I’ll apologise at the outset to anyone who I should’ve insulted, but haven’t; so to anyone who feels that they deserved insulting… better luck next year!
Big thanks to Mick Copper for organising a very successful event. And also to his team of gastronomes for assisting him in choosing the venue - the setting was excellent, the lamb was cooked to perfection and you can’t beat a couple of pints of well kept ‘Sheps’.
Thanks also to our Chairwoman Pat Baxter, who certainly had to work for her supper. Pat demonstrated great prowess at her task, moving seamlessly from MC, to trophy presenter, to raffle ticket seller (until the lovely McCall sisters stepped in to assist). There was only a fleeting lapse in Pat’s professionalism (possibly due to the excellent cabernet), when she queried what function she was at… hey ho, if I hadn’t mentioned it no one would have noticed… sorry Pat!
The trophy winners were rewarded with a glittering display of silverware; so thanks also to Christine (taking time out from her usual duties of roving reporter) and Andy (who won most of the trophies anyway), for coordinating the presentation.
Your humble sketch writer missed most of the gossip since he was stationed in the ‘quarantine’ area. Nevertheless, a few observations:
Simon looked a bit perplexed as he received the Glen Nichols Handicap trophy – no Simon ITS DEFINITELY NOT A NEW TYPE OF TRI BAR!
Strewth, Jason looked fit though; when asked he denied doing much in the way of winter training, which roughly translated means that he’s been caning it and we can expect the winner of the ‘10’ competition to have another good season.
And talking about training, Steve Quincy went to great lengths (sic) explaining why he couldn’t train on a turbo for more than 20 minutes or so without a “tea break” (well, a sort of tea break). This definitely fell into the category of ‘too much information’ though, causing Jenny considerable distress… indeed, I was puckering up in readiness to administer the kiss of life at one point, but our Hon. Sec was in the way.
Malcolm Adams regaled us with details of his new bike; evidently the cranks are playing him up. He needs to get this sorted soonest, since word is that he’s entering the 12 this year. And on the subject of ‘nutters’ evidently our Hon. Sec is threatening to ride the 12 as well.
Seriously though, this successful and enjoyable event is an example of the opportunities to enjoy the social element that comes with TRC membership. On this theme, Ken Larwood has produced a DVD with pictorial evidence of various TRC reprobates laced with alcohol and/or suffering from sunstroke throughout Europe. It includes our boys plus a few brave wives at the Tour De France, Tour of Britain, Ron, Frank and Dave’s Birthday rides, the Ghent 6 day, De Panne 3 day and the Dunkerque 4 day. Well worth a look, so contact either Ken or Graham O to borrow a copy.
Finally, and sorry to end on a sombre note, but sadly illness prevented our President Dave Saffery from attending this years dinner… it wasn’t the same without you Dave!
Dave celebrating his 79th birthday.
