Name: Haydn Jones
Region: Wales
Role: Coach, Go Ride Contact, Event Organiser
Described as a hardworking and friendly individual who inspires others around him, Haydn has been involved with Wrexham Road Club as an avid club cyclist and following achieving his coaching qualifications he got involved in Go Ride sessions from 2016. Since starting as a coach, he quickly worked to register the club as a Go Ride club and after 18 months the club reached Go Ride Accreditation.
Haydn constantly is looking for opportunities for the children within the Wrexham club by using various locations to help develop their skills on tarmac and on dirt. His continued support has led him into his involvement with Event Organisation and course building. His support to the Go Ride Racing MTB and Circuit series has established two permanent features in Northeast Wales each year. In addition to supporting Wrexham Road Club and the Go Ride Racing Series in North Wales, Haydn has continued to offer his great coaching and cyclo-cross knowledge to the Talent Development Cyclo-Cross sessions in North Wales. He is a key volunteer who inspires others to volunteer and help in event support and organisation.
Mark Charlesworth, fellow coach, and parent at Wrexham Road Club said:
“Haydn is tireless in his dedication to coaching at the club across a range of disciplines, regardless of if it is kids who want to gain confidence or for kids who want to go on and race at the highest level. He gives an enormous amount of his own time and can be seen coaching a Go Ride session and then a Talent Development Centre on a Saturday and then set up and run a cyclo-cross race on the Sunday.”
Roger Squires, Secretary of Wrexham Road Club said:
“He is doing a sterling job. The Go ride sessions he is holding are going from strength to strength, holding regular sessions on a weekly/two weekly basis, whenever possible. There is a big impact from parental and club members helping out and he gives good feedback and updates whenever we hold committee meetings. Go Ride Membership has grown over the years and the number of activities on offer. He also plays a big part on the cyclo-cross part too and he is a valuable member of our club, always there to lend a helping hand in marshalling events.”
British Cycling Values: Unity, Passion, Integrity
Name: John Tustian
Region: Central
Role: Ride Secretary at Banbury Star Cycling Club
John's task is to plan the Banbury Star weekend club rides, which sounds relatively simple. However, as a club of over 200 members and because the weekend rides are so excellently planned and organised, rides attract around 40 members out on a Saturday and 10 on a Sunday.
The rides would not be anywhere near as successful without John’s meticulous attention to detail, he plans every route for the Saturday and Sunday rides, organises the registered riders into their necessary groups and then contacts every member the day before confirming this. He also ensures each ride has a designated coffee stop and arranges with said pub or garden centre that it is okay for everyone to descend on their premises, and they then lay on a fantastic spread of coffee and cakes for all taking part.
He also spends time to ensure that the routes are safe for members to ride and uses a special app to check for last minute road closures. Basically, John is a legend and the time and dedication he gives every single week to enable everyone to simply turn up and enjoy the ride is hugely appreciated.
Heidi Yates, Community Developer at British Cycling said:
“John is renowned as "the legend" within our club, however he is particularly humble and I'm not sure how much he realises that his efforts are appreciated.”
British Cycling Values: Passion, Integrity, Unity
Name: Iffat Tejani
Region: Central
Role: Coach, Club Chair, Breeze Champion
Iffat started Evolve, the Cycling Network for Muslim Women two years ago with the idea of making cycling more accessible for Muslim Women, to get them more confident in cycling whether that be for commuting, racing, taking part in sportives or just for the sheer enjoyment of riding a bike.
Being a Breeze Champion was the starting point of her journey into creating and establishing Evolve as a British Cycling affiliated club. She started by leading rides to build up confidence for women riding on the road and then progressed to getting her Level 1 coaching qualification. This enabled her to teach those who never learnt how to ride a bike. After doing that she utilized her coaching skills to help prepare women for their first sportive, London to Windsor, which she held twice in the past couple of years. In November 2021 she progressed to getting her Level 2 coaching qualification and started Evolve’s Go-Ride Club which teaches children core bike handling skills.
Iffat is constantly looking for ways to improve Evolve and break down the barriers within cycling for Muslim Women, including but not limited to, designing the first ever modest cycling jersey allowing those who wear hijab to feel more comfortable on their bike, getting her Level 2 Road and Time Trial coaching qualification and organising BMX sessions for everyone to try different disciplines of cycling.
"Evolve would not be what it is without Iffat, she is a committed volunteer, a great coach and is always ready to take on new challenges and turn them in to something great."
British Cycling Values: Innovation, Passion
Name: Paul Bullock
Region: West Midlands
Role: Lead Coach
Paul volunteers with Stafford Road club and is an inspiring, enthusiastic and passionate individual and most importantly makes the club feel like a family. He engages with all people involved with the club. Everyone is welcome and nothing is too much trouble. Paul fixes bikes, advises on all aspects of cycling and is an all-round fountain of knowledge.
He also has the ability to challenge and progress riders whilst making sessions fun and this is clearly evident through the riders he has coached that have gone on to ride nationally and even internationally. He is immersed in the sport through organising races; building courses; leading mountain bike rides; being a first aider at races such at the West Midlands Cyclo-Cross League and also holds a position on the West Midlands board.
Fellow coaches at Stafford Road Club had the following to say about Paul:
“As the newest member of the coaching team his wealth of experience in coaching is also invaluable to me, you could say he is coaching a coach" Steve Anthony
"He has also attended races to support riders and offer advice, no matter the distance and even if there has only been one rider from the club competing" Terry Allen
"Paul always looks for opportunities to improve our club, for the Go-Ride riders. This includes grants, group rides, park equipment, races, medals, prizes and parties. He keeps the coaches and kids motivated, always encouraging everyone involved. Coaching is in Paul's nature" Carl Lewis
British Cycling Values: Passion, Unity
Name: Ken Jolifee
Region: Eastern
Role: Event Organiser and MyLaps operator
Ken has been the main contact point and organiser for the Lotus league in Norfolk for the last 15 years which has been the mainstay of Norfolk cycling. He has also run several road races and sportives in recent years and in the past has run events in the old Peter Buckly junior series.
Alongside everything that comes with event organising, Ken has been instrumental in introducing chip timing into races and has supported many events to improve their results services. In the modern events world, we know how keen riders are to know how they got on and analyse their performances as soon as possible. Not content with everything he has contributed, on top of this he is now venturing into Gravel race organising! Well done and thank you Ken, cycling in Norfolk is better off because of your amazing contribution!
Ian Doe, Cycle Sport Developer in the region said:
"Without Ken cycle racing in the Norfolk area would be in a terrible position, add that to his past exploits before moving to Norfolk, Ken has had a massive impact on cycling."
