Annual Dinner and Awards night
Earlier in March, we held our Annual Dinner and Awards night in Beech Village Hall, with Kelvin welcoming us all with funky tunes on his saxaphone, and a fantastic after-dinner speaker, Dan Farrell, who is General Manager of Moulton Bicycles. It was fascinating to learn about the evolution of Moulton bikes, true innovators of small wheeled bikes. The 2025 Hill Climb Champions (Lucy Elliott and Simon Potter) and the Segment Challenge winners (Simon Potter and Ruth Stratford) received trophies, and it was lovely to share a few special mentions which were submitted by our members – people who had gone above and beyond! A really lovely evening, with Paul Watts being awarded Club Member of the Year (again!).
Annual General Meeting
We held our AGM on 3rd December, with around 30 members attending, perhaps attracted by the beer supplied by Triple fff brewery and the mince pies! We ran through the highlights of 2025 and plans in 2026, including racing plans (more to come on this), as well as voting in our Committee members. There was one change, as Howard Garland stepped down from his role as Treasurer after 3 wonderful years, which we greatly appreciate, and Clare Watts admirably stepped in as our new Treasurer. We approved one change to our Constitution, which was to remove the joining fee when someone joins Alton Cycling Club! We also voted to give Guy Henshaw (previous Chair for 5 years) and Owen Pattinson (owner of Owens Cycles) life memberships, as recognition and appreciation of their support to our club over the many years. Owens Cycles has been a sponsor for over […]
Thank you to Owens Cycles
A few of us from Alton Cycling Club went to see Owen Pattinson last Saturday in his Rightbike shop, to thank him for over 20 years of his support and sponsorship to Alton Cycling Club. We gave him life membership and a few gifts to show our sincere appreciation. Thank you Owen!
Alton CC Hill Climb 2025
On Saturday 11th October, 15 riders lined up to take part in the Alton CC annual club hill climb.
The event was held on the mile long Brockham Hill in Holybourne: the hill rises some 300 feet with an average gradient of over 6% but with some sections over 15%!
Of the 15 participants, 8 were from other clubs, or no club at all; we had three female participants, and ages ranged from 20 to 66.
Alton CC’s Lucy Elliot took 1st place in the lady’s competition with a great time of 5’ 36.7”, with Lucy Gray claiming second place and Sarah third. Lucy E becomes our 2025 women’s hill climb champion.
In the men’s contest, Michael Henderson of Oxford University stormed to 1st place in the open competition with a time of 3’ 45.2”, with Archie Wright of Southampton Uni not far behind and with 3’54.0”. Harry Johnson, VC St.Raphael, just missed […]
New partnership with Veloline!
We’re incredibly excited to announce our new partnership with Veloline! We launched on 20th September with celebrations at Veloline’s bike shop in Lower Farringdon. The team at Veloline gave us a very warm welcome, and with a great turn-out, we led 4 group rides, before coming back for celebratory coffees and cakes (and even balloons)! Great photos thanks to John at Veloline!
Alton Cycling club members will receive a range a benefits, we’ll aim to lead a monthly Saturday ride from their shop, and we’ll be adding their logo to our new order of club jerseys, alongside our fabulous sponsors, Hi-Tech Heating and Ventrus. Exciting times ahead!
North France Touring Trip, June 2025
Simon Potter organised a fantastic tour in north France, part Brittany and part Normandy – 6 riders, who had the luxury of our bags being transported in a support vehicle driven by Simon’s dad, Roland.
Day 1 To the ferry, 55km & 528m elevation gain
6 of us set off riding from Alton, heading to the ferry in Portsmouth for our overnight crossing to St Malo. It was a hot afternoon, so stopping for ice cream on the way definitely helped and got us into the holiday spirit.
Day 2 To St Brieuc, 102km & 1004m elevation gain
We started the day with amazing pastries and coffee in St Malo, which we had to queue out of the door for. A bit of rain then descended on us, but it was already 20 degrees, so the rain didn’t bother us. It got up to 34 degrees, and pretty exhausting with some headwind. Arrived at […]
