

Well done to everyone taking part in today’s winter league.Many thanks to Karl Bungey for organising and to Jacqui for once again doing the timing and also organising refreshments. It was great also to see Daniel helping with the timing despite his recent injury!
The next race in the Winter League is on the 2nd of March and is being run by NACC at Sutherland’s Grove
Categories.. male female junior and ebike
Time … minutes : seconds
1st Foss ( 1st e-bike) 68: 52 8 laps
2nd Gary MacDonald ( 1st male ) 69:25 8 laps
3rd Stewart Macmillan ( 2nd ebike) 64:17 7 laps
4th James Tedham ( 2nd male) 67:16 7 laps
5th Lance Marshall (3rd ebike) 67.20 7 laps
6th Alastair Maclennan ( 3rd male ) 68: 45 7 laps
7th John Landale (4th ebike) 70:47 7 laps
8th Lily Cant ( 1st female) 71:24 7 laps
9th Ben Dignan ( 4th male) 62:52 6 laps
10th Doug Little ( 5th ebike) 65:08. 6 laps
11th Robbie Cant ( 5th male) 66:28. 6 laps
12th Gregor Muir ( 6th male) 69:52. 6 laps
13th Isla Cant (2nd female) 71:54. 6 laps
14th Zeemon Erhardt ( 7th male) 73:02 6 laps
15th Rebecca McRitchie ( 3rd female) 63:05 5 laps
16th Ivan Doherty ( 8th male) 63:32 5 laps
17th Paul Bailey ( 6th ebike) 69:10 5 laps
18th Andy Rogers ( 9th male) 72:45. 5 laps
19th Marian Austin ( 4th female) 67:36 4 laps
Junior race. (. 1 lap)
1st Alastair Cant 18:21
Well done to everyone who came along to the winter league race, thanks to Dave P for organising and to Jacqui for timing and organising refreshments. Thanks also to Lance and Doug for helping with course marking and sign collecting and to all the cake makers.
Kai Tresidder (12 mins 28 secs) and Alastair Cant (14 mins 39 secs ) battled it out for the junior race, thanks to Fraser Cran Crombie for sweeping at the back.
Main race results below (overall placing, actual time and category place). Next race is 2nd Feb at Strontian
1 Alastair Maclennan 47.03 1st e bike
2 Gary MacDonald 48.44 1st male
3 Lance Marshall 54.12 2nd ebike
4 Shane Wasik 54.15 2nd male
5 Paul Bailey 55.29 3rd ebike
6 Neil Wright 56.07 3rd male
7 Fraser Mackenzie 56.31 4th male
8 Ben Miller 56.34 5th male
9 John Landale 57.20 4th ebike
10 Ewan Thorburn 57.30 6th male
11 James Tedham 57.58 7th male
12 Isla Cant 59.53 1st female
13 Ben Dignan 59.56 8th male
14 Angus Cameron 1.00.54 9th male
15 Gregor Muir 1.01.10 10th male
16 Stewart MacMillan 1.02.00 5th E bike
17 Jamie Gall 1.02.11 11th male
18 Robbie Cant 1.02.21 12th male
19 John Shirley 1.06.18 13th male
20 Rebecca McCritchie 1.06.30 2nd female
21 Nix Forster 1.07.28 3rd female
22 Zeemon Erhardt 1.09.53 14th male
23 Ivan Doherty 1.11.49 15th male
24 Andrew Moss 1.19.29 16th male
25 Andy Rogers 1.20.18 17th male
26 Gill Barnes 1.22.19 4th female
27 Marian Austin 1.29.08 5th female
Thanks to everyone that made it along to ‘The Memorial Race’ today for Rd2 of the WHW Winter League.
Our annual collection for a chosen charity was for Macmillan Cancer Support, raising £51:54 which has now been paid into Macmillan donations
The Racing
Was exciting, with the weather holding out!
Well done to all riders
Alastair Maclennan achieved his aim and lapped the entire field on his E-bike
James Shirley led the Adult male until lap 6 when he went down hard, heeling vibes to James .
This left Gary Macdonald way out in front to take the overall win
Great battle in Adult Female with the top 3 all within 2 minutes of each other, Nix coming out on top
Well done to the juniors that made the effort Fraser and Finch
Many thanks to Vince for organising everything and to Jacqui for helping out with timing, baking and ambulance duties.
