September 2024 newsletter
Recognising our local legends
AGM Update
The 2024 AGM was held on 21 August, and it was brilliant to see such a great crowd turn out for the occasion. While the bunch were generally keen on guzzling down as much of the cold stuff out of Steve’s fridge as possible, Tom did eventually manage to settle ‘em down to proceed with official business.
Club Member of the Year went to an incredibly well-deserving Dave Shelberg, in recognition of the seemingly inexhaustible energy and wisdom he contributes to Full Gas Friday each week. The Boyd Mitchell Award went to Jessica Wiggan for her meteoric rise through the racing ranks this past year. Jessica’s remarkable results span both road and circuit, with podiums in the Lifecycle White Ribbon crit, the ANZAC 25 crit, and a qualification for the 2024 UCI Gran Fondo World Series in Denmark.
There was a slight reshuffling of the club committee, and in the least contentious motion ever put to a club membership, Lachlan Ninness was voted in as the new Club Captain. He takes over from Russ Willcocks, who has stepped down after three fantastic years at the helm. I know a lot of us are very grateful for Russ’s incredible support over the years. Thank you also to outgoing committee members Aimee Schouppe, Brent Murphy, Riley Sheehan, and Lucas Taylor. They have been succeeded by Phil Clarke, Connor Neilson, and Wil Haviland.
You can see the rest of Tom’s AGM prezzo in the team app here.
A Word From Russ
BNECC is made up of so many great people, it’s been a pleasure to serve as Club Captain over the past three years. In that time we clarified our three values (Safety, Friendship, and Development) and sought to embody them in the way we ride.
Some things I worked toward establishing with our ride leader team:
Comprehensive ride descriptions for the benefit of new riders.
Two ride leaders per ride wherever possible.
Encouraging a culture of ‘no one left behind’ and ‘no one stops alone’.
Cataloguing our rides, ride rules, ride planning etc.
Establishing four rides every Sunday.
Training a team of 28 ride leaders in Emergency life support, First Aid & CPR.
Providing First Aid Kits to all ride leaders.
Establishing StepUp rides every two months or so to encourage development.
Supporting overseas cyclists with spare kit.
A huge thanks to our amazing ride leaders who give so much every week, and our committee who work hard behind the scenes.
In the last year or so my work and travel has impacted my ability to be on the bike as much as I’d like, and so it’s been hard to be as present around the club. I’m so glad to handover to Lachie who is such a great leader and a good mate.
We are pretty blessed to have so many great people in our club - and I’ll be supporting him wherever I can. Stay safe, look out for your club mates, and always enjoy the ride.
See you out there
Russ Willcocks
Give the New Gaffer a Piece of Your Mind
The role of the Club Captain is to promote club spirit, and encourage activities that support our culture and values. Part of their job is also to assist ride leaders in making sure all of our rides are safely planned, and well supported. So if you see Lachie around the traps (and take it from me—it’s very difficult to avoid him), make sure you say hi 👋
We’re Looking for Ride Leaders
Want to help out?
If you are a regular participant in our Sunday rides and would like to contribute to planning and leading rides, then please get in touch with Lachie on 0414 109 997. The club provides plenty of support, including ride leader training with Dave Shelberg and the gang, and First Aid/CPR training.
Step-up Success
And a Carbrook catastrophe
More than 60 riders turned out for the fifth edition of the BNECC Step-Up ride. Group 2A proved a particularly popular option, with 36 people managing to sign up before Richie Cleaver smashed the panic button (all BOQ bigwigs get one). It took a concerted effort from about five extra ride leaders to bring everyone* home, but a fantastic time was had by all* nonetheless.
Unfortunately, the ride was also interrupted by a record-breaking eight flat tyres across all four groups, and it was only thanks to some fantastic resourcefulness and teamwork that everyone* managed to get rolling again.
*G2 regular Cameron Mort was again unable to break his Carbrook duck. Having DNF’d the last time round due to an unfortunate series of pneumatic catastrophes, Morty had resolved to leave the butyl world behind. Despite making a significant investment in tubeless technology however, Morty was again left high and dry without a working wheel. Contributions toward his latest train fare home (or tips on how to plug a tyre) can be passed on courtesy of the club Secretary.
Racing Tsar or Racy Star?
If you see this guy around, don’t panic—he actually got that medal for being extremely friendly. This is Phil, and he’s going to be supporting/promoting/generally motivating our racing over the next season.
Phil’s your man should you have any questions about getting started in racing, or have ideas about how our club could better support our current racers.
Even better, if you’re keen to have a crack, let Phil know and he’ll sort you out with a racing buddy so you don’t have to go it alone.
Phil’s Racing Update
August was a quieter month on the racing scene, but we still had some stellar racing performances.
The big race of the month was the Darren Smith Classic at Mount Alford. In Race 1 (Men’s C/Masters B) our resident Irish sandbagger [ed: Phil] finally broke the elastic on the final lap up the KOM, riding away to take 2nd on the day and the KOM prize. Lachlan Ninness would also come home for a grade Top 10 while Ryan Bishop and Daniel Donnelly rode hard all day for solid placings in Masters B.
Men’s Masters C was always going to be spicy with our boys involved, and the photos showed Hosko, Richie and Scott letting rip at every opportunity. The boys would all place well in the bunch finish with Richie best placed in 6th. Guiseppe came home a little behind the front bunch, while Rob Shore was one of a few to fall victim to a lost bidon on the day.
In Men’s Masters D, Club President Tom brought it home for a second-place finish – the man in fine form ahead of his trip to Denmark. Finally, in a stacked Master’s A race Tim Durkin snuck in for a Top 10 finish in fast and furious race.
Elsewhere in August, Warren Biggs took the dub in D grade in a Road Race up at Elimbah. We had Lachlan Ninness placing 2nd in the para category in Round 4 of the QLD ITT series, where Mick Baber and Paulie Stevens were also in action. Tim Durkin won his category and produced the 2nd fastest time of anyone at the Hill Climb event that same weekend.
Heaps of racing to be found in September and we would love to see as many out as we can (especially our women, who have had some stellar results this year). Attention turns to the final QTRS round on 7/8th September but first – all eyes on Aalborg and our members chasing world glory…
Your News Desk Needs You!
Something you want to see here?
If you’ve got some cracking content (pics, videos, rants, etc), breaking news, or know of an achievement you want to shout about, PLEASE send it through to our breaking news desk so we can include it in a future edition.
We’d also be especially interested in any smaller milestones you reckon are worth sharing. Seen an example of outstanding camaraderie in last month? Let us know.
Coming up
7 September: UQCC "Strade Maroni" (Cunningham Classic Replacement)
7-8 September: QRTS Stage Race
15 September: Amy’s Gran Fondo
6 October: Around the Bay (Melbourne)
12 October: QRTS Celebration Criteriums
13 October: Brisbane to GC
4 December: BNECC Christmas Party (Crown & Rose Pub)
