News: Pedal Club Lunch (March)

The guest speaker at the March lunch was Stuart McGhee, chairman of the London Cyclo Cross Association.

News: Pedal Club Lunch (March)
by Chris Lovibond

The guest speaker at the March lunch was Stuart McGhee, chairman of the London Cyclo Cross Association. At a time when conventional cycle sport cannot be said to be buoyant, it is encouraging to hear of a discipline which is still doing well and this was at the heart of Mr. McGhee’s message. Stuart has been racing since his early teenage years in the eighties and has now become the London league co-ordinator and an event promoter while still remaining a competitor.

Pedal club member Ivan Dodd, the doyen of London Cyclo Cross organisers, and is seen here presenting a Pedal Club badge to our speaker Stuart McGhee.

He told us that ten years ago, a cyclo cross meeting would usually have just three events – Under Twelves, Youths and Seniors, but now a typical event will have seven events (that is, age categories), which opens the possibility of having three generations of the same family competing. A League meeting may now attract 350 to 500 riders, and such large numbers create problems for the organisers in finding venues – adequate parking and toilets have to be found, and heavy rain may cause soft ground to become so disfigured that the course may be lost for good.

However, at least up to the present, the LCCA seems to be coping well with this growth, and has ambitions to bring big cyclo cross events back to the south east. The UCI would like to see a World Cup race in the London area and the League is optimistic that this can be achieved.

It is notable that the LCCA is run exclusively by volunteers and although Stuart and his colleagues are theoretically running their organisation on behalf of British Cycling, BC itself doesn’t contribute much. Here there must be a small note of caution – many Pedal Club members have long experience of organising for most aspects of the sport, and they have all noticed that there is a reluctance on the part of younger generations to come forward as volunteer organisers. So it is slightly worrying to hear that while, ten years ago, the busiest age group for competing was the forty year olds, it is now the fifty year olds; let’s hope this will not be reflected on the organising side.

Despite this small caveat, the club was encouraged to hear this upbeat account, especially our member Ivan Dodd, the doyen of London Cyclo Cross organisers, and is seen here (photo) presenting a Pedal Club badge to our speaker.

The meeting was again held at the Civil Service Club and attracted 36 members and guests.