Rutland CC 1908 - 2003
In 1908 the church lads of Neepsend and Pitsmoor had an agreement with the church elders about riding their bikes on Sunday.

So came into being the Rutland Hall Cycling Club. At first they seemed to be riding for pleasure with a little racing as our 50 mile handicap cup dates from 1913. In the 1920’s saw the arrival of Len Ingle he was quite an accomplished rider being the first man locally to beat 5 hrs for 100 miles. He was also active in running the club being secretary and president.

About the time of the depression when most members were out of work, they seemed to spendtheir days down at Shireoaks and Lindrick Dale. In 1932 Bill Littlewood put the club in the limelight by accepting a challenge from ‘The Sheffield Star’ to ride from Sheffield to London, which he did in 8h 59mins 0s. His time was finally beaten 60 years later by Stuart Elsy in 7h 55mins 49s.

The late 1930’s saw Alwyn Cawthorne, Joe Wilson and Ron Masterman making an impact in local events. Upon the start of WW2 some members were called up in to the forces but the club kept active throughout the war years. Some other clubs suspended activities but were never reformed after the war. Len Ingle, the Coopers, Denis Bell, Bill Vickers, Jack and Tony Fouldes, Colin Barton, Ken Masterman and Jack Rowan kept things going for the Rutland CC. The wars were a good time for cyclists with hardly any cars on the roads.

After the war there was an explosion in cycling, we had club runs of sixty plus led by club captain Percy Senior, a great guy.

Early fifties saw road racing coming to the fore our leading riders in that were Ray Lockwood, Brian Trippett and Dick Bartrop the last two making it into pro ranks. Dick rode theTour of Britain with distinction.

About this time our riders were making their mark in long distance events. Joe Thompson, Lofty Leversidge and Ron Coukham all won 24hr championships and with the help of Tony Fouldes, Jim Hall and George Steers won five team championships. During this period Jim Hall took the 24 hr N.R.R.A record 441.75miles from Benny Hudson 419.25 miles. Benny was also second in the 1949 championship all rides were done under the guidance of Ron Masterman.

The early sixties saw two young lads join the club Ben Hamilton and Dave Dungworth. While Ben went for longer distances with some success. He still holds Sheffield to York record 1hr 51mins 31s. Dave went for the shorter distances doing the double in 1966 by winning the 25m and 50 national championships and repeating the feat again the following year. He also set a club record for 50miles of 1h 48mins 54s all done on a top gear of 107″ and without tribars and disc wheels.

Dave Dungworth pictured on the track at Herne Hill.

Track racing was mainly grass track racing taking place at village galas our best riders were Jock Cauldwell and Dave and Gerry Nugent.

Moving on a little, a young lad from Wisewood area joined the club with name of Malcolm Pearce who turned into a hard riding road man, he also had a weakness for meat pies washed down with copious amounts of beer, but we all miss him since his move to New Zealand.

A few years later another young lad from Wisewood called Malcolm joined the club. Malcolm Elliott, and what a rider he turned out to be. Tour de France, Tour of Spain and a full pro career on the continent and America plus a Medal at the Moscow Olympics. He has now made a successful comeback at the age of 46. Malc is pictured here at Crawley town centre 2007 with another of our old members, John Barnsley.

Getting nearer to the present Matthew and Andrew Sedgewick were making their name in Cyclo Cross, also their father was promoting many successful events.

Over the last few years we have had a good crop of road riders, the Sedgewick brothers, John Hadfield, Simon Keeton, Steve Ellis, Darren Otter, Marc Mallender, Phill Axe and Dick Cubison who has now turned his attention to track riding

In Time Trails we have some great riders in Jon Rickards, Marc Mallender, Simon Keeton, Alan West, Oliver Hudson, Glynn Singleton, Ray Mason, not to mention Darren Otter who gained 7th position in the B.A.R.

Last winter Mick Rowson won cyclo-cross National trophy vets series.

In V.T.T.A events Tony Fouldes (below) won the 24 hour championship 3 times 1992,93,96. George Steers won the 10mile championship in 1993 the 30 mile championship in 1999 and together with Alan West won the 3 distance B.A.R in 2000.

History was made on Sept 23rd 2000 at Manchester Velodrome when Simon Keeton and Jon Rickards broke the tandem one hour record with 50.068km beating Mills and Pauls pre war record.

A word about the ladies, it was not until after WW2 that women could become members in their own right. Hilda Ingle would be the first, closely followed by Mona Smith and Jean Masterman both who served as the clubs social secretaries. Elaine Bullers was active on the racing front her 100 mile record of 4h 44mins 43s still stands today, she was followed by Pam Harding. Later Jane Sedgewick set records at 10 miles and 12hrs and later still Freddie Herridge did an amazing 2h 11mins 22s for 50 miles.

Tandem racing has took off recently with Simon Keeton with Jon Rickards, Barrie Crother with Dave Clarkson and Stuart Smith with various partners.

Over the years we have been blessed with good officials from Len Ingle, Bill Vickers, Bert Ridge, Brian Oxley, Geoff Smith, Colin Keeton, Graham Sedgewick, Chris Broadhurst, Gordon Scott and last but not least Jim Hall, he was president, social sec, dinner organizer, 100mile and 25mile organizer all at the same time. What a man!

We are now in the capable hands of Stuart Smith (president) and Marc Mallender (secretary) lets hope they can take us through to our centenary in 2008.

If you wish to know more details of Rutland CC our minute books are kept in Sheffield archives contact the secretary for details.

George Steers 2003.

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