ESCA 25

Another successful club promotion was completed on Sunday with some good rides by club members. Although I haven’t seen the official results yet I did note a great 1.06.34 on the board from Trevor Deeble; his first attempt at the distance I believe. It was a freezing morning and around minus 2 when I started off as first man and although in shorts I sensibly wore arm warmers and woolly gloves although it was my head that froze the most which was a somewhat odd sensation and I did not properly warm up until the Shaw roundabout, more surprisingly I was only caught by one rider before the turn.

My mileage this year had consisted of a round trip to deliver Jay’s Hard Riders entry to Peter Moon in Eastbourne, plus turbo sessions a few times a week. Jay had managed even less than that but had at least recently run the Hastings half Marathon in a decent time. Nevertheless despite it being my first 25 for nearly a year I really enjoyed the stint out to the turn. Coming back was another matter when lack of miles took their toll and I cursed myself for missing the Wednesday chain gangs. I rode entirely on “feel” and was not too unhappy when a 1.13 was posted on the board, only to be told later that the time keeper had made a mistake and added a couple of minutes on, not that it made much difference. In contrast Chris Parker breezed round mid field checking all was going well and made it look easy, no doubt as a direct result of his recent sojourn in Crete.

Chris had to jump in as event secretary when Chris Chapman who had been running the event for the past few years decided somewhat selfishly to go and live in Portugal. Without an secretary there can be no event, at least not one run by this club, so now could be a good time to see if someone else is willing to take on the role next year. We cannot always rely on Chris to save the day and he already does more than enough and I know prefers not to be the event secretary as he is far too busy organising everything else. Strangely the road signs, volunteers and food do not weirdly appear as if by magic on the day.

Having been event secretary myself in the past for a number of years I know just what’s involved, but it more or less boils down to being the focal point for receipt of entries, preparing the start sheet and sending it out. Virtually everything else is handled by ESCA and now we don’t seem to have to worry about the result board on the day. When I did it I had to produce a hand drawn board with everyone’s name on it, find a suitable structure to fix it to and then work out the results on paper as they came in including handicap and age related times. Now it’s all done on a laptop and it will be even easier if we can accept internet entries next year.

If nothing else being event sec does give you an insight into how our sport is organised. You could even include it on your CV: “National Cycling Event Organiser” or similar? We only have this one event, unlike some clubs and perhaps now would be a good time to get the ball rolling for 2014?  Whoever volunteers can be guaranteed plenty of help and advice. 

Tim Miles