Throughout 2022 we will continue to shine a light on the brilliant work our volunteers do for all forms of cycling. We want to acknowledge the huge contribution made by a wide variety of volunteer roles in making cycling happen – quite simply, it wouldn’t happen without them.
With a vibrant summer of cycling that has spanned Commonwealth Games victories to children tasting their first bike racing experiences through our Ride and Shine campaign, volunteers have been busy! We would like to say a huge thank you and well done from all of us here at British Cycling to everyone that has been nominated for August 2022 for their ongoing commitment to our sport.
If you think someone deserves a mention, get in touch on social media with your respective regional or national teams or via @BCCoaches on Twitter.
Name: Pauline Murray-Knight MBE
Region: East Midlands
Role: Breeze Champion, Guided Ride Leader, Pedal Party Volunteer
Pauline has recently completed her Ride Leader course and since doing so, there has been no stopping her! Based in Nottingham, Pauline has been heavily involved with a women’s 10-week confidence programme, as well as recently enabling a Couch to 30km programme to support rider progression. Not content with these, she also started volunteering with Pedal Party, an event aimed at encouraging the whole family to get out riding together at Harvey Hadden cycling circuit.
Nottingham Community Developer, Stacey Reed said “Pauline has been a massive help to the Community Developer programme in the past month, and I look forward to working with her and supporting her in her cycling journey.”
British Cycling Values – Passion; Unity; Innovation; Integrity
Name: George Green
Region: Central
Role: Club Ride Leader
A member of Wokingham Cycling Club, George has developed and maintained the TT series throughout the pandemic and sorted out the processes needed to keep it running smoothly. His timekeeping is impeccable, and he even manages to give times out on the night to impatient riders wanting their times super quick. George is cited as being very good at dealing calmly and firmly with late entries too!
George is an integral club volunteer, with a grateful member telling us the following: “One of my first Wokingham Cycling Club (WCC) rides was led by George. It turned out to be his 100th WCC ride which, as a new member, I found very impressive, even more when I found out the short timeframe in which it had been accomplished. Every ride he leads he demonstrates great road awareness as well as being considerate of the rest of the riders in the group and ensuring the target pace is met. He has a great knowledge of local roads particularly going south into Hampshire, so I, and I'm sure many other members, have learnt lots of new routes from him. Despite being a strong rider, he regularly steps back to lead lower paced rides, sharing his knowledge and ride leading skills with a broad range of other club members. Post lock down, he pioneered weekday time rides for the club which are now going from strength to strength.”
British Cycling Values – Integrity
More about Wokingham Cycling Club
Name: Tracy Arkinstall
Region: West Midlands
Role: Club Secretary, Event Organiser
Tracy has been involved with Birmingham Monarchs Cycle Speedway Club for 7-8 years after taking her son to have a go and quickly volunteered to join the club committee to help run, promote and enhance the club. Tracy is a very good administrator and manages all the paperwork, applications, race entries and reports that club activities generate.
Tracy is exceptionally dedicated. It’s not only the big-ticket projects that Tracy has managed so well, but she also makes certain that the small things get done. Tracy has helped to create a positive climate within the club and provided it with a sound structure, where club members take an active interest and listen to each other. Her work has contributed to and allowed the club to be awarded the British National Finals for the first time in the club’s 75-year history.
Chris Timms, rider of Birmingham Monarchs CSC said the following about Tracy, “Tracy’s most notable high-level achievement was the negotiation of a lessee for the clubs infrastructure footprint. This in turn allowed Birmingham Monarchs to bid for a grant from Sport England to fund and install a perimeter fence. I cannot stress how time consuming and challenging this task was, Tracy’s positive focus was simply tremendous. She had to overcome numerous frustrating circumstances to achieve this goal. She is exceptionally dedicated and her ability to identify problems and find solutions is commendable. She is very resourceful in finding solutions, providing practical doable plans and is upbeat and optimistic."
British Cycling Values – Unity; Passion; Innovation
Birmingham Monarchs Cycle Speedway Club
Name: Ross Duffield
Region: Wales
Role: Event Organiser, Trainee Commissaire, Club Volunteer, Coach, Head of Off-Road Commission
Ross is not only an avid cyclist but also an eager volunteer. In the past year alone, Ross has been involved in several volunteering roles. Firstly, he was elected as the chair of the Off-Road commission and has since been chairing several meetings. He is not shy to getting stuck into the midst of events as he and his club, Cwmcarn Paragons, have been involved in organising several events within Cross-Country Mountain Biking and Cyclo-Cross. As well as this, Ross is also heavily involved in activities that involved introducing youth to the sport as he organises Go-Ride sessions and leads on coaching sessions for the Welsh Cycling MTB Club Clusters. These sessions turned out to be hugely popular with around 10-20 young riders attending each time!
I guess you could say there is not much Ross does not do! His passion for the sport has been reflected throughout this year’s racing and activities in Wales and he definitely deserves recognition for his impact on the sport.
Rowan Jones from Hafren Cycling Club noted Ross’s support of others when he told us “As a club organising our first Welsh MTB round Ross gave us loads of help and support, from telling us what we needed to do and when in the build up with the various admin tasks, to providing us with templates for things like the race manual and answering any questions we had. He was also present in his trainee commissaire role giving input the day before and on the day. His help and support was invaluable, and made the whole process bit less daunting and stressful.”