The next race of the Winter League is the Cour Loop on Sunday the 19
Well done to all of those hardy souls who took part in this year’s Xmas Handicap. The wind and rain were maybe not quite as bad as had once been expected, but were testing none the less. Special mention must go Alastair Cant and Archie Rodger who both sprinted to cross the finishing line in front of their dads. Isla Cant and Ava Marsh also did really well after a shaky start together on the tandem!
A huge thanks to Andy and Marian for organising the race, to Jacqui for organising the much needed warm refreshments at the end and to Ben for helping to resurrect the wind affected gazebo!
The next race is round 2 of the Winter at Nevis Range on the 29th of December.
Results;
Finish Time True Time
1 Isla Cant/Ava Marsh (Tandem) 46:42:00 1 James Shirley 30:15:00
2 Lily Cant 47:36:00 2 Alastair Maclennan (E-bike) 30:47:00
3 Alastair Maclennan (E-bike) 48:47:00 3 James Tedham 33:53:00
4 James Tedham 48:53:00 4 Lily Cant 34:36:00
5 James Shirley 50:15:00 5 Lance Marshall (E-bike) 34:58:00
6 Doug Little (E-bike) 50:28:00 6 Doug Little (E-bike) 35:28:00
7 John Shirley 50:48:00 7 John Shirley 38:48:00
8 Zeemon Erhart 50:49:00 m 8 Zeemon Erhart 39:49:00
9 Ivan Doherty 50:57:00 9 Nix 42:09:00
10 Lance Marshall (E-bike) 50:58:00 10 Bronagh Wishart (Gravel Bike) 42:20:00
11 Rebecca McRitchie 52:04:00 11 Isla Cant/Ava Marsh (Tandem) 42:42:00
12 Nix 52:09:00 12 Fos 42:45:00
13 Marian Austin 52:20:00 13 Rebecca McRitchie 43:04:00
14 Gill Barnes (Gravel bike) 52:55:00 14 Ivan Doherty 44:57:00
15 Bronagh Wishart (Gravel Bike) 53:20:00 15 Henry Cairns 46:11:00
16 Fos 56:45:00 16 Gill Barnes (Gravel bike) 46:55:00
17 Henry Cairns 57:11:00 17 Dave Parfitt 51:34:00
18 Alastair Cant 58:09:00 18 Marian Austin 52:20:00
19 Robbie Cant 58:10:00 19 Alastair Cant 56:09:00
20 Archie Rodger 58:29:00 20 Robbie Cant 56:10:00
21 Scott Rodger 58:30:00 21 Archie Rodger 56:34:00
22 Dave Parfitt 58:34:00 22 Scott Rodger 56:35:00
It was great to see so many riders at the NACC / WHW first Winter League of the season, with 29 in total taking to the course in Duror forest. All riders welcomed a slightly ‘milder’ race than last year, but were in anticipation of a slightly wetter course following recent rainfall. Despite the conditions, all riders completed the 8-mile course in fantastic times and thoroughly enjoyed kicking off the season. A special mention to junior riders Aaron, Lily and Isla who put down impressive runs, shaving off significant time from their results last year.
Many thanks to Ben Miller for organising everything.
Next up for the West Highland Wheelers is the Xmas handicap on the 22nd of December at Glen Nevis.
For North Argyll the next round of their winter series is Glencruitten on the 12th of January.
Great session with hot chocolate to finish this terms kids club. Thanks to everyone for coming along, helping out and bringing the kids this term.
Congratulations to Archie Rodger and Charley Kennedy who were awarded this years most improved boy and girl trophies.
See you all back in the spring.
Minutes West Highland Wheelers AGM 14th November 2024
7pm Lochaber Rural Complex
Present Dave, Jacqui and Daniel Parfitt, Nix and Damien Forster, Gregor Muir, Stefan, Emma Pearce, Bridget Thomas, Chris Waters, Doug Little, Alastair Maclennan, Steve Bradley, Claire Abernethy, Gill Barnes, Norman Clark, Henry Cairns, Bronagh Wishart, Ruari Watt, Marian Austin, Andy Rogers
1 – Apologies Karl Bungey
Dave thanked everyone for coming along and the Rural Education Trust for providing the venue.
2 – Minutes of 2023 AGM Proposed as accurate by Gregor Muir, Seconded by Emma Pearce
3 – Chairman’s report
The club has had members competing in a wide range of mountain bike competitions over this year from mini dhs to world champs, just missing Olympians.
