Winter Season 2011 Presentations & AGM

Twenty seven members and guests gathered at the Coomealla Memorial Sporting Club on Saturday 17 September to attend the Mildura-Coomealla Cycling Club’s Winter Season 2011 presentations and Annual General Meeting.  Club Vice President Dean Taylor, standing in for President Mark Phillips, welcomed all members and guests, including Life Members Barry Pollock and Kevin Tankard.

Dean noted that the first two trophies normally presented each year, the Spring Tour and the Lunarfest Criterium Championship, were not awarded this year.  The 2010 Spring Tour saw no result declared due to an accident on the last lap and the Lunarfest race was not held in 2011.

The first trophy event of the Winter 2011 season was the Autumn Classic race.  This 108 km handicap race was held in May on a new course based on Cureton Avenue, between Riverside and Red Cliffs.  Riders had to complete three laps of this out and back course.  Rachel Hanlin broke away from her starting group and rode the last 10 km of the race solo to claim the win and the autumn leaf trophy.

The next trophy event on the program was the Special Trophies Day in June, where 5 trophies were up for grabs.  As usual, the various races on the day were scratch events held at Riverside with:

·       Richard Hale winning the Whizzer White Open Trophy;

·       Ian Beruldsen took out the Ned Kelly Veterans Trophy;

·       Tom Athorn again won the Ralph Morrish Over 50’s Trophy, for the fourth consecutive time;

·       Alison Curry won the Ladies Perpetual Trophy; and

·       Thomas Allford (U/15) took out the Whizzer White Juniors Trophy.

Dean then described how July saw the running of the 2011 Club Championship, an 80 km scratch race held at Riverside.  A total of only 18 riders contested the event, which saw most of the field contest a bunch sprint finish.  Dean noted how he was the fastest on the day and claimed the title of 2011 Club Champion!  As well as the trophy, Dean was awarded a specially printed Club jersey and a set of knicks.  Thomas Allford was awarded his second trophy of the night for winning the Junior Club Championship race.

The battle for the various grades was again a feature of the season and in most cases there was a clear winner in each grade, with each winner being presented with a trophy as follows:

·       Junior B Grade – no qualifying riders;

·       Junior A Grade – Thomas Allford (669 points);

·       D Grade Terry Miller (514 points);

·       C Grade Michael Allford (561 points).  This win will surely be rewarded with a promotion to B Grade for Summer?

·       B Grade Ben Athorn (588 points); and

·       A Grade Dean Taylor (637 points).

Dean then announced the winner of the Club trophies, starting with the Les Julian Most Improved Rider award.  Dean explained that the winner was selected by Committee vote using the following criteria:

1.     Must be a financial member;

2.     Must have competed on a regular basis in both the Summer and Winter seasons over last 12 months; and

3.     Must have demonstrated a marked improvement in competitive riding.

The Committee couldn’t split the efforts of two riders with the trophy being jointly awarded to Ben Athorn and Thomas Allford.

The next award to be presented was the Barry Pollock Coach’s Award.  As the current Club Coach, Barry has been active over the last 12 months, holding regular weekly training sessions with the junior riders, as well as providing training programs to those senior riders that requested assistance.  Coupled with his role of Chief Handicapper for the season, Barry has had a great opportunity to observe the hard work that many riders have put in and was thus well qualified to decide upon the winner of this award.  Barry explained how he had considered various riders for the award before deciding that awards should be presented to a senior and junior rider.  Barry selected Thomas Allford as the winner of the junior award and Richard Hale as the winner of the senior award.

The next award to be presented was that of Rider of the Year.  This award recognises the efforts of senior and junior riders in competitive cycling over the last 12 months and is based on results in Club events (Summer & Winter), open events and state, national and international events.  This year saw a close contest between two riders, Taryn Heather and Thomas Allford.   Whilst Taryn didn’t contest any races on the Winter program her open, state, national and international results saw her amass 2,094 points (113 points more than Thomas) and be declared Rider of the Year.

The last award of the evening was that the Club Person of the Year.  Dean explained how the winner was selected by Committee vote, taking into account the following criteria:

1.     Must be a financial member;

2.     Must have made an ongoing voluntary contribution to the running of the Club; and

3.     They must have undertaken these activities in a positive manner, without seeking reward or recognition.

The Committee considered a number of members as candidates for this award before eventually deciding on Penny Hale as the winner.

The Club also had a draw for a participation prize, for those members who competed in 12 or more Club or open events during Winter.  Twenty two riders qualified for the draw.  Thanks to Angas Park and Michael Allford for providing the prize, which was a hamper and two bottles of wine.  Penny was asked to draw out the winners name from the Whizzer White cup … which was Michael Smith!

Following dinner the Annual General Meeting was convened with Richard Hale presenting the Secretary and Treasurer reports, the latter on behalf of Greg Scott who was unable to attend the evening.  Club Vice President Dean Taylor then declared all Committee and Racing Official positions vacant and thanked the outgoing Executives and Officials for their efforts over the last 12 months.  Dean then listed the nominees for the various roles and following voting the vacant roles were filled as follows:

Committee

President – Michael Allford (elected for 2 year term)

Vice President – Dean Taylor (re-elected)

Secretary – Richard Hale (re-elected for 2 year term)

Treasurer – Greg Scott (re-elected)

Assistant Secretary – Michael Smith

Executive – Dave Digby (re-elected), Garry Pitt (re-elected), Adrian Lloyd (re-elected), Chris Schilling & Gary Henderson

Handicappers

Chief Handicapper – Kevin Tankard

Assistant Handicappers – Tom Athorn & Rob Akkermans (re-elected)

Coaching

Club Coach – Barry Pollock (re-elected)

Race Secretary

Race Secretaries – Penny Hale (re-elected) & Julieanne Ryan (re-elected)

Race Panel

Members – Kevin Tankard (re-elected), Tom Athorn (re-elected), Gary Henderson (re-elected), Ken Dean (re-elected), Rob Akkermans (re-elected), Richard Hale & Dean Taylor

Scrutineering

Chief Scrutineer – Tom Athorn (re-elected)

Publicity

Publicity Officer – Gary Henderson (re-elected)

As the new Club President Michael Allford then thanked all volunteers who assisted on race days and in the running of the Club’s business, in particular Julieanne Ryan, Penny Hale, Wendy Allford and Barry Pollock.  Before closing the meeting, Michael also thanked the Board of Coomealla Memorial Sporting Club for its ongoing support during 2011 and also the Club’s sponsors, including Pizza Café, Malidot Construction, Bicycle Superstore, Oasis Auto Services and Northstar Motors.