Cycling superstar Mark Cavendish was the guest of honour at the 13th annual Dave Rayner Fund dinner this weekend. Cavendish joins a long list of distinguished cyclists who have travelled to Yorkshire as guests of the Rayner Fund Committee. Tour de France winners Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain and double World Champion Paolo Bettini have been amongst the previous guests to accept the famous Yorkshire hospitality.

Cavendish interrupted his winter training programme to travel from home on the Isle of Man to Harrogate. With a road bike packed in the boot of his T-Mobile team car he was hoping to get some miles in with a ride into the Yorkshire Dales on Sunday morning with ex-Pros Sid Barras, Keith Lambert and a few other dinner guests.

Above: Mark Cavendish in the spotlight, interviewed by Eurosports David Harmon at the Dave Rayner Dinner in Harrogate

Above: Guest of Honour Mark Cavendish meets John and Barbara Rayner at Harrogate

Above: 'Super Sid' -- Sid Barras lines up with fellow sprinter Mark Cavendish and Isle of Man coach Mike Doyle

In a reception room before the dinner, cycling stars in their own right Sid Barras, Keith Lambert, Bernie Burns and Derek Smith introduced Cavendish to the team of four riders who rode the Junior Tour of Ireland in a Rayner funded team. The young Rayner riders questioned Cavendish about his career and how he had found life as a first year professional, riding the Tour de France and sprinting against the likes of Robbie McEwen.

The young riders listened intently as Cavendish gave them an insight into sprinting in a big bunch. Sam Webster who wore the yellow jersey in the Junior Tour of Ireland asked the T-Mobile sprinter what motivated him and the reply was just what the young guys wanted to hear.  “I worked in a bank for two years, so when it’s raining and I’m out training all I think is where would I rather be, here out on my bike or sat in the bank, I don’t want to go back to the bank so that’s what motivates me.”

Above: Serena Meakin (Rayner) centre, with her party of friends at the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate

Dressed in a Paul Smith suit and with his trademark beaming smile, former World Madison champion 'Cav' walked into the packed ballroom at the Majestic to a standing ovation from the audience. Two steps behind was long-time Rayner supporter Sir Jimmy Savile milking the applause meant for Cavendish and waving regally at the guests. Sir Jimmy was clutching a plastic carrier bag which he promised held a big surprise for the audience.

Above: Cav walks into the ballroom and 550 waiting guests with Rayner committee man Derek Smith, closely followed by Sir Jimmy Savile

Above: Sir Jimmy Savile milks the applause from the crowd as he walks to the top table

The Dave Rayner Dinner is now firmly fixed in the cycling social calendar. Dave Rayner was a Bradford cyclist who tragically died young; he had been enjoying a successful professional cycling career. Dave was born into a cycling family and showed early promise winning the National Junior Road Race.

With support from his parents John and Barbara, he developed into a young professional road man and went to live and race in Italy. He caught the eye of Dutch team boss Jan Raas and was signed up to ride for the Buckler team in Europe. Young Rayner was following the path laid down by earlier generations of Yorkshire cyclists including legends Brian Robinson and Tom Simpson by living and racing at the top level in Europe.

Above: Mark Cavendish looks the part of cycling superstar as he walks to his table

The Rayner Fund was set up in Dave’s memory by a group of prominent Yorkshire cyclists to assist ambitious young cyclists from all over the country to make successful careers from bike racing on the European continent. The list of riders to have benefited from Rayner funding over the last 13 years is huge, with 24 riders receiving funding in the 2007 season alone. Of course, not all the riders manage to get pro contracts, but Rayner funding helps to give our home-grown riders a better chance of survival in the tough world of European road racing.

Rayner Fund President Brian Robinson officially welcomed the guests and introduced Sir Jimmy Savile. The flamboyant 81 year old former bike racer is the perfect guest at any fund-raising event. With his signature (unlit) cigar in his mouth, he captivated the audience with the story of how he managed to get one of Gino Bartali’s original Tour de France yellow jerseys. Producing the plastic carrier bag he’d been clutching all evening Sir Jimmy pulled out the treasured yellow jersey to massive applause from the crowd. To the delight of the Rayner Committee ‘Jim Fixed it’ for a couple of Rayner riders by donating the Bartali yellow jersey for auction.

Above: Former Leeds General Imfirmary Hospital porter Sir Jimmy Savile takes a pulse reading from Mark Cavendish

Eurosport cycling commentator David Harmon began the interviews with a fascinating few minutes talking to Alan Butler. Butler is a long time supporter of the Rayner Fund and works as a mechanic on the Pro-Tour circuit. For the past few years he has worked for Team Discovery. Harmon prised a few peloton secrets from Butler and got him to tell the audience about the challenges of working with Lance Armstrong. Butler might be forced into early retirement with the demise of the American team but it didn’t prevent him from donating a big selection of signed Team Discovery items to the auction.