Notable achievements
Cross country/ Cyclo cross Lily and Isla Cant and Kai and Aaron Tressider have been flying the club flag for these, ( as well as competing in other disciplines) winning the Scottish Schools Mtb mixed team champs.
Lily Cant got 5 x 1sts and a 2nd across SXC, 10 under the Ben , Tweedlove and Muckmedden
Isla Cant was 1st at Muckmedden, Tweedlove and an SXC
Kai Tresidder won all 5 of his SXC races and the series
Aaron Tresidder was young in his category this year but was still sitting 3rd in the series until his last race (which didn’t go as planned!) , he was also 1st junior in 10 under the Ben and 1st junior in the Fort to Fort and 7th overall. He was also 6th in the 1st cyclocross race of the season.
Es Tresidder has also been flying the flag in the cyclocross over 40s
Gary MacDonald had a quiet race season but still managed to win a couple of SXCs and become Scottish SXC champion in the 40 to 49 category
In Enduro Mia Jackson was 1st overall in the Hope womens enduro at Ae forset (1st in category and fastest lady overall)
Cole Jackson was 3rd overall in the national enduro series (U21) came 12th in the Open EDR in Loudenville France and was 3rd in the Southern Enduro series
Ava Marsh was 2nd at Muckmedden and 2nd at Laggan Tweedlove enduros
Charley Kennedy got a 1st and a 2nd at the Hope PMBAs, finishing 2nd overall.
Downhill.. In DH its been great to see loads of riders (both male and female) from the club taking part across the different age groups with
In mini DH Archie Rodger was 3rd at Learnie, Mia Jackson was 1st in Learnie and Nevis Range and at the mini DH final at the World cup at Nevis Range the club took 1st female in (U12), Lily Cant, U14 Mia Jackson and U16 Isla Cant
At a National/ Regional level
Alexander Pervan was 1st in the SDA overall, 2nd in the Scottish Champs and 5th in the national series overall
Sorley Swabey was 1st junior and fastest time of the day in the national race at Glencoe and 2nd overall in the British series
Danny Parfitt was 3rd at British Champs
Mikayla Parton was 2nd at British champs
At the Scottish Champs club ladies took 1st (Nina Cameron) 2nd (Tiandra Anderson) and 3rd (Laura Jackson) and Marcus Scott took 1st in the 40 plus category.
Nina also took 2nd elite female at the British round at Nevis Range
At a European level Hollie Alderson, Aidan Baltrunas, Alexander Pervan and Mikayla Parton all headed out to race at the European champs.
At World Cup level the club was represented by 3 juniors (Daniel Parfitt, Sorley Swabey and Alexander Pervan) and by 2 elite females (Nina Cameron and Mikayla Parton)
Daniel Parfitt was 3rd at Nevis Range and finished 10th overall (and top British junior) in the junior male world cup standings.
Mikayla Parton finished 9th at Fort William
Both Daniel and Mikayla competed in the world championships.
Time Trials
No national level time trial competitors that we are aware of but thanks to Emma Pearce for organising the local series. 26 men and 12 ladies competed across 7 races. In the overalls 1st male was Oli Warlow, 2nd Robin Downie, 3rd Donald Paterson and 1st female Iona Hamilton, 2nd Emma Pearce and 3rd Nix Forster. No juniors competed this year.
The series included 2 gravel rounds this year.
Winter League
Last winter 7 races , thanks to Marian and Andy and everyone who ran them
1st male Liam Moynihan, 2nd Ben Miller, (27 riders overall)
1st junior male Aaron Tresidder (and 6th overall) 2nd Alexander Pervan
1st female Lily Cant (also 1st U18) 2nd Katie Maclennan (14 in total)
1st Ebike Stewart MacMillan 2nd AJ MacDonald (5 in total)
U12 boys 1st Kaiden Springett
U10 boys 1st equal Kai Tresidder, Harris Thompson and Alastair Cant
Thanks to Marian for organising once again. This will be the last series Marian organisers so we are looking for a new organiser to take over from her. No organiser will equal no winter league
Thanks also to Nix/ Lochaber Athletic Club for sharing their winter league dates so we could aim to avoid too many clashes this year.
There are 8 provisional races with the best 6 counting for the overall
Aim is to have kids races at at least 2 of the races.
