NEWS FOR AUGUST 2003

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PARROT PRINT NEWSLETTER (JULY/AUGUST)

The months of July and August were absolutely wonderful for the team with some superb wins interlaced with a number of podium places. Team captain Andy Lyons made several trips to the podium including winning at North Weald and being placed at several other events. A weekend trip to Belgium saw Andy being placed 13th at Oosterkloot (in the money and the newspapers) followed by 25th the next day at Helkjan from a field of over 100 riders.

Roger Morgan made a number of trips to the podium but never as a winner. However, he sacrificed his own chances in the Surrey Revolutions 5 Day stage race to ensure that Danny Axford was well placed. Roger spent 3 days in the King of the Mountains jersey and though scoring points on the last day early on he quickly realised that with Danny escaping from the bunch that he would only take our closest opponents up to him and therefore negate Danny�s chances. It was a first class team act. Roger was �gutted� to have lost the lead but settled for a final 10th place on general and runner up in the mountains title

Danny Axford our Oxford postgraduate positively revelled in the hot weather of late and scored several high placings culminating in a superb stage win in the 5 Day and final runner up on General Classification. That final stage was a brute with a number of climbs that even the Tour de France missed out when over in �94! Allied that to several other stage placings in that race and you can see August was good for our Danny. The week before the 5 day he scored our highest placing in a Premier Trophy race since �97 with his 4th place in the 118 mile Havant international and securing some prestigious UCI ranking points to boot

Gavin Poupart our scientist returned from the USA and struggled to get back to previous form. However, his contribution in the 5 Day was absolutely essential and a 6th place on stage 3a was scant consolation. He suffered from the heat and the hills-at 6�4� it is hard work climbing but he persevered

James Cambridge had a successful summer with a win at Mallory and several other placings that enabled him to finish runner up over the season long series to our own Steve Dring. James was then hit by a virus that put him in hospital for a day and created a 2 week lay off but he has recovered now and looking forward to the final PT race of the year

Paul Dring came back to his best form for several years now but whilst not winning an event he did regain his Elite licence with his consistency. He then made a major contribution to the team during the Surrey 5 Day and both Danny and Roger were delighted with his help

Brother Steve regained that magic sparkle and his Elite licence with several sterling rides and 2 superb wins including one at Shrawley his birthplace. In addition he secured the overall series win at Mallory Park and so retained his �King of Mallory� title. As with Paul and Gavin he then contributed enormously to the team effort in the 5 Day.

I am proud of all the lads; they have had a superb season and kept Stilton and its �Parrots� to the fore. I sincerely hope that I can keep the squad together for next year. Most of our sponsorship for 2004 is in place though I never turn down any offers of help and I am seeking financial assistance for the team car next season to cover insurance and taxation for the new season-Anyone able to help?

Finally I am pleased to say that we are retaining the Kidney link for 2004 and currently assisting the Fund�s Narissa Frost on her Blackpool Tower to Eiffel Tower charity ride starting on August 31st