Becontree Wheelers in the new millenium

If you have any material which will add to the record of the club's history, please contact the club. Photos, documents, results and stories are all welcome.

Click on a photo or other image to see it full size. You will then be able to scroll through the full set.

2000 Becontree Wheelers CC in the Millennium.

The new millennium coincided with the club's 75th anniversary. Celebrations started with the inclusion of the prestige Romford-Harlow Road Race promotion in the BCF Premier Calendar. Click here to see a web site dedicated to the race.

In a repeat of the 50th anniversary ride, 10 members cycled from Lands End to John 'Groats. The party included 4 veterans of the 1975 ride and were ably assisted by Karen Lifford. Click here to see the full story.

2001 Cycle Montana.

At the age of 75, our President, Derek Jennings, revisited part of his 1976 ride across the USA. Click Here for details.

2002 George Fell.

The Becontree's most successful rider, George Fell passed away in February. George was twice National 25 Champion and held 5 RTTC Competition records, two for his solo rides and three as the leader of Becontree teams.

Click Here for an obituary and to see photos and copies of the Competition Record certificates.

Images from the third event of the Navestock Evening 10 series on 19 April include Dave Brown, Stuart Allen, Brendon Ladd, Tony Capon, Gary Tyrrell, Richard Knight, Frank Ryan, Elliott Ryan, Terry Carr, Sam Brown and Daniel Capon. The event that night was won by Stuart Allen.

Tony Knight provided a video of the event held on 16 August. Riders included Elliott Ryan, Tony Capon, Frank Ryan, Gary Tyrrell, Richard Knight, Terry Carr and Daniel Capon. Elliott posted the fastest time of the night.The points competition for the series was eventually won by Tony Capon and the fastest 4 rides of the year by Stuart Allen.

2008

Started with regular weekend club runs from Corbets Tey. Regulars included Terry Carr, Paul King, Pat Goodwin and Karthik Kakulthasan.

At the evening 10 held on the Navestock course on 8 August, Gary Tyrrell was the fastest club rider. Ian Damant, Adrian Trenholm, Tony Capon and Karthic also rode. The event was video'd by Francis Jackson.

At the evening 10 held on the Navestock course on 22 August, Ian Damant was the fastest club rider. This event was video'd by Derek Damant. The series was won by Gary Tyrrell who took the points competition and posted the fastest 4 rides.

2009

Becontree members were involved in a number of activities. Paul King and Terry Carr dusted off the Tandem to post some very 10 mile good times.

Peter and Karen Lifford rode a number of Grass Track races and won the You See Eye World Hoop Race Champs at Mildenhall. They had to sing "I can sing a rainbow" to win the jersey!!

Gary Tyrrell won became the club Hill Climb champion at Mott Street on 25 October. Watch the video shot by Derek Damant.

On Sunday 24 January 2010, Karthic was presented with the medal for his second place handicap in the Sporting Courses South East (SPOCO SE) time trial competition for 2009.

2010 Grass Track racing.

Peter Lifford, our representative from north of the M25 sent news of his recent Grass Track win.

This weekend saw the start of my racing season with the first two grass track events of the year. The first event was at Carlisle, about as far north as you would want to go before getting to Scotland, resulting in my first (and hopefully not last win of the season) in the 1500m handicap. The track at Carlisle wasn't the flattest with an interesting little hill in the final bend before the finish line.The next day I was riding at Richmond (Yorkshire not Surrey) on a much faster, smooth, banked grass track where due to my lack of speed and some very dubious handicapping I had no placings.If you have not heard of grass track, take one track bike, like they use at Manchester, put some slightly knobbly tyres on it, find a largish area of grass, mark out a track of around 300m and then race.

Tony wins Handicap prize in Lea Valley 10

Tony Capon won the Handicap first prize in the Lea Valley10 mile Time trial held on the E2 course on 14 May. His time was 26:47, with a handicap of 16:51.

Gary Tyrrell represents the club in the Shaftesbury 25 on the sporting E83 course on Sunday 8 May. He records a time of 1:09:24, coming 8th out of 24 riders. The winner was Bruce Robinson (Shaftesbury CC) with a time of 1.03.56

2011

Ian Damant is the 2011 Heffer Memorial champion, exactly 80 years after his great uncle Cecil won the same trophy in 1931. See Results for event details.
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Helen Jennings

We are sorry to have to report that Helen Jennings, wife of our presidentDerek, passed away on Sunday 25 September 2011. The club sends its condolences to Derek and all of the family. If you would like to mark this sad event with a donation in her memory to her chosen charity, Cancer Research UK, you can do so by following this link.http://donateinmemory.cancerresearchuk.org/0001973.

