News
10/11/11: 'Kool Kids Wear Lids’ campaign keeping young cyclists safe
Gwent Police is peddling a safety campaign to encourage more children to wear helmets when riding their bicycles. Neighbourhood Policing Teams in Monmouthshire are awarding a high-visibility bike sticker to every child they see wearing a bike helmet. Children seen riding a bike without a helmet are stopped by officers and PCSOs and given advice on the safety benefits of wearing a helmet. A follow-up letter reinforcing this advice is then delivered to their parents.
The ‘Kool Kids Wear Lids’ campaign was launched in August and has the support of Welsh Cycling, the Monmouthshire Road Safety Forum and the Accident and Emergency Departments of the Aneurin Bevan Health Board. In the first six weeks of the campaign (22nd August – 3rd October), 204 children aged up to 12 years were approached by officers. Of those stopped, 122 were wearing helmets and awarded luminous sticker badges containing the words “Kool Kids Wear Lids”.
Inspector Geoff Smith, of Monmouthshire Local Policing Unit, said: “The feedback we have received from the parents of children we have stopped is favourable. “It is encouraging that more than a fifth (17) of the youngsters approached when riding without a helmet have later been spotted wearing lids after being given advice from local officers. “We want to inform youngsters in the area that bike helmets are not uncool – they are essential pieces of safety equipment that can save lives. “We will continue to work hard alongside our road safety partners to encourage more young cyclists to wear helmets and reduce the amount of serious cycling injuries in Monmouthshire.”
Dr Jo Probert, Consultant in Adult and Paediatric Emergency Medicine at the Royal Gwent Hospital, said: “Many children attend our Emergency Department with head and face injuries as a result of cycling accidents, especially over the school holidays. “Unfortunately some of these injuries are potentially serious and require x-rays or scans and admission to hospital. A few even require surgery. “Evidence suggests that the number of head injuries is significantly reduced and serious brain injury may be avoided if a cycle helmet is worn. “We fully support Gwent Police and Monmouthshire Road Safety Forum in encouraging both parents and children to wear helmets whilst cycling both on and off roads.”
Ian Jenkins, Director of Cycling Development at Welsh Cycling, said: "I've seen many accidents which could have been serious if the cyclists involved had not been wearing helmets. "Helmets are pretty cool, well-designed and desirable to wear - our stars like Geraint Thomas and Becky James always wear them. “You can pick up a colourful and fashionable helmet for under £20 so there is no excuse not to have one.”
29/09/11: Club success in Ras na mBan 5 day stage race
The Ras na mBan is a hilly and mountainous 5 day stage race for women held around the Ring of Kerry in the Irish Republic. It was decided back in May that Abergavenny Road Club would send a team to compete in this prestigious race from the 14th to the 18th of Sept. With one of our squad, Lauren Creamer being picked for the Irish National squad and another riding the world champs paraplegic road race in Denmark it was necessary for the team to make up its strength with a couple of guests. Fortunately we were able to recruit two excellent riders in Corrine Hall Corridor Cycles and Rachel Bamford Dirt Wheels to help us out and what crucial choices they were to become.
So the team of Lowri Bunn, Amy Hill, Corrine Hall and Rachel Bamford set off over a stormy Irish sea to Rosslare and then to Kerry. Sarah flying in from Europe having ridden the Ardesch stage race. So with a day to spare we took a look at a couple of what we thought would be important stages. After a morning ride around the circuit for stage 4 we set of to look at the 1st stage with its 10km climb to Molls Gap followed by a fast decent to the finish. Then to stage 3 Healy Pass with 3 major steep climbs with highly technical decents that would tax the riders skills to the upmost.
So to the first stage with a flat ride into Kenmare the climb of Molls Gap began with Olivia Dillion the first to put the pressure on. No real attacks but the pace was enough to split the field on the climb with Rachel keeping the pressure up the last km. But it was Lowri who was 1st Abergavenny rider over the top in 5th place with a group of 20 riders. These riders were not to be caught except for Rachel who developed a bike problem which relegated her to the second group which she led in 3 mins down. So it was a downhill gallop with Lowri 4th, Corrine 9th, Sarah 17th. Rachel 21st and Amy 43rd. A confident start and we were in 2nd place in the team competition.