Above: Team Discovery mechanic Alan Butler is forced to reveal some secrets of the peloton by David Harmon

Above: David Harmon interviews Sam Webster and his team of Junior riders who represented the Rayner Fund at the Junior Tour of Ireland

Isle of Man cycling coach Mike Doyle was the next to be interviewed. Doyle has been a major influence in bike racing on the island helping to coach most of the current crop of Manx riders who are finding success on the world stage. Doyle is a good friend of Mark Cavendish and explained to David Harmon and assembled guests why the Isle of Man riders are so successful. He put it down to the excellent cycling facilities on the island and quiet roads. He joked that riders always carry a Manx kipper in their back pockets for good luck.

Above: Not a whiff of a Manx kipper, Cav and Sir Jimmy pose for a photo destined for the Isle of Man Today newspaper

The guest of honour Mark Cavendish has faced some tough challenges this year and would probably prefer to race down a twisting narrow final 1km of a 200km Pro-Tour race surrounded by Boonen, McEwen and Pettachi than be interviewed in front of 550 guests.

With two tables of Batley CC members strategically placed at the back of the room to reduce the effects of their heckling, the interview got under way. Cav had no need to worry and to be fair didn’t show any signs of discomfort.  The room fell silent as he spoke about his first season as a professional bike rider. David Harmon compared Cav’s first season tally of wins with Robbie McEwen’s.

He was quickly put straight by Cav who explained that he holds the record of 11 wins.  He told the audience that McEwen only won 7 European races in his first season and that the other four Non-Euro races don’t count. He talked about his future as a professional and what he hopes to achieve in next year’s Tour de France. Quiet and self-effacing, he had the admiration of everyone in the room. With maybe more than a few of us thinking if the luck had been on our side that could have been us up there in the Paul Smith suit and a lucrative T-Mobile contract in the bag.

Above: Cavendish and David Harmon enjoy a joke on the stage of the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate

Mark Cavendish has been the youngest guest of honour to be invited by the Rayner Committee. Merckx, Indurain, Bettini and Boardman are a tough act to follow. Mark Cavendish though, still at the start of his career, is a confident and talented young rider who we all know is going to take the world of cycling by storm in the coming years. With his performance that night, he added another 550 people to his growing fan club.

Before the disco lights were turned on, David Harmon had one last job. The TV commentator proved to be a natural born auctioneer. With bid-spotters around the two huge dining areas, the auction got under way. A Tour de France yellow jersey worn by disgraced rider Michael Rasmussen, a whole host of Team Discovery signed kit from the Vuelta and TdF, cycling themed paintings, signed books and route plans from the major stage races were all on offer. Bidding was frantic, credit cards fought it out with fat wallets and one (un)lucky punter went home with his £2,000 cash wad still intact even though he’d bid for nearly every item.

Above: The SigmaSport team who successfully bid for a set of 2007 Vuelta race numbers worn by Team Discovery

As Sir Jimmy Savile expected, the Gino Bartali Tour de France yellow jersey which he had donated was the highlight of the auction. The opening bid was £500 from the fan with the cash wad and he was confident that his £2,000 would win the prize. With bids jumping up by £100, the jersey soon reached £1,800. The bidding stalled for a few moments as a couple of men took instructions from their partners.

One bidder wasn’t taking instructions from anyone and had a determined look in her eye as she stood holding her table number high to let Harmon know she was still in the fight. A syndicate of Southerners representing ‘SigmaSport’ had collected a few high value items earlier in the auction and were still in the battle. With another ‘Yorkshire cyclist’ still in the bidding the value crept to £2,000. Reaching this figure saw the withdrawal of Mr ‘cash wad’ and ‘Yorkshire cyclist’, ‘determined woman’ held the bid at £2,000 and ‘SigmaSport’ held a quick team conference.

Their spokesman stood up and raised the bid for one final time to £2,100. ‘Determined woman’ didn’t blink and stood firm holding her number as high as possible. Harmon shouted out £2,200 and all eyes went to ‘SigmaSport’ who had clearly admitted defeat. With the bang of the auctioneers gavel a new record had been in reached in the Rayner Fund at £2,200 for a single item. ‘Determined woman’ later explained that she had bought the jersey as a birthday present for her husband who couldn’t attend the dinner because of illness.

Above: Rayner man Keith Lambert poses with the highest bidders for the Gino Bartali Tour de France yellow jersey

The final figures for the Dave Rayner Dinner are not yet in, but the auction of cycling memorabilia raised just under £12,000. This year the fund has benefited from the Etape du Dale and Fred Whitton Sportive rides together with hundreds of other small donations from clubs and individuals. Rayner Dinner and Etape du Dale organiser Stuart Holdsworth commented,

"The Dave Rayner Fund Committee would like to express their gratitude to everyone who has made a donation or worked for the fund this year. The list of people we need to thank is endless, but I would like to give special mention to Paul Loftus of the Fred Whitton Challenge in Cumbria and Greg Roche of Sunday Bicycles who have been very generous in their support of the fund."

Details of the 2008 Dave Rayner Dinner will be available shortly.