Jim Love obituary (15.01.1929 - 1.03.2024)
Jim Love may not be known to the now many members of the Willesden and Sotonia Cycling Clubs. He was modest, principled, a strong but gentle man. He started cycling as a teenager. As a Londoner he joined the Willesden Cycling Club when he was about 16 and quickly became a good rider taking part in time trails, track racing and of course club runs with often over 100 riders mobbing cafes!
Paddington track was his main track, then Herne Hill. By 1948 he had earned his place in the Olympic Team Pursuit. A bad crash a few weeks before the Olympics and an off-day at the penultimate training day meant he was reserve. Although some said it was team politics not to have too many “London boys” in the team, Jim was too modest to be drawn. The team won a Bronze Medal.
Jim maintained his links with the Willesden serving as club president. He still holds two Willesden Club records, maybe it is time to revive those events and try to beat him? He held the Club 25 record in 1949 at 1hr 1m 16s.
As a teenager Dad also became a keen photographer and over time took and inherited many photos. Jim, always meticulous, has passed this archive to the National Cycling Archive held at Warwick University free for anyone to visit.
Charity Bike Jumble
A printer by profession, Jim loved books. Most of these are being sold for charity at a Bike Jumble on 21st April in Brockenhurst.
One of Jim’s many friends and track rival was Charlie Mariner. In 1949 Charlie invited Dad to present prizes at the Southern Paragon annual dinner dance and it was there that Jim met Eileen, also a keen cyclist with the Southern Paragon. They married in 1952.
As many cycling clubs began to fade in 1960s Jim and Eileen became founder members of the Sotonia Cycling Club in 1967. Jim sketched the orange and white club vest early designs at their kitchen table. Jim was club coach and President and remained a Vice President.
Jim was also a member of the Pedal Club and Scrumpy Wheelers which showed the breadth of his love of cycling.
In the build up to 2012 Olympics in London Dad was honoured to be included meeting many athletes, politicians and Princess Anne several times. He was given tickets to the 2012 track cycling and triathlon and was astounded and delighted to see so many people understood and cheered the track cycling events.
Last summer Jim was again honoured to unveil a plaque at Herne Hill Velodrome to mark 75 years since the ‘48 Olympic track events were held there. Thought to be the last man standing from that track squad he was accompanied by his proud family and daughters of team members Reg Harris and Alan Geldard. This proved to be a fantastic family day out. Dad delighted in seeing all the youngsters racing at the same meeting as internationals “taking part in the best sport in the world”. This day buoyed him for the last few months of his long life.
Cycling was always the hub of Jim and Eileen’s lives with the spokes being the friends, social events, competition, holidays, adventures, photography, books, fitness, and more friends and the rim joining all these aspects of their life together.
Jim is survived by his wife and sister, both Eileen, children Brian and Carol, grand-daughters Imogen and Lucy.
Sotonia P161 10 mile TT results, 14 April 2024
Results purely listed as fastest time order:
| Pos | Name | Club | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy Hubbard | Sotonia CC | 22.44 |
| 2 | Niclas Olley | Sotonia CC | 24.27 |
| 3 | Corbin Gregson | VC Venta | 25.00 |
| 4 | Martin Ingman | CTI | 25.44 |
| 5 | Jon Dudley | Sotonia CC | 25.58 |
| 6 | George Connell | Sotonia CC | 26.20 |
| 7 | Jason Harrison | Sotonia CC | 26.47 |
| 8 | Oliver Hutchins | VC Venta | 26.53 |
| 9 | Samuel Ridgment | Sotonia CC | 27.49 |
| 10 | Greg Sanger | Sotonia CC | 27.51 |
| 11 | Mick Anglim | NFCC | 28.36 |
| 12 | Justin Olley | Sotonia CC | 29.43 |
| 13 | Darren Pike | Sotonia CC | 29.55 |
| 14 | Chris Summers | Sotonia CC | 30.22 |
| 15 | Claire Johnson | Sotonia CC | 30.45 |
| 16 | Erick Muriithi | Sotonia CC | 31.16 |
| 17 | Mary Corbett & Norman Harvey | Sotonia CC | 31.21 |
| 18 | Emma Harrison | Sotonia CC | 31.37 |
| 19 | Poppy Carline | Sotonia CC | 31.43 |
| 20 | Benji Pike | Sotonia CC | 31.52 |
| 21 | Eve Carline | Sotonia CC | 31.56 |
| 22 | Joanne McCarthy | Sotonia CC | 33.02 |
| 23 | Wout Davidse | Sotonia CC | 34.05 |
| 24 | Ella Ridgment & Marit Davidse | Sotonia CC | 35.04 |
The Tandem Tart Time Trial is back
SAVE THE DATE... Sunday 23rd June 2024. After a bit of ‘jiggling’ when laying out the field, I managed to give all 141 entries a ride. I believe this was the largest event in the South DC last year. Can we improve on that? Riders from all walks of life from all over the Country took to the P164 R2 on a sunny Sunday morning for a bit of fun (or not) and everyone who finished received a prize.