Onto stage 2; a 56 mile stage from Waterville to Waterville via Valentia Island with two climbs on the way.The first climb reduced the field down but there waited a climb with a sting in the tail on Valentia Island and this is where Olivia Dillion made her move. However, she was marked by 4 other riders including Sarah Byrne and the five riders were away. With the break made up of riders from the main contenders no one was prepared to chase and the leading group had nearly 4 mins on the second group at the finish with Lowri, Rachel and Corrine safely tucked away in the following group. On GC Sarah was now 5th with Lowri 9th, Corrine 11th, Rachel 16th and Amy 45th but now the getting stronger every day and leading the Junior competion. The team still in second place on GC.
Then onto the 3rd stage which many thought would be the key to the whole 5 days and which turned out to be just that. The field rolled out of Kenmare onto the rolling roads of the Cahar Pennisular. The first climb split the field into half but it was the vicious climb of Healy Pass and the attacks that reduced the leaders down to just over 12 riders. It was Linda Ringlever closely followed by Olivia Dylan and Rachel Bamford who were the first three over the top and then it was the bravest on a twisty hazardous descent with numerous hairpins over single track roads that would make up the most time. With Sarah, Corrine and Lowri in close attendance the descent was the turning point for Abergavenny RC. Corrine with her excellent descending skills chased and caught Sarah and safely led her down the mountain at a mercurial pace and with great skill. So it was the lead group of 6 riders containing Sarah and Corrine that raced along the coast road to the final climb of the day. The 2nd group of 12 riders containing Rachel and Lowri were the only group that could be called a main field with the rest of the race following along in even smaller groups. The lead group now started the last long climb back to Kenmare. Possibly the hardest longest climb of the day over 10 kms long. Here Olivia Dillion showed her class as a professional rider by riding away from the group on the climb and maintaining her advantage on the long descent to finish in Kenmare with a 2 mins advantage on the chasing group. The remains of the group with Rachel and Lowri hit the final climb with a series of attacks by riders who attempted to bridge the gap. Each time Rachel showed her climbing ability by going to the front and keeping the pace just high enough to stop any further attacks. So this group finished 5 mins down on the leader and 3 mins down on the next group. With Sarah and Corrine 5th and 6th on GC and Lowri 8th the team now led the team competition by 1min and 5 secs.
Stage 4 was a the first and only circuit race with 4 laps of 10 miles circuit. All the major players were begining to feel the previous days long stage and there was little in the way of attacks. Amy continued to place more time into the other Juniors but the major players of 20 swept down to the finish in Sneeem with Lowri Bunn taking 4th and the the other 3rd safely in the bunch all with the same time.
The afternoon 3km downhill TT did nothing to change the overall with Corrine our best rider in 5th, Rachel 7th, Lowri 11th, Sarah 15th and Amy 17th.
No change then as the race went into the final and longest day. With 2 major climbs as the race was an out and back to Waterville. A few attacks by riders down the GC on the first climb saw a few riders streaming of the front. When the bunch had the attacks under control Abergavenny’s Lauren Creamer riding for the Irish National Squad found that she still had a useful lead and so joined by Lowri Bunn the pair helped by a now lethargic bunch managed to slip away. It wasn't to last however as the race approached the half way mark and the gap had crept out to 4 mins the Irish Team saw the threat and with the help of Womenscycling Ireland team began to chase. With Lauren no longer working the pair were caught on the final climb before the descent to Sneem. The chase had by now split the bunch into a lead group of 19 riders. With all the Abergavenny’s top 4 safely in the group. That was the way it finished with no time lost by the team with Lowri our best finisher in 10th and our best Queen of the Mountains Rider on the day.
Final GC result for the team. 1st Team. Despite the combined efforts of the Irish Team and Womenscycling Ireland to make it otherwise. By 1min and 5 secs.
- 5th Sarah Byrne
- 6th Corrine Hall
- 10th Lowri Bunn
- 16th Rachel Bamford
- 39th Amy Hill our first year Junior and winner of the Junior prize.