Gary meets Mark Cavendish and Alex Dowsett in Essex

While out training on Boxing Day, Gary stopped to speak to Alex Dowsett in Blackmore, Essex, only to discover he was standing next to Mark Cavendish !!!!. The current World Road Race Champion, 2011 Tour de France Green Jersey Winner, and Sports Personality of the Year, plus what with Alex being the current British Time Trial Champion, he could hardly believe what was happening. He spoke with them for about 10 minutes before they were off on their day's training ride.

Peter and Joanne at Manchester velodrome

Peter Lifford follows daughter Joanne at the Manchester Velodrome.

Roy Fox

Roy died in January this year. He was found at his home in Ilford on 30 January. He was a member of the Becontree Wheelers in the 1970s. During much of that time Roy worked for the British Cycling Federation as an assistant to the then Secretary, Len Unwin. He was the club Junior Time Trial champion in 1970, winner of the Heffer Memorial Time Trial in 1075 and Senior Senior Time Trial Champion 1n 1978. His club records for Junior 100 miles and 12 hours and Senior 24 hours are still unbroken in 2012.

Pat, Trevor & Pete at clubrun tea stop - Summer 2012. We are assured that bicycles were present although out of camera shot.

Pat, Trevor & Pete - The final clubrun of the year 30 December 2012.

Club secretary Gary Tyrrell presents Derek with a gift from the club in recognition of his long years of service.

2013.

Poor health has led to our long time President Derek Jennings standing down from the post. A Becontree member since 1947, Derek has held almost all official posts in the club over the years as well as many club records some of which which still remain unbroken in 2013. He also undertook a number of long distance rides, including the club's 50th anniversary Lands End to John O'Groats ride and the repeat 75th anniversary ride. His solo rides across America, the Andes, to Alaska, and China as well as others were the subject of presentations to local clubs and organisations in earlier years. At a meeting of club members past and present on 14 January Derek was honoured and presented with a crystal mounted pen. As a member for more than 65 years, the Becontree has been a major part of Derek's life and although no longer our President he is determined to stay a part of club life. We wish him well.

2013

First club run of February. New member Chris Busby met the boys for the first time.

2013

The re- launched Becontree Reliability Trial took place on Sunday 3 March with an excellent turn out of both club members and invited friends. Click here to see the story of the ride.

The ECCA event on the Bulphan based E34/10 course was the designated event for the Becontree Wheelers 10 mile championship held on 21st July 2013. A total of six Becontree riders had entered the event. More.......

New club records

Two new club records have been set recently.

On 10 August, Ian Damant recorded 22:07 in the CC London 10 on the F20/10 course to beat the existing Veterans record of 22:26 set in 1974.

On 16 August, Vicky Gill recorded 24:59 in our club evening 10 to beat the existing Ladies record of 26:38 st in 1986.

Well done to both of them.

On an unseasonably mild, dry and calm day, only 4 riders set out on the 2014 Becontree 50 mile reliability trial. Having pushed the date back to avoid various early season events, the result appears to be that the racers amongst us are too busy training to spare time for a reliability trial this late in the winter. Next year we will re set the date for an earlier and more challenging seasonal start. More......

Hainault Hilly Time Trial - 22 March 2014

Five Becontree members started the event but unfortunately Dave Martin had to withdraw after suffering a puncture. Finishing times were as follows-

Will Weichhart - 1:34:53
Gary Tyrrell - 1:40:23
Danny Roach - 1:41:15
Jim Bromley - 1:45:06 ( a 25 minute improvement on previous ride)

Winner was Rhys Howell - Richardson/Trek/Reflex - 1.09.07.

The full result can be seen here.

Photos taken by IanLambert are available on Flikr. You can see our members as follows-

Becontree ride the Tour

The Becontree team took the Tour de France by storm at Roxwell on Monday.

Following the poor turnout in Yorkshire the organisers were lavish in their praise of the way in which this fine bunch of riders enhanced the event.

"I was so impressed by the boys, I would like to bring the event back to Essex every year." Christian P.

"This lot will make others want to give up their cars (and go by bus)." Boris J.

Tony Capon

Tony took part in the Prudential Ride London event on 10 August to raise funds for the leukaemia and lymphoma research charity. He has set up a donations/sponsor web page at http://www.justgiving.com/Antony-Capon.. Under the "My story" section you will find details of the bike fitting Tony went to and the bike fitters offer to all BWCC members to have a bike fitting with a £20.00 discount.

