Mabley Green/Wick Festival '08

Last September CCH organised grass track racing on Mabley Green as part of the Wick festival celebrations and the unveiling of the marvelous 100 tonne piece of Cornish granite . It was an excellent day for racing on the grass, the track location was the best yet, there is plenty of space at Mabley Green. Some local youngsters without bikes did a running race that they enjoyed. We also trialled a new sport; cycle climbing or cymbling.

What's on for new year 2009

Mountain Bike Chariot Racing
...the next big thing?

Any one fancy mountain bike chariot racing in Wales? There are medals up for grabs and a chance to be a world champion at it. An interesting challenge right? We're looking for a team to represent CCH in this auspicious event. Please reply to Keir@cyclingclubhackney.co.uk - It's on 12th January 2009, a short call but the event was only noticed today.
Chariot racing would be fine preparation for our inaugural cross country mountain bike cycle racing day on Saturday 17th January. This is part of the Mabley Green winter rock around the Rock festival organised by Core Arts. We are planning to be on Wick Woodland but this will be confirmed in week one '09. In any case after the cycle sports it's back to Core Arts at the Barnebas Centre for refreshments and a special screening of the superb animation movie; Belleville Rendez-Vous

CCH Kit design

Here is a preview of CCH's new cycling shirt.
The design is not yet finalised but the shorts like the shirts are to have a panel carrying both the club name and our main sponsor; The Learning Trust.
The club logo was created by Catchpole Calligraphy. This kit is expected to become available to club members at the end of February 2009.

Rollapalluza Winter League

There will be at least four events between now and the end of February all on Wednesdays. The opening rounds are:
19.11.08
White Hart (500m event)
1 Mile End Rd
E1 4TP

03.12.08
Horseshoe (1000m event)
24 Clerkenwell Close
EC1R 0AG
£5 entry competitors / spectators.
Start (casually) at 6pm, qualification ’til 9, knockout rounds ’til finish.
More

'Beijing really showed women's cycling for what it is, the women's race was just as exciting as the men's, so from an entertainment point of view they're equal. Then at the world championships a lot of people said the road race finale was one of the most exciting races there ever was, men or women.'

Nicole Cooke puts the case for womens road racing in an interview in the Observer.

There is also an interesting interview with the winner of four stages in the Tour de France Mark Cavendish about why he felt let down by the Olympic team.

Events for next year

Thanks to everybody for an interesting and productive meeting.
(CCH committee meeting 23/10/08)

Some dates for next year, so far we have discussed, earmarked and nailed:

Economic Energy Winter Series Starting Sat. December 6th 2008
S. Wales visit to Newport Velodrome & Glyncorrwg MTB Centre January or Febuary 2009
Off Roading 'games' in Wick Woodland - 17th January
Annual event: CCH 2nd Round Chelmsford - April 19th
Inaugural Hackney Inter-schools Cycle Racing Day April 09 TBC (LYG qualifying event)
Inaugural CCH Grass track Racing League 2009 - Sunday evenings in June, July & August
2009 London Youth Games - Saturday 4 July and Sunday 5 July
Tour of Flanders Cyclo - Saturday 4th April 2009
Tour of Flanders Sunday - 5 April
La Marmotte & Grimp L’Alp D’Huez cyclo sportive event: Thurs 2nd to Mon. 6th July
Paris Roubaix Day Trip or stop over - 11 Apr 2009 to 12 Apr 2009
EASTER week end is: April 10 to April 13
ECCA Festival - 4th and 5th May (bank holiday)
Jersey Racing Weekend 23rd to 25th May - (bank holiday)
Newham International Six-Day pro track racing event - October 2009

Big turnout at our first annual general meeting

Thanks to all of the 30 or so members and supporters who turned up at our first AGM, held on Thursday 25th September. The enthusiasm for the club was clear to see in everyone who turned up, but it was particularly encouraging that about half of the attendees were young people under 18.

After giving people a chance to meet and greet, the first business of the evening was elections. Stuart Dennison will serve as club chair, taking over from myself (phew!), and Dan Batchelor kindly volunteered to be treasurer, while Keir Apperley remains as secretary. Meanwhile we have three volunteers to be youth representatives: Adebisi Alakan, Teo Geoghegan-Hart and Ryan Tran.

We went on to talk about what we've achieved in our first year of existence as a club, and about our hopes for the year ahead, including exciting plans for twinning with clubs abroad, and for trips to places as glamorous as the Alps and even Newport :)

You can read the full minutes of the meeting here in PDF. You might also be interested to read our esteemed secretary's report on our first year.

Special thanks to Core Arts for the venue and Mother Earth for providing tasty snacks at cost price.