- Queen of the Mountains Competition: Lowri Bunn
Individual Stage Prizes:
- Stage 1 Lowri Bunn 4th
- Stage 2 Sarah Byrne 5th
- Stage 3 Corrine Hall 4th
- Stage 3 Sarah Byrne 6th
- Stage 4 Lowri Bunn 4th
- Stage 6 QOH Prime Lowri Bunn 1st
Team lineup for Ras Na Mban: Racheal Bamford, Corrine Hall, Lowri Bunn, Sarah Byrne & Amy Hill
01/08/11: Another win for Abergavenny RC in Women's Series
A field of 41 riders (of 52 entries) lined up on a warm and muggy afternoon in Usk to compete for the latest round of the Team Series over 55 miles on a course based on the early season handicap races between Raglan and Mitchel Troy in Gwent.
After an early flurry of attacks as the race entered the main 10 mile circuit for the day, keeping the race speed – initially at least – quite high, with the pressure seeing riders regularly dropped from the peleton until a core group of around 30 remained.
The award for aggressor of the day had to go to, new Abergavenny RC team member, Sarah Byrne after her solo attack towards the middle of lap 3 saw her gain an advantage of nearly two minutes at one point and it took the combined efforts of VioRed and Motorpoint to eventually bring her back going into the last lap.
Having had a team mate up the road for such a long period clear swung the advantage of the race towards the Abergavenny riders and Lauren Creamer backed up her excellent win at the Tywyn Criteriums the previous day with another display of strength on the finish climb to win by a clear 5 or 6 bike lengths at the line.
The finish was unfortunately marred by a heavy crash in the middle of the bunch at 750m to go on the finishing climb, with three riders being ambulanced to hospital and the ‘walking wounded’ at the HQ afterwards resembling something of a scene from M.A.S.H.!! Fortunately all were discharged from hospital last night with injuries including a couple of broken collar bones and one fractured cheek/eye socket, but in the main the usual cuts, bruises and abrasions. The race organisation would like to wish all riders hurt in the incident a swift recovery and return to racing.
Lauren Creamer kicks hard up the finishing climb of the Usk National Women's Team Race Series
24/07/11: Maiden win for Bunn in Women's Series
Lowri Bunn has won the Naseby round of the National Women's Team Race Series - her first road race victory. Full report here.
Lowri Bunn at the Naseby National Women's Team Race Series - photo from British Cycling
16/07/11: Ffion James National MTB Champion
Ffion James has become the 2011 National Juvenile Female MTB Champion while competing in Aske, Richmond, N.Yorkshire. She won the one-lap juvenile women's race by 42 seconds from Stirling BC's Erika Allen. Welsh cycling report here.
12/10/10: New women's team announced
Abergavenny RC has recently acquired sponsorship funding for two years to support a women's road race team. The aspiration is to create a centre of excellence for women's road racing at the highest level in Wales, the UK and further afield. We are looking for a mixture of experienced established riders and younger riders who show potential. Riders will need to be committed and team players.
If you wish to declare an interest or apply to be part of the team, please email Terry Williamson at Terence@williamson12.wanadoo.co.uk.
Riders who form the team will receive financial assistance towards their racing expenses. The Club would appreciate that those riders who wish to show an interest do so by early December.
Crystal Lane, Lauren Creamer, Sarah Kennedy & Lowri Bunn
07/10/10: Silver for Becky James
Abergavenny rider Becky James has taken the silver medal in the women's sprint at the Commonwealth Games, adding to the bronze she won in the 500m time-trial. For full reports see:
BBC Commonwealth Games 2010 coverage 1
BBC Commonwealth Games 2010 coverage 2
Cycling Weekly news
Becky James (with club sponsor Nick Lane) displays her Commonwealth Games silver medal
07/03/10: Reliability Trial
Fifteen riders turned up for the annual 60m Reliability Trial run off in some of the finest weather seen this year. The steady pace to Talgarth was only interrupted by Mark Prosser dropping his shopping bag and Neil Cox's decision to follow a group of strangers on a jaunt to Hereford. Along the way one rider disappeared and is still MIA.
The climb of Pengenffordd saw a group of 6 clip away. However, their effort was sadly in vain - no tea or cakes awaited the return of our heroes.
28/01/10: Annual General Meeting announced
The Club's Annual General Meeting will take place on Thursday 18th February at the St. Michael's Centre, Pen-y-pound, Abergavenny, starting at 7.30pm. If you have any items of used cycling equipment that you no longer want and are keen to sell (or even give away!), why not bring them along to the AGM to sell to other Club members. The sale starts at 7pm.
