VC Jubilee Prize Presentations Report (15th March 2006) for 2005

Another successful and eventful 2005. VC Jubilee as the youth development section of Brighton 
Excelsior is only made possible by the kind donation of time volunteers make to the club. Many 
thanks to you, and to BECC for providing young people with some great opportunities and fun.

This evening gives us the opportunity to recognise the young riders that have achieved results 
in races, improved their ability, but also to congratulate those that continue to just take part. 
They show enthusiasm, have fun, learn from others and improve their skills both on and off the 
road and give commitment to the club and all its activities, show respect to those that help 
them, thus proving they are true sportspeople - well done and thank you to all of you. One 
member in particular who this year has gone over and above all our ambitions is Peter Mitchell 
who has been selected for the BC National Youth Sprint Squad and a potential for the Olympic 
Development programme. This really emulates what VCJ is all about, and the possibilities that 
are available to those that want and can go far, and fast! Pete is the one that has put the 
effort in and deserves this recognition, our best wishes and support continue to go with him.

Accreditations: Go-Ride/Clubmark
We continue to use the National Governing Body of cycling, “British Cycling” Go-Ride framework 
as it focuses our club activities. During 2005 we have successfully gone through the re-accreditation 
process to ensure we are still operating effectively as a Sport England “Clubmark” club. We will 
always be proud and able to say that we were the first cycling club in Britain to achieve Clubmark 
status in 2004, this is a cross-sport recognition of sports clubs that are committed to providing 
a safe, effective and child friendly environment. Both of these schemes identify implementation of 
sound, safe and effective club structure and good working practices for its young members and there 
is a high standard of qualified coaching and support. 

Coaches/Volunteers
With many thanks to our coaching and volunteers for their support, we were able to assist some of 
them further with our successful Awards for All grant for coaching and first aid courses (see below). 
Hopefully now we will be able to make a real drive to increase participation again this year, now 
we have more coaches.

With thanks to Shelley Charlton - Club Welfare Office/accounts, Roy Page, Ian Essex, Stewart Hunter, 
Sally Page – coaches, Dave Gerrey Chairman and coach, Jen Frankish, Deryck Arnold, Malcolm Beeny – 
friends/parents, for providing fantastic support and encouragement to the riding and club activities, 
we’d like to thank them all for their commitment. BECC members also support racing activities which 
again is much appreciated for the technical experience, especially Keith Balcombe and Mike Murray.  
Sally Page continues to be club contact and if you have any queries please contact me.

East Sussex Cycle Festival – Firle Place, Lewes – BECC/VC Jubilee
On a hot July 9th-10th weekend at the festival, in its 2nd year, another opportunity to recruit new 
members for both clubs, as we tested over 380 separate attempts on the skills course, and slightly 
less than that on the i-Magics – so they were all well used! All these young riders can check their 
times into the British Cycling website to see if they were the fastest. A fantastic attempt was made 
on a uni-cycle around the skills course – a clear round too! Thanks to those that showed their support, 
especially Ben Miller and his Dad who enjoyed camping and the strenuous rides over the downs, and to the 
Goslings, Andrew Dunn, Ian Essex, the Atwoods and Keith Balcombe. 

Go-Ride Open Day BECC/VC Jubilee
On Saturday 20th August BECC and VC Jubilee cycling clubs held our Open Day to coincide with the Tour 
of Britain road race and to celebrate London’s success in getting the 2012 Olympics. The open day was 
a national programme of coaching activities organised in partnership with British Cycling who provided 
commemorative souvenirs for all participants and provided an opportunity to try some of the various 
Olympic disciplines. In addition to our own club members, another 17 youngsters, 9 years and older 
of mixed abilities attended the day, which was a great turn out.  Many thanks to those that supported 
the day especially: Keith and Su Balcombe, Rod McKenzie, Bob Harber, Paul Gosling, Mike Murray.

