The 2018 The John & Dulcie Walker Memorial Road Races

The following is a big thank you from Jayne Paine (Race Director for the John and Dulcie Walker) to all the volunteers who helped make the 2018 John and Dulcie Walker races such such an amazing and successful event. As you can see it takes a huge number of people to make these races happen.

Jayne has also given an excellent write up of the event in her own original style.

In my view the biggest thank you must go to Jayne herself. She has transformed the running of this annual happening in to what is a very slick and prestigious event. Her hard work, leadership skills and flair for handling people is remarkable. Thank you Jayne for all the fabulous work you have done for the Willesden Cycling Club.

Miles Back (AKA Lord of the Zip ties)

The John and Dulcie Walker Memorial Road Races

The road races were yet again glittering events studded with cycling stars from around the country, but mainly from a 50mile radius of Oxford.

The real stars however were the many, many people who gave up their time and energy to make the John and Dulcie a real favourite on the calendar, and I can’t thank them enough.
Here is a list of those people, in no order as they were all vital to the smooth running of the day:

National Escort Group
Clive James
Roy Miller
Neil Magrath
John Rodda

Commissaires
Lynda Kellam
Mick Clarke
Des Gaylor
James Simons-Boswell
David Gable
Gary Baker

Chief Accredited Marshal
Mark Barter

Accredited Marshals
Ian Why
John Wheatley
Lee Fleming
Mark Cameron
Chris Londy
Mahfoud Bettine
Trevor Davis
Hannah Makins
Ray Morgan
Derek Wallis
Colin Mead
David Gable
Carmen Devlin
Gary Nixon

Chief Marshal
John Wheatley

Red Flag Marshals
John Tipping
Justin Semmens
John Davies
Paul Baxter
Ron Purdy
Chris Kelly
Dave Brown
Richard Creese
Liz Creese
Ian Oliver
Sean Bannister

Transponders
Sam Grant

Lead Car Drivers
Marianne Harding
Ray ‘Skid-Pan’ Kelly

First Aid
Donna Cabral

Commissaire Drivers
Clare Gillot
Paul Doel

First Aid Driver
Dave Styring

Neutral Service
Steve Avery
Keith Hicks

Signage Team
John Davies
Roger Crouch
Paul Baxter

Catering Team
The Minet Ladies
Sylvene Baxter
Kulvinder Hamilton-Grey
Lynne Wheatley

Photographers
Justin Semmens
Richard Creese
Ron Purdy

Finish Line Team
Sam Grant
Roger Crouch
Mark Doel

Parking Tsar
Ron Purdy

Sign-On Team
Vyv Baker
Janice Kelly
Gladys Purdy

Prize-Giving Team
Ray Kelly
Gladys ‘Pucker-Up’ Purdy
Jayne ‘Puckered-Up’ Paine

Trophy Secretary
Jim Mears

Over the last five years that I have been the organiser there were people absent this year due to holidays and 21st birthdays who have always in the past helped hugely and they should not be missed out in this list of the fabulous:
Nici Savage
Lauren Savage
Kirsten Savage
and I suppose Tony Savage for letting us have his family for a week of shopping, cooking and baking, making tea, and podium duties.
Wendy Mears
Jim Mears
Gerry McManus

Also there are the people whose advice and guidance have been indispensable to me, they have made this rather tricky job a lot less stressful:
Des Gaylor
Mark Doel
Aiden Hegarty
Patrick Kavanaugh
Mick Clarke
Ian Chatsworth
John Davies
Trevor Smith

The British Horse Society and the Horse & Hound put our races on their social media feeds which helped to ensure safe racing and riding for all road users.
Thank you the village of Little Milton for having an excellent hall and an excellent pub!

And thank you to the 160 riders who came and gave us their all.

Racing Roundup
So let’s talk about the races. It was a dry day, some sunshine, S/W wind moderate.
There were full fields of 80 riders in both the events.

The racing started with the Dulcie Walker, a Regional B race for 3rd + 4th Cat riders which involved 60miles, 3.75 laps, of the Great Milton Course.
The riders rolled out of HQ at 9.30.
At the end of the first lap the notorious pinch-point got both pointy and pinchy. One rider ended up wiping his nose the full length of an on-coming car and few others had a bit of a lie-down. Forever sporting, the riders ahead of the crash made a run for it. Kicking the dead and dying out of the way, those caught behind the crash gave chase.
Lives were laid on the line, wheels were sacrificed and looks were exchanged, but there was to be only one winner of The Dulcie Walker Poniard.

1st – David Roper – Ride 24/7 – winner of the Dulcie Walker Memorial Poniard
2nd – Cian Smailes – N-Fuse Identity Racing
3rd – Robert Attread – Maidenhead and District CC

Junior – Jack Brooks – Bicester Millenium CC – winner of the Giant Chupa-Chup
Prime- David Roper – Ride 24/7

Actually, with prizes down to 15 there were lots of winners and Gladys and I congratulated them in the time-honoured podium-girl way, because we are old-fashioned and because we could.

Then before you had time to say cake, it was roll-out for the premier event on the road-racing calendar, The John Walker Memorial Road Race for Elites, 1st and 2nd Cat racers. Some of the best in the country were there, and those that were not sent telegrams.

The 80 mile race kicked off with a no-holds-barred scramble for position. Very quickly a break formed. There were chasers, and chasers chasing the chasers. It was fast. It was dynamic. It was all going on. The four NEG motos and the lead cars and comms had one helluva job, and as I was in a lead car driven by our own Ray ‘Skid-Pan’ Kelly I should know. But I can’t give a proper race report because most of the time I had my eyes closed. I can tell you that is was action packed, with near-misses, attacks into on-coming traffic, disqualifications and hair-pulling.

So me and Gladys put on our cherry chap-stick, Ray wet his whistle and we got down to the serious business of prize giving and the handing over of the gleaming, silver John Walker Memorial Trophy.

1st – Joshua Boyman – Hoops Velo
2nd – William Scott – Flamme Rouge
3rd – Joseph Clark – Cycling Sheffield Giant

Junior – Joshua Sandman – Team Backstedt Bike Performance , winner of the Lego Set
Prime – Joshua Boyman – Hoops Velo

Then it was up to The Lamb for the traditional schooner or two of sherry.
What a day.

Jayne Paine