14/08/09: Becky James double World track champion
Club member Becky James has surpassed her European success by becoming double World track champion in the Junior Female Sprint and Keirin events. Becky also broke the world record for the Sprint in her qualifying round. Fantastic!
Full report is on the BC website.
17/07/09: Becky James double European track champion
Qualifying: The first event of the morning was the Junior Female sprint and Welsh rider Rebecca James was the only British rider in this event. Rebecca went off in heat 11 and when she took to the track she was looking to beat the time set by the Russian rider Ekaterina Gnideka who had posted a time of 11.836.
Becky looked good though and as she went into her flying effort, the rider who had impressed so much in Cottbus (Germany) recently at a competition there, came round to post a time of 11.584 beating her previous best of 11.62. With five competitors still to go, she was sure of qualification into the first round but wasn’t sure of where she would be seeded. By the time the other riders finished Becky had qualified fastest with Gnideka the second placed rider.
1st Rebecca James, GBR, 11.584
2nd E. Gnideka, RUS, 11.836
3rd L. Berthon, FRA, 11.968
4th O. Montaubon, FRA, 11.977
5th O. Khudenko, RUS, 12.187
1st Round: With Becky qualifying fastest and twelve riders going through, this meant that she would meet the twelfth placed rider in the first round. This was the Polish rider Drejgier who qualified in a time of 12.640. Having looked closely at the shape of the track with her coaches, Becky chose to lead the sprint out and although Drejgier pulled level in the back straight and into turn three, the Polish girl didn’t have enough in the legs to carry that on as Becky pressed harder on the pedals and pulled away to win round one.
Quarter Finals: Charlotte Arndt (Germany) was the next competitor that Becky met in her heat during the evening session. As we had reached the quarter final stage, the sprint matches were the best of three. Arndt had qualified in a time of 12.336 but this wasn’t good enough to beat the impressive James who won 2-0 to move on to the semi finals tomorrow (Thursday).
After qualifying so well the day before and making the finals in straight rides, Becky continued her great progress to the Gold medal in the Junior Women’s Sprint competition by beating her rival in the semi final 2:0.
It was the same again in the Gold medal ride off when Becky came up against the third fastest qualifier, Berthon of France, and demolished her challenge as well to show Europe she is a major challenger in the sprint event in years to come and certainly a rider who has been showing for a few years now that she is one of those special athletes that come along now and then showing huge potential for the future.
(report from BC website)
Update: Becky has won her second Gold of the Championships - the 500m TT - in 35.286 secs. According to BC track records that's a National Comp Record by a massive 0.428 seconds and only a fraction outside the World Record!
26/06/09: 10m time-trial club championship result
Tim Rose is our 2009 10m time-trial club champion. This adds to his 25m victory two weeks ago. Full results below:
10m TT club championships results
11/06/09: 25m time-trial club championship result
Tim Rose is our 2009 25m time-trial club champion. A warm, dry evening with a slight westerly breeze saw him complete the course in an impressive 56mins 50secs. Full results below:
25m TT club championships results
24/05/09: Abergavenny RC Go-Race 'Tank Challenge' Round 1
The opening round of Abergavenny RC's 'Tank Challenge' successfully ran under blue skies and the watchful gaze of soldiers from the OC Art Combat recruiting team!
Riders from each age group competed on a number of dedicated and challenging circuits, created by hand from the military ground by the recruitment team.
First up saw a combined Under 16 and 14's category, mixing young riders from local clubs and new riders from schools keen to give cross country a try.
The pace erupted from the start, with William Worrell (Towy Riders), Sam Anstice (Newport Velo) and Jack Llewellyn (M&D Cycles) setting a relentless pace, sprinting through the finishing arena at the end of lap one, having strung out the field behind. Such was the attacking pace, Llewellyn dropped back on lap two with the other two continuing to fight for the lead on the narrow, technical trails.
By the penultimate lap it looked as though a sprint finish was on the cards, until a flying Worrell cross the line having 'hung it out' on the descent to create a short lead.
Anstice used his considerable fitness honed on the National Velodrome in Newport to chase, but by the line could not make up the gap and settled for second. The younger Anstice brother, Joe, claimed a deserved third place after a steady start, pacing himself in the hot conditions.