Ryan Jackson signs on for the first time

2015 Ryan Jackson, age 7.

2nd November 2014

Essex Roads cycling club promoted a youth winter series at Redbridge Cycling Centre (aka Hog Hill) over the period from 2nd November to 1st March, an event held each month totalling 5 rounds. Each round included a scratch and handicap race for each of the following categories (U8, U10, U12, U14 and U16) with points awarded for the series.

Making his debut in the U8 category for Becontree Wheelers was 7 year old Ryan Jackson.

The first race on 2nd November was a good introduction to racing for Ryan, although at a disadvantage of being on a single speed 14" boys bike, wearing tracksuit bottoms, a rain jacket and topped off with his favourite super hero (Spiderman) decorated helmet, he really looked to enjoy the competition, check out the gaze down the starting straight. More.....

2015

Danny at the Velodrome

Through the early half of the year, Danny Roach completed all four modules of the Lee Valley Velopark track accreditation programme

This will allow him to access the complete Lee Valley programme, including SQT´s, specific accredited training sessions and track leagues.

Next stop Rio??

Dunton Closed Circuit Team Time Trail - 27th August

Chelmer CC together with Ford CC organised a closed circuit Team Time Trial at the Ford Motor Company Test track.

The Becontree entered two teams of four riders amongst the total of 30 teams who competed on the night.

All those involved reported a very enjoyable and successful evening; if somewhat chaotic at times with 120 particpants on the small track.

Jim Bromley at the Tour of Cambrigeshire

Jim Bromley at the World Championships

Jim represented the club in the Tour of Cambridgeshire on the weekend of 3/7 June. Following the Saturday Time Trial a successful ride in the Sunday Gran Fondo led to him qualifying for the UCI World amateur championship to be held in Denmark in September.

He then went on to represent the club in the London to Paris ride from 26 to 28 June. You can see a video of the event with Jim leading the pack at the Grand Depart.

Following his performance in the Tour of Cambridgeshire, Jim was selected to represent Great Britain in the UCI World amateur championship held at Aalborg, Denmark on 6 September.

Wearing the Team GB Masters jersey containing the Becontree logo, Jim did himself and the club proud by completing the challenging and windy 102 mile course while a considerable number of international riders abandoned.

Club Hill Climb Championship - 25 October

Seven Becontree riders together with second claim member Steve Green rode the ELV Hill Climb at Mott Street to compete for the club championship.

Filip was the fastest club rider from Bradley and Patrick.

Brian Moran

Brian has sent us his memories of the club.

"To the new members, I am not sure how much of the clubs history you are aware of?

I joined the club in January 1966 after being in the Comet CC, a club that later joined with several other clubs to form the Lea Valley club.

I went to the club weekly meet near the Fiddlers in Dagenham to sign up, and there must have been 50/60 members that night. The following Sunday there was the normal 20 plus on the clubrun.

Over the next 20 years the club was to be one of the most well thought of clubs in the country.

Mick Wishart in the Tour of Britain
I rode for a team in Italy
A five man team riding what is now the “Premier Calendar". Mick Wishart, Peter Harper, Andy Marshall, Alan Sanders and myself.
A national schoolboy champion-Barry Hunt
A cyclo cross, track and time trial team

There was no club sponsor, but there was a self funding support system ran by club members (Sam Huxtable and Nobby Gurling), who organised discos at the Green Man at Navestock to pay for it.

We had the chairmen of both British Cycling racing and finance committees. Keith West and Paul Hardy.

A monthly news sheet/magazine.

We had five senior commissaries

Area competition secretary

We organised one of the biggest elite races in the country, (the Essex Trophy followed on by the Romford-Harlow) and one of the biggest junior races (Tour of Mid Essex). We organised the first ever schoolboy national championship on a closed road course based on Eagle Way, Brentwood.. The Club open 25 time trial was one of the best. The club ran a Queen's Jubilee professional race in 1976 at Navestock Side.

We always had a stand at the Dagenham town show with roller racing.

I believe that the BWCC were also the only club to have an official car on Paris Roubaix.

On a none competitive note;

The club annual dinner and prize presentation was held at places like the Palms Hotel on the A127 at Hornchurch. Live band and up to 200 sitting down for dinner. People like Phil Liggett doing the after dinner speech.

For the clubs 50^th in 1974 anniversary, 15 members rode from Lands End to John O’Groats after being waved off by the Mayor of Dagenham. This was repeated for the clubs 75^th anniversary.

Spin offs from this were Derek Jennings riding across the USA, and I organised two London to Moscow charity bike ride.

We even had a genuine James Bond."