Brickendon 2021 wk8, 22nd June

Several riders achieved their best times of the season on a dry warmish night with a moderate breeze. Thanks as ever to Nick Harris for timekeeping, Pete Nunn for organisation and signs, and to Graham and Debbie Potter for reviving tea, restorative sugary concoctions, and motivating pep talks.

Nick Candy rode a 20:25 but Jim stays at the top of the leaderboard for the coveted Ken Davis Silver Salver. Dale and Ashley ratchetted up the tension in the battle for the wooden spoon by yet again not turning up.

So who was Ken Davis you may ask, and how did the Brickendon 10s come to be? My thanks to Graham for reaching into the memory bank and archives...

Ken Davis - Some Personal Recollections

I was introduced to the NRCC by Ken Davis in early 1957. Ken joined the club in 1948 and remained a member until his death on 14th November 1995 aged 67. We became very good friends as we had much in common: both then bachelors, chartered accountants and above all devoted to cycling and the NRCC. He was a fine club captain for very many years with the one weakness of leading runs to a ferry which had long closed or a derelict wartime aerodrome where the road ceased. He toured overseas with club colleagues and was always present on the York Run at Easter and other bank holiday weekend runs. He raced at all distances from 25s to 24s, and after his death the club was presented with the Ken Davis Salver which listed all his personal bests. It was presented to the Club by his sister and brother in law. The club decided to present this to the winner of the evening 10s on the Brickendon circuit, the competition being season long and awarded on a points basis. After the death of Harry England and the bequest of his library he undertook the care of the library in bookcases which he had built in his parent's house. This became his home from 1939 until his death. A fine man with great stamina and love for cycling, which he served in many capacities. My last contact with Ken was having the honour as President of paying tribute to him at the funeral in Enfield.

The Brickendon 10s are more accurately 9.3 miles*. The course was designed by Geoff Bruton and for safety reasons has all left turns save for a right turn at the Bayford War Memorial. One would need to read the old minute books to discover who came up with the idea but let's give credit to Ken Davis as he was time trial secretary from 1983 to 1992. The first series was promoted in 1990. The early series were regarded as a side show to the real business of club and open time trials and road races but it has developed into one of the main events in the club's programme. Entries have ranged from a few hardy souls in poor conditions to up to forty riders boosted by guest riders with some notable names such as a multi national champion and a world and Olympic champion**. One failure at times has been a shortage of helpers and I can recall that on one occasion there was just one member multi tasking from opening the village hall to timekeeping and closing the hall. I am not sure who is the first name engraved on the salver in 1996 but it may be Mark Reynolds. The trophy is currently with Ian Turner as the most recent winner of the salver.

Graham Thompson

* only 9.09 according to my GPS and Strava (Ed.)
** John Woodburn, Laura Trott/Kenny

NRCC riders

Position	Rider	Time	Points
1	Nick Candy	20.25	30
2	Jim Moss	21.45	27
3	Brian Evans	25.19	25
4	Chris Dixon	26.17	23
5	Dan Tarry	26.53	21
6	Ivana Prokopova	27.14	19
7	Andy Hadfield	27.28	17

 

Guests

Chris Wedge (Whitewebbs CC)	21.05
Paul Loftus	24.03
Paul Huckstep (Hoddesdon Tri)	24.15
Georgiana Pandy (Hoddesdon Tri)	27.20

 

Unofficial Ken Davis Salver leaderboard

1	Jim Moss	174
2	Chris Dixon	158
3	Ivana Prokopova	135
4	Dan Tarry	123
5	Brian Evans	107
6	Chris Symonds	105
7	Alex Labey	75
8	Nick Candy	60
9	Nikki Chandler	50
10	Glyn Dodds	44
11	Tim Brown	44
12	Andy Hadfield	42
13	Andy Muir	42
14	Dave Green	27
15	Eric Paillet	23
16	Martin Quinn	21
17	Ashley Glass	17
18	Dale Sellers	15