Adam King (Maindy Flyers) had a remarkable result in the Under 14 boys category, crossing the line in third overall amongst the older Under 16 competitors. King's slight build suited to the circuit with a long gravel climb benefiting those quick on the ascents, and able to cope with the technical descents that followed. Carwyn Davies (Towy Riders) proved almost as impressive, finishing just behind King and beating many of the older riders. Sam Beckingsale (Abergavenny RC) claimed a deserved third, having recently made the jump from Under 12's racing.
Sole female entrant was Sophie Burkitt (Cwmcarn Paragon), undaunted by competing with the boys who made a fantastic effort to complete the distance and finish ahead of a number of boys.
In the Under 12's category Ffion James (Abergavenny RC) showed a clean pair of heels to the field, opening a gap on the first challenging lap which she extended through to the finish. Ffion used her considerable descending talent to hold the gaps opened on the short but steep climb these riders faced each lap. Namesake Ffion Llewelyn (Maindy Flyers) grinned the whole way to a deserved second, finishing mid way through the pack.
Second in at the finish proved to be James club mate Nathan Ford, who overcame a start position behind the Under 12's to work through the field and win his category in a last gasp effort, passing the older riders. 'Fordie' took the position from Under 12 boys winner Ben Beckingsale, and Under 10 girls victor Megan James. Both Beckingsale and James were dominant in their categories with Rhodri Davies (Towy Riders) and Nathan Llewellyn (Maindy Flyers) completing the Under 12 boys podium. Ella Doheny chased her club mate Megan home to runner up spot in the Under 10 girls, whilst Joe Beckingsale and Ieuan Best rounded out the Under 10's podium, excelling themselves by finishing half way up the mixed field.
As with the under 12's, the under 8's saw Abergavenny RC well placed through the results with Huw Higgins Worrell taking a clear win from Andrew Wheatley (Halesowen CC & C), who in turn rode a strong race and held off Llewellyn Price for third.
Elynor Backsteadt (Maindy Flyers) proved her bike handling skills easily transferred from the cycle Track to Mountain Biking, winning the girls category from another Track regular, Kitty McHugh (Newport Velo).
Riders were kept entertained between events with the army recruitment climbing wall to try and finished their races under observation of a resident tank! The club would like to thank the recruitment team for allowing use of the land, and look forward to returning to the venue on Sunday June 7th for round two of the 'Tank Challenge'!
02/05/09: New Kit Launch
A few of the 100+ members of Abergavenny RC, along with club sponsors, pose outside Gateway Cycles for the official launch of the new kit
Saturday 2nd May saw the official launch of the new Abergavenny RC kit at Gateway Cycles. The striking red and white design was eagerly anticipated and many thanks go to Ioan James for collecting the order from the distributor and to Steve Thomas for sorting the pre-orders. For those who did not pre-order, Gateway Cycles carries a small quantity of stock. However, we anticipate placing another follow-up order in the near future.
The youth riders seem particularly pleased with the new club colours
08/03/09: Reliability Trial Images
09/01/09: New Kit Design Revealed
The Club Committee canvassed opinion from a number of members and the sponsors and came to the consensus view that this achieved a number of design goals: to differentiate the Club from others in the area, to be visible both in a bunch and to other traffic users and finally, to create a striking, integrated kit.
New jersey design [front]
New jersey design [back]
Delivery of the initial supply is estimated towards the end of March and will be available through Gateway Cycles.
05/01/09: Sponsorship Announcement
Abergavenny RC is very pleased to announce that Gateway Cycles is joining Govilon Garage and Nick Lane Building Contractors in sponsoring the Club. A sponsorship contract has been signed between Gateway Cycles and Abergavenny RC this afternoon.
The Club is extremely grateful for the ongoing support of Steve Jones at Govilon Garage, and Nick and Sharon Lane at Nick Lane Building Contractors. We look forward to building an excellent relationship between the Club and Claire and Richard Bowen at Gateway Cycles.
Abergavenny RC has been supported by Bikebase from 2004 until the end of 2008 and the Club would like to thank the current owner of Bikebase, Andy Langston, and the previous owner, Simon Bailey, for their support during their time of sponsorship.
Claire and Richard Bowen of Gateway Cycles sign the sponsorship contract