Races will be free of charge to members, £5 non member adult and £2 non member child
There will also be the annual xmas handicap, thanks to Andy R for organising
Provisional Schedule | |||
Month | Date | Venue | Organiser |
DEC | 8th | Duror | Ben M |
22nd | Glen Nevis (Xmas Handicap) | Andy | |
29th | Nevis Range | TBC | |
JAN | 19th | Cour loop | Dave |
FEB | 2nd | Strontian | Karl |
MAR | 2nd | Argyll | NACC |
16th | Achaderry | TBC | |
APR | 6th | Wolftrax | Lance |
20th | Glen Loy | Mark C |
Fort to Fort Held last Sunday in October, 25 riders making just over £130 for Cancer Research
Bike and blether rides are still going well,
Members have helped with adaptive sessions at the pumptrack for disability Scotland and Glencoe House
Members have been helping at LTA dig days at Allt a Mhuillin and Erracht
Mandy and Claire ran a successful mini DH at Nevis Range (assisted by several other members)
Wednesday Night Rides continue. Thankyou once again to Gregor for keeping on top of the schedule and his unwavering enthusiasm and to Henry for finally taking this job off Gregors hands
Membership
Total members 432, slightly up on last year (416)
249 males, 168 female, 15 prefer not to say
4 – Treasurer’s report Thanks to Gill for keeping on top of the accounts
Gill had brought along treasurers statements for the year to 1st November 2024 which were available to all attendees.
Approx £7000 at start of year, now just over £10000 in the bank.
Membership subs up slightly to £4235
Mini DH was a great event raising £1194
We have spent £1500 on training, 6 people have done level 2 training and 1 assessment
5 – Kids Club report
Great to see kids progressing from kids club to racing with special mention to Steve Bradleys group who started age 5/ 6 and several have now raced at world level
Kids club is running well, with 56 kids in place at the moment and a good band of 10 level 2 and parent helpers committed to helping each week.
We have 4 volunteers who have completed their level 2 training and are awaiting their level 2 assessment.
We have kids from Skye, Oban and Fort Augustus attending every week.
The waiting list currently has around 8 kids on it, unfortunately the running theme is 8-9 year old boys, we already have 2 groups of this age group and unfortunately although we have a fair amount of level 2 we do not have them all, every weekend – there are some spaces further up in the groups and ages.
The last session will be on the 7th of December, we will do the presentation of the most improved boy and girl then and serve up hot chocolates, at the moment there are no plans for club to run over winter, and we will resume after the Easter Holidays.
6 – Election of office bearers and committee
• Chairman Dave Parfitt proposed Steve Bradley, seconded Gregor Muir
• Secretaries – official secretary Marian Austin proposed Dave Parfitt seconded Jacqui Parfitt
• Treasurer Gill Barnes Proposed Jacqui Parfitt seconded Dave Parfitt
• Membership Jacqui Parfitt Proposed Gregor Muir seconded Dave Parfitt
• Junior rep no volunteer but Robbie Cant will ask Lily if interested
Social / Website Henry Cairns Proposed Jacqui Parfitt, seconded Marian Austin
General members Claire AK, Doug Little, Norman Clark, Karl Bungey, Steve Bradley all agreed to remain on committee
7 – AOCB
As no one offered to run the winter league series it was agreed an email would be sent out
LTA Mark Clark reported they had had quite a good year with 13 digs organised, the next one planned for 24th November on the CIC path with Friends of Nevis, then there will be one in Glen Nevis in December and in February a dig as part of the mountain festival working on sunset with Trash Free trails, Tracy Mosely and Marcus Stix. The association works in 4 regions, Glen Nevis, Torlundy, Strone, Glen Loy. Trails are inspected every year and a hierarchy of need created from the most pressing issues, this directs the dig days. The 1st 2 years have focussed mainly on safety issues but now there should be more progress to trail improvement. Also looking at trails in Inchree to see if can do anything there.
Emma Pearce how folk could register interest that easier trails be built, Mark said that they have been working on Sunset to make it an easier trail but that in general they are maintaining existing trails rather than building new and it would not be appropriate to change the nature and difficulty of existing trails.