The day started with fantastic sunshine and a mountain bike ride along the South Downs Link. On our 
return we then put to the test the challenge to race against Chris Hoy on the I-magic virtual reality 
computer trainers that BECC received from a Sport England Awards for All application. We then went out
on to Adur Recreation ground and ran the Tour of Britain skills challenge, which helps with riders 
balance, coordination, speed control, cornering, braking etc, all part of the Go-Ride skills programme. 
All the grass root level skill development that all cyclists, future stars and Olympiads will require.  
And the British Cycling Stage 1 Talent Tests, which is an identification process of raw cycling talent. 
This hopefully leads to being on the Talent Team and having a support and coaching structure, which could 
lead to being a future star and Olympiad.  

There maybe another opportunity to tie in with the Tour of Britain to run something similar in 2006…

Revolution – Manchester Velodrome 
A trip to Manchester was arranged to support Pete Mitchell and other local South East area talented 
youth cyclists who were invited to the opening event of Revolution 9 at Manchester Velodrome on 18th 
October 2005 to compete in the new youth Future starts competition. The Season 3 opened in style with 
11 world champions and a fantastic night of racing. It featured more rainbow jerseys than ever seen at 
any previous Revolution. The action across all youth and adult events was fantastic and with tremendous
support the atmosphere was one of the best Revolution events. And it was fabulous to see Pete ride in 
VCJ and SE club colours at such a prestigious event.

Membership
Numbers were slightly down during and towards the end of 2005 compared to 2004, but we seem to be 
maintaining a core group of riders. We will concentrate on our promotional activities again now that 
we have more coaches. Having the new kit certainly turns some heads when we are out for a ride, so we 
are getting noticed. We have a small selection of racing shirts for riders to borrow, anyone wanting 
to buy their own, please see Sally Page. 

Training/Conferences
We have been working closely with the Sussex Sports Partnership, British Cycling and Adur District 
Council and volunteers have attended conferences, workshops etc to find out what is available with 
regard to funding opportunities, or other coaching courses. We have to look forward in 2006 to 
British Cycling new coaching course for 16 year olds and hope that some of our older members will 
be interested in this, as we should be able to fund it through our grant.

Grants
This year we were successful in our Awards for All bid for coaching courses, first aid kits/courses 
and cyclo-cross bikes to the value of £3280 in July 2005. If anyone is interested in becoming a coach, 
please get in touch.

Barclays Spaces for Sports with coaches kit and cycling related equipment, eg stopwatches, bottles, 
clipboards, cones as well as caps, bags and t-shirts.

Affiliations 
We continue to be affiliated to the following bodies/organisations: British Cycling (BC), British 
Schools Cycling Association (BSCA).  Also we have affiliation under BECC for cycling time trials 
and cyclo-cross. So if any member wishes to race time-trials (over 12 yrs) and cyclo-cross should 
race under the “Brighton Excelsior CC” name.

Coaching activities
These have increased this year, due to our newly qualified coaches. More sessions have been run as 
skills based, rather than “just going for a ride”, we will be pursuing this further into 2006. We have 
also had the opportunity to visit Calshot indoor Velodrome on a number of occasions. This awesome 
experience gives the rider such a rush and improves bike handling.

Social
Wednesday evening numbers are down, which we will hope to address in the new year with improved 
planning and structured activities. However evening activities of bouldering on the climbing wall, 
pool, football and table tennis all feature regularly. 

Racing
Our members have attended numerous events this year and our prize presentation indicates the successes 
of all our riders. New to some this year were 2-day stage races, time trialling and mountain bike cross
country and cyclo cross. We look forward to another season of activity at Preston Park Track and Hove 
Park, where members can experience Track and Road racing and learn the different skills of each. 
Limited time trialling opportunities are possible, as well as increased mountain bike and cyclo 
cross events in the area.

Incidents/Accidents
Only 2 recorded in last 12 months – Dave Gerrey (coach), and a meningitis concern.

Planning for 2006
More structured VCJ young persons committee, more funding applications, more specific coaching 
sessions, more trips, more racing. Let us know what you want… Diary is now on the website: 
www.vcjubilee.co.uk look under News.

Please remember we look forward to hearing your comments on the activities we run at the club, 
and of course volunteer support, so we can do more! If you are interested in volunteering or 
coaching, please get in touch with Sally Page, Tel: 01273 843859, Mob: 07769 588915, 
email: salandroy@supanet.com