of the stages. Calland is also the Paragon 2009 Road Race Champion. James Stuart - won at Dunsfold Park (E/1/2) and Walliswood (3) this year on his way to gaining his 2 nd category. He also finished 3 rd in the Surrey League Handicap Champs and was 10 th in Surrey League rankings. Chris Moores – 4 wins and 4 podiums for elite rider Moores in the Imperial Winter Series where he finished 2 nd overall. Sadly a knee injury in March has put him out for the rest of the season. Angus MacAlister – another new member with a lot of power! MacAlister started the season with 2 wins in the Imperial Winter Series and has had 6 podium finishes throughout the year including an impressive 2 nd place to Alex Dowsett in the Finsbury Park E/1/2. MacAlister rounded off the year with 2 wins on consecutive days in the SERRL Winter Series which also gave him promotion to 1 st category. Marcus Brueton – several top 10 finishes for Marcus who regularly rode with Dave Kennett in a supporting role for various Paragons. Brueton got a win in the Imperial Series and rode the Ras de Cymru and Dengies Marsh where he finished just in the top 20. Nigel Carpenter – 1st place at Alfold (2/3) and a several top 10 finishes from the man who “wasn’t going to race this year. Mike Ladbrook – 1st place at Wivelsfield Green Handicap and some strong rides showing potential for next year. Paul McGuigan – 1st place at Hog Hill (4) in his first full season of road racing. There have been a lot of strong rides from various Paragons throughout the year with many riders like Dave K or Andy McKie sacrificing themselves in order to get club-mate on the podium. Likewise there have been some impressive supporting rides from Kevin Davey, Niall Pugin, Alex Mackmin, Russell Painter, Ben Moores and Jason Humphries. Norwood Paragon missed out on gaining a 5 th win at Crawley CC’s 2/3 RR at Rusper, but with MacAlister in the 2 man break they did get 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th and 6 th ! This is just a summary of what has been a very busy year on the road, which has seen the Paragon move up the rankings. In the Surrey League the club is the 3 rd highest ranked senior team and 3 rd team in the South East Regional Rankings. Time Trials Several new PBs were set this year by various Paragons with James Stuart and Steve Calland setting some fast times in 2009. Stuart – new PBs’ 10 21:02 and 25 – 57:05 with the latter placing him 12 th in the Robin Buchan Memorial. Stuart also won both the club evening TT series and the Circuit TT Championship. Calland won the Worthing Excelsior 10 on 2 nd July with a new PB of 20:36. Dan Sullivan was 37 th in the National Student 10 with a PB of 22:29. Marcus Brueton finally broke his PB of five years with a time of 21:54 in the Old Portlians Open 10 (G10/57). E Sussex CA Sporting 24m 2up - Calland rode in a composite team with Mark Clothier www.NorwoodParagon.co.uk 4 Christmas 2009 to finish 2 nd (55:22) SCCU Sporting 10 – 11 th Brueton (24:26) and fastest on a road bike, 3 rd Lady – Kaye Patton (30:17). Redhill sporting TT Feb – Stuart 10 th (44:31), Russell Painter 13 th (46:10) Paul James 21 st (47:34). Stuart, Brueton and Simon Hazeldine dominated the local TTs in which one of them always finished in the top 3 with just Ben Instone their main obstacle. The Paragon fielded 2 teams in the Surrey League 4up, however once again the A Team suffered mechanicals and could only manage 7 th place with the B Team in 8 th . Hill Climbs Catford – 13 th Ben 2:14, 20th James Stuart 2:18, 24 th Simon Warren 2:09, Phil Burgess 2:31 – Paragon team 3 rd. Bec – 16 th Simon Warren 2:11, 22 nd Ben Moores 2:14, 28 th James Stuart 2:16, Phil Burgess 2:42 – Paragon team 3 rd .