In know this is a bit like 'singing our own praises', but considering all the effort the clubs put in to support the National Hill Climb I thought it would be good to see the feedback we have been getting so far:

Thank you to you, your wife, and all your helpers for a great event yesterday. Very well organised, lovely scenery, traditional weather and a warm welcome. Well done, top job !

I just want to congratulate you and your team on an excellent event on Sunday. I'm no hillclimber, but I've now ridden 4 national championship versions in consecutive years, and yours stood out as the most carefully and expertly organised. And to arrange for the downpours before and after the event, but not during it was even more impressive.

Many thanks for organising a fantastic hill climb yesterday.  Please also pass on a huge thank you to the large number of helpers who really did a superb job which did not go unnoticed.  The Guernsey contingent enjoyed their day out.

Just a quick note to say "thanks" for a great National Hill Climb! "Enjoyed" my ride! Thanks to all the marshalls, helpers and timekeepers.

Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed the hillclimb on Sunday. The organisation, facilities and atmosphere were superb, and the weather wasn't 'too bad'. Please pass on my thanks to all
those involved, I really enjoyed the day, and having done some organising myself i know what a ball ache it can be sometimes. Your efforts were very much appreciated, thank you!

and does it come any better than this?

Over the last 6 or 7 years I have attended 99% of all National Championships.
I would like to congratulate the West DC on what in my opinion (personally speaking) is the best organised National Championship I have ever attended (and I've promoted some myself).
The startsheet was first class, the event was excellently marshalled and they even had a road sweeper go up and down the hill before the event on the sunday morning.

WELL DONE to the whole team.

Keith Lawton

A huge thank you to all of the Clubs, and the individuals, that contributed to the weekends National Hill Climb. The organising committee were proud to see so many of our riders out both competing and helping, and without you folks it would not have been the success it was.

Congratulations to all the prize winners, the full result has now been posted on the National website, click on the following link to take you to the Results.

The official Results Sheets will be sent out early next week.

The Start Sheet can be downloaded by clicking on the following link, Start Sheet.

Victory for the Bath CC in both the 25 and 50 Team Championships clinched their overall triumph in this years Championship, coming in ahead of Severn RC and Gloucester City CC. The trophy will now be engraved and the certificates, for the first three teams in each event, will be sent to club secretaries next month.

The District Annual General Meeting was held after the Severn RC promotion at Ashton Keynes on Sunday.

Three Officers retired from the Committee, Christine (Treasurer), Mary-Jane and John (Else). Our thanks to all of them for the contribution they have all made to the District during their term in office.

Christine has agreed to remain as the Treasurer until the end of December to oversee the affiliations and club levies for this year and to ensure a smooth handover. There were no nominations for a new Treasurer at the meeting and the Committee was empowered to appoint a new incumbent . We should really like to hear from anyone in the District that would like to take on this position, whilst financial skills are required they are not complex, organisational skills and the ability to deal with people are equally important. The vast majority of clubs and event organisers are now well drilled in what they have to do, making the job of collected money and passing it on to National so much easier. If you are interested then please speak to anyone on the committee or feel free to contact the Chairman to discuss the job in more detail (01963 440291).

We are pleased to welcome two new members onto the committee, Chris Broad-Drake and Charles Zanettacci, I am sure they will both make a valuable contribution to the running of the District.

The dates were agreed for those clubs that have submitted Open Event request forms, for those that have only verbally requested dates please can you submit a form as the new one requests information that has not previously been part of the form. Open Event Application Form. These need to go to Dave Keene as soon as possible as he has to submit the dates to National very soon.

The District Championship event levy and the request for a voluntary contribution to the District remain unchanged, see article below.

Dates for the District Championship were agreed as:
10: Severn RC, U7B on 12 July;
25: Chippenham, U46 on 20 July;
50: Clevedon & District, U21 on 15 June.
The GHS 10 was set for the Severn RC 10 on the U7B on 12 July.

The John Galway Memorial Award was awarded to David Notley for his work in dealing with the Police and Highways Agency over the use of the A303 and the A417 as well as his efforts on the National Hill Climb.

Congratulations to Bath CC on adding the 50 title to their 25 Team Championship victory. The Bath trio of John French (1:57:41), Mark Keyford (2:00:39) and Tony Thorne (2:03:18) recorded a total of 6:01:38.

Congratulations to Bath CC on winning the Team Championship just ahead of the host Club Severn RC. The Bath trio of Craig Green (58:56), Mark Keyford (59:55) and Tony Thorne (1:01:06) recorded a total of 2:59:57 beating, Matthew Burbridge, Mark Smith and Simon Haward who had a combined time of 3:00:19.

Congratulations to Gloucester City CC on winning the Team Championship. The victorious trio of Guy Preece (23.14), Andy Palmer (23:58) and Toby Wooldridge (25:17) clocked a total of 1:07:18 to beat Bath CCs Rob Pears, Craig Green and Mark Keyford (1:07:33) who in turn were just ahead of Bristol South CC, Steven Downs, Dave Keene and Danial Kempe (1:08:24).

On to the 25 next weekend...

Keith Lawton and Wayne Holton are currently developing a system that will allow event promoters to receive entries for events via the internet. The system will require that event promoters who wish to take advantage of this system, which will hopefully come on-line during the 2008 season, must indicate when applying for their event that they are prepared to accept entries in this way, as well as by conventional means. An amended Open Event Application Form is available by clicking on the link.
IT IS STRESSED THAT ONLY EVENT PROMOTERS WHO WANT TO PARTICIPATE NEED TO DO SO AND THAT ALL EVENTS MUST ACCOMMODATE RIDERS WHO DO NOT WANT TO ENTER USING THE INTERNET.

Note the levy for 2008 will remain at £2.00 for open events, and increase to £1.00 for club events.