Club Awards: The Winners from 2022
The Club Awards is our annual look back at the previous year to celebrate the amazing achievements amongst of our members. It covers all disciplines across the club (no gravel just yet though…) and recognises members who go above and beyond to make the club what it is. Big thanks to Caroline for organising the event and Sam who presented prizes; it was another great evening of pizza and prizes at The Norbiton pub.
Time Trial
Our first set of awards celebrates our members racing against the clock across various distances and formats.
The first award recognises the fastest Wheelers at the Gil Jessop Memorial Sporting 14. The Men’s Course Champion was Judah Rand who came second overall in the event, with a new personal best and very fast time of 30:51. The Junior Course Champion went to Owain Williams who exceeded 20mph average for the race (20.323mph), well deserved as he progressed to the Junior category this year.
The TT Short Course Champion recognises the fastest Wheeler over 2×10 mile and 2×25 mile events. This went to Adam Bidwell who rode two sub-20 minute ten mile TTs at 30.025mph and 31.061mph, and 29.6mph and 30.05mph for the 25 mile events.
The Club 2 Up TT went to the mighty pairing of Dominic Jackson and Judah Rand. The dream team match up of Judah and Dom, didn’t disappoint. It was the only 2-up in TT memory where one rider set off without their partner, having got impatient waiting for them. Despite having nearly a minute deficit on Judah, Dom was able to catch him within the first mile and continue the race as if it was a team effort
Hill Climb
The Hill Climb awards are awarded to the highest placed finishers at the John Bornhoft Memorial Hill Climb, which takes place on Leith Hill every September.
On her return to wearing the Kingston Wheelers kit for time trialling, Alice Lethbridge was crowned Women’s Champion with a speedy time of 04:25.8 and 4th overall. Luke Lynch became Men’s Champion, clocking 3:53.7 and 5th overall in what we hear was his first TT.
Road Racing
The Club Champs took place at Hillingdon end of last year and we celebrated the winners from each race. In the Go Ride (warm-up race) Alessandra Scaduto won the women’s race and Owain Williams won the men’s event. In the main event Enrique Gomez won the bunch sprint to be crowned Men’s Champion and Moira Brailsford once again took the victory for the second time in a row to be crowned Women’s Champion.
The Road Points Champion is awarded to the person who has scored the most British Cycling points during the season, with Dom Jackson clocking up 248 points as the men’s winner and Heather O’Mahoney totalling 46 points as the women’s winner.
The final category is for the most improved road rider, which celebrates members who have made a significant improvement over the course of a season. Women’s winner María Almánzar only got a bike in March last year and immediately threw herself into racing with the CX Summercross series at Herne Hill and various races across the winter. This culminated in racing the LCCA Team Champs in Ardingly. The men’s winner James Turner joined the club in 2021 to take his cycling to the next level. He’s been racing regularly on Zwift and got stuck into racing IRL at the Skills Day and Club Champs.
Cyclo-Cross
In the CX we celebrated the winners of highest points accumulated in the year. Declan Egan was the men’s winner, with a ranking of 35th – the highest we’ve had up to now. And Alex Joss won the women’s award with some strong performances throughout the season.
Audax
Our audax awards celebrate the members who accumulate the most points with Audax UK over the course of a year. David Wong was the men’s winner with 57 points and Sarah Perkins won the women’s award with 30 points.
The Kingston Wheelers Audax Chapter (KWAC) also presented a special award to Wheelers who have completed a Super Randonneur Series, riding a 200, 300, 400, 600 and/or 1000km event during a season. Recipients of this prize were David Cowie, Marco Fabiani, Javier Gonzales and Peter Lee.
Track
Winner of highest points accumulated in the year.
Junior rider Owain Williams took the men’s award after a solid season the track where he raced the Kingston and Twickenham Open Seasons, the National Youth Omnium at Herne Hill Velodrome, and the Hillingdon Slipstreamers Track Championships. And to top it off, he also achieved his indoor track accreditation at Lee Valley Velodrome.
Heather O’Mahoney won the women’s award after lighting up track league and women’s league all season and took three podiums at the Kingston Wheelers Open Season with a 3rd place in the Devil, 2nd in the Unknown Distance and 2nd in the Points Race.
Committee
Our Club Chair Tim Lawn awarded the Committee Member of the Year to Dave Spragg. He has been responsible for advocating CX racing within the club and launching our Wheelers CX race, as well as many years of sage advice and humour on the committee. Also special mention and huge thanks to Olly who has moved away to Sevenoaks and helped organise the Skills Day last year.
Club Prizes
The final round of prizes were nominated by our membership.
Outstanding Achievement on a Bike was awarded to Robert Pirow for his ride at the Silk Road Mountain Race. With perilous river crossings and bridges resembling something from an Indiana Jones film, he completed this single stage unsupported bikepacking race covering 1,863km and over 34,000 metres of climbing through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.
Most Valuable Contribution to the Club was awarded to Richard Evans for all his work on the Kingston Wheelers Audax Chapter. Richard has been instrumental in building up the club’s audax scene and the many events that we now run as a club, which have generated a large amount for charity. He gives a huge amount back to the club and the wider community, and you’ll struggle to meet a nicer guy.
Volunteer of the year went to Harry Bunnell for his work on social media, website content and building the monthly newsletter. He’s also forged links with organisations like Kingston Uni and launched the Ride for 75 fundraiser for Kingston Hospital – and he still finds time to ride a bike, work and be a dad too.
Well done to all the winners and here’s to a great year of riding in 2023.