Organisation for this year’s extravaganza has started and entries are already coming in. Here are the links to enter but if that doesn’t appeal, please consider offering your help.
I need marshals, timekeepers, people to help in the HQ with signing on and refreshments along with many cake bakers. You just cannot beat a home baked cake!
Any queries or offers to help please email mary.corbett7@btinternet.com
Enter online:
Thank you
Mary Corbett
Wessex CX League, Round 12, Crow
The final round of the Wessex cyclocross league 2023/2024 season brought the curtain down on a great year for the club. Round 12 was held at Crow in the New Forest once again and saw some cracking, fast racing on a course full of cambered, twisting turns and slippery MTB singletrack.
In the U10s, Freddie Trosh took 5th place, the U12 girls Eve Carline and Matilda Wilks were 3rd and 4th, Lorenzo Scarponi taking 3rd in the U12 boys. Tom Wilks took 2nd in u14 boys. Izzy Hall 2nd U16 girl with Niclas Olley and Tom Allen 2nd and 5th in the U16 boys.
Gemma Wilks had a great race in the v40 women despite a wardrobe malfunction on the startline (safety pins saved the day!) she achieved an impressive first race win in her category. Emma Harrison was 2nd Junior woman. The Junior Open race had 2 Sotonians on the podium - George Connell finishing off his season well in 2nd and Sam Ridgment's best race of the season in 4th.
The v40 Open race had three club riders on the podium - Tom Budden, Pete Boustred and Andy Gardiner rounding off a dominant season in 2rd, 4th and 5th places.
Our top rider in the v50 Open was Jon Hall, in 6th position.
Lewis Revill finished 10th in the final event of the day, the Senior Open race.
The final individual league standings
A highly successful season saw highlights of:
- Tom Wilks - 2nd U14 Boy (including 2 race wins)
- Marit Davidse - 5th U14 Girl
- Izzy Hall - 2nd U16 girl (including 5 race wins)
- Niclas Olley - 2nd U16 Boy (including 2 race wins)
- Tom Allen - 3rd U16 Boy (including 1 race win)
- Emma Harrison - 3rd Junior Woman (including 1 race win)
- George Connell - 3rd Junior Open
- Gemma Wilks - 6th V40 Woman (including 1 race win)
- Andy Gardiner - 2nd V40 Open (including 1 race win)
- Tom Budden - 5th v40 Open
- Jez Hart - 8th v50 Open
The team league standings
- v40 Open (A team of Andy Gardiner, Tom Budden and Pete Boustred) - 1st place
- v40 Open (B team of Phil Banks, Phil Wilks and Mark Allen) - 2nd place
- v50 Open (A team of Jez Hart, Jason Harrison and Phil Connell) - 2nd place
- U14 Boys (A team of Tom Wilks, Reuben Harrington and Jos Robson) - 2nd place
- U14 Boys (B team of Morgan Gilbert, Aneurin Gilbert and George Boustred) - 4th place
- U16 Boys (A team of Niclas Olley, Tom Allen and Monty Flavell) - 1st place
- U16 Boys (B team of Danny Forsyth, Benji Pike and Finlay Banks) - 3rd place
- U16 Girls (A team of Izzy Hall, Poppy Carline and Ella Ridgment) - 2nd place
- Junior Women (Emma Harrison and Lucy Phillips) - 2nd place
- Junior Open (Emma Harrison and Lucy Phillips) - 2nd place
So some fantastic results in a highly competitive league – well done everyone who raced for our club this year!
