Geoff Wiles with Harry Tozer

This year's annual club dinner and awards presentation was held on Saturday 2 November at The Farmers in Yaxley .  

Our guest speaker for the evening was Geoff Wiles, a former professional racing cyclist who had many tales to tell about his days of international competition. 

Geoff described taking part in “Peace” races in Poland and tours in other European countries when he was still a teenager. Turning professional meant stepping up to a stiffer level of competition; he found himself racing against none other than the legendary Eddy Mercx. Getting past Mercx was always difficult. Geoff described managing to do it once on a very tricky descent. Geoff was “helped” in this by not being able to brake - a shortage of parts had left him with the wrong brake pads fitted to his bike! Geoff was a proud member of the famous Holdsworth cycle team (he still has his kit bag to prove it!). In 1976 we won the national road racing championship. He went onto organise cycling and other races and helped form BMX in Britain. He also ran a cycle shop in Strood, Kent. In recent years, he has competed for Great Britain in world masters cycling events, and coached a regional cycle racing team (Abellio SFA Racing Team).

Geoff was a great speaker for the evening and we are very grateful to him for coming to see us.

Geoff with Lindsay Clarke...         and Chris Shaw

Prize winners on the evening: David Hallam, Lindsay Clarke, Ian Waddilove, Simon Pitchford, Birgit Scott, Harry Tozer, Chris Shaw. (Pictures: Geoff Stanbridge)

(More pictures can be seen on the club Facebook page)