Photos: Pitchside Paul
Strong start for Sotonia in Zwift Racing League
Round 3 of the Zwift Racing League started last night, and saw a strong start for Sotonia. Our women’s C team (Sotonia Cranks) finished 3rd overall, placing Vikki Sutcliffe, Donna Bennett and Gemma Wilks in the top 10. Was it just a coincidence that they did so well despite losing touch with their DS Richard Johnson, who lost his microphone connection during the key phase of the race?
Sotonia Bees (open B category) finished 2nd, led to glory by Chris Moody’s superbly timed attack at the end to take first place. Along with Jerome Bakker, Chris then doubled up, to ride with Sotonia Buzz (open B category) just 90 seconds later. Remarkably, Chris pulled off his second win of the night, and again led his team to an overall second place finish. Kudos Chris, and welcome to Tom Pritchard and Jim Martin, making their debut for Buzz.
SotoniAs (open A category) are in a tough division. How tough? Well, they’re competing with Alex Dowsett, who only managed to finish 19th on the night. Not put off, SotoniAs finished 8/11, with just 5 riders. Welcome back Andy Gardiner and Ant Gritton to the SotoniAs fold.
They’ll all be lining up again next Tuesday night, for a points race around Makuri Island’s Island Hopper course. Let us know if you’d like to join them.
Tim
Wessex CX League, Round 11, Crabwood
Plenty of slips, slides, thrills and spills at this season's round 11 of the Wessex Cyclocross league at Southampton Sports Centre hosted by Crabwood CC. Congrats to Niclas Olley and Tom Wilks on their second wins of the season in the U16 and U14 races. Great riding everyone!
Photos: Pitchside Paul
Wilks wins Alpe du Zwift handicap
Congratulations to Sotonian Tom Wilks who won our 2024 Alpe du Zwift handicap challenge. 50 riders set off up the hill on Tuesday night, of whom 21 were from Sotonia (other riders were from VC Venta and Poole Wheelers).
Tom’s time of 41:39 saw him beat his handicap by a full 11 minutes, overtaking Nick Henson from Poole in the final straight. Kent Langridge from VC Venta was the third finisher.
For Sotonia, the first three finishers were Tom Wilks and Jos Robson (both of whom were U16), followed by Evan Jardine Skinner. But the fastest overall rider on the night and also new Sotonia champion was Joey Wynne with an extraordinary time of 41:24, pipping Tom by 15 seconds. Andy Gardiner was the third fastest Sotonian, on 42:50.
In the ladies event, first female finisher was Sonia Whiteman from Venta, followed by Angela Laycock (Poole) and Vikki Sutcliffe (Sotonia). But Angela Laycock was the fastest overall female finisher (57:23) followed by Sonia (66:50) and Vikki (just 4 seconds behind).
That makes Vikki the new Sotonia champion, with Gemma Wilks (68:39) and Claire Johnson (86:23) filling out the podium.
Full results can be seen here
Thank you, and congratulations to all riders. We hope to see you again for our next challenge, a chase race to be organised at the end of the ZRL season.
Sign up for the Alpe du Zwift handicap race
Sotonia’s annual handicap chase up the Alpe has been set for Tuesday 9 January 2024, with the first riders setting off at 1830.
This is a great event for all Zwifters, whatever your level of experience or skill. The handicap system will give slower riders an advantage over the faster riders, with the intention that everybody gets to the top at the same time. You can set yourself the challenge of completing the ride, beating your handicap, or being the first to the top. While it’s available, this really doesn’t have to be proper type II suffering.
We’ll be joined by riders from VC Venta and Poole Wheelers. Last year I 'fiddled the handicaps' which led to me being the first across the line. Can I defend my title? Can Will Weynberg defend his fastest men’s segment time? Can Sarah Champion defend hers? And who’ll challenge Sam Ridgment’s U16 title? Can Oscar Hoult retain his crown as the fastest non-Sotonia rider?
All will be revealed on Tuesday 9 January. Find out more details here and sign on in our Sotonia CC companion app club.
Tim Cooke