8. Trophy presentations
Quick end to the evening as no trophy winners were present! But trophies will go to the following:-
Most Improved lady Jenny Beattie
Benji Fair Memorial Trophy for most improved downhiller Alexander Pervan
Mens Time Trial Oli Warlow
Ladies Time Trial Iona Hamilton
Most improved junior male .. Archie Rodgers
Most improved junior female… Charley Kennedy
Well done to everyone riding the Fort to Fort on Sunday and braving the fairly strong headwinds! A huge thanks to Jacqui for organising all the timing and logistics as well as providing loads of delicious cakes. Thanks also to Lance Marshall, Stewart Macmillan, Dave Parfitt for marshalling, Doug Little for putting out the signs and sweeping at the race, Rachel Charlotte and Jenny Beattie for time keeping and to everyone else who donated delicious cakes!
We raised £132.60 which will be donated to Cancer Research
Next year the plan will be start in Fort Augustus and f
Times (adjusted depending on when you started) below
Matiss Robertson 01:51:19
Donald Paterson 01:51:27
Ben Thompson 01:51:31
Martyn Hutchison 01:57:19
Marie Meldrum 02:08:07
Foss 02:13:36
Aaron Tresider (u18) 02:14:59
Jamie Gall 02:16:20
Mark Clark 02:17:27
Fiona Tinnion 02:17:57
Gregor Muir 02:20:26
Scott Robertson 02:25:29
Charles Troman 02:25:36
Kate MacKellaig 02:31:48
Nix Forster 02:31:51
Kai Tresider (U18) 02:37:20
Es Tresider 02:37:23
Gill Barnes 02:52:21
Bronagh Wishart 02:55:25
Non Williams 02:55:26
Simon Robertson 02:55:31
Leigh Murray 02:55:32
Andy Rogers 03:11:20
Emma Pearce 03:28:16
Doug Little (ebike and sign collecting) 03:28:47
Marian Austin 03:33:44
West Highland Wheelers Committee Meeting Thursday 10th October 2024
Gregor Muir, Henry Cairns, Claire Abernethy, Norman Clark, Marian Austin, Dave Parfitt, Jacqui Parfitt,
Time trials
Need to ask for trophies back and engrave with new winners (Oli Warlow and Iona Hamilton) for AGM
Wed nights
Agreed we have run out of light evenings for leons croft, defer to spring.
Winter league
Marian looking for someone to pass it over to.. please.
Kids Club
All running fine
Nevis Range “owe” for 2 uplift days from grant funding, agreed ask whether funding could be used for coaching days with leaders and helpers instead
Action CA to contact Nikki Howie
AOCB
Start at 10am rather than 11am . 27th October. Registration 9.15 at main carpark
Fort Augustus to Fort William
Doug happy to put signage out and sweep at back
Jacqui happy to do timing unless other volunteers come forward
Marshall request to go on facebook and email
Teas and coffees and homebaking at end
Action HC email and facebook
Marian is looking to pass this job on to someone new, agreed ask at the AGM, if no one comes forward then appeal again next summer with a note that league can not run without coordinator
Marian has got dates from LAC so provisional dates of league to try to avoid clashes although LAC have 3 dates in both November and January leaving only 1 weekend free so may need to be a clash. The only free November date clashes with bikers vs runners race therefore agreed winter league will start in December
Nacc happy to do any date in march and going to plan their league around that date
Marian has to fill in and submit forestry forms for duror and strontian ASAP, agreed Marian will let organisers know last years maps will be used unless different route submitted before her submission date
Provisional league schedule run through, a couple of dates to firm up with organisers but should be ready shortly.
£30 per hour cost of rural complex hire agrees and JP will confirm
7pm to 9pm
Bike park AGM will follow wheelers AGM
Teas coffees homebakes DP to organize
Need to request trophies back can be dropped in at nevis cycles and DP will get engraved with this years winners ready for AGM
(Last years winners Mia Jackson and Finn Watt kids club, Daniel P downhill, Sam P time trial, Bronagh W most improved lady, Alastair M time trials, Jacqui flying gorilla)
This years Most improved kids club to be confirmed by Clare and Gregor
Most Improved downhiller and lady discussed and agreed, to be revealed at the AGM
MA affiliation needs to be in by late November .. CA has kids club data and JP membership data
GM will give some info about pumptrack use. We are asked about members with disability but do not ask this on our membership form, to look into for future, kids club forms have this info, CA to include (numbers only no identifiers)
MA Neil at SC trying to get calendar of events for North area, would hope to run a couple of mini dhs in collaboration with Wolfpax
CA reported re email from MW ..? has been attending SC calendar meetings and trying to organize pumptrack and mini dh/ short course races
Action Marian to contact MW to clarify
GM Bike Park
Hoping to schedule dates for all activities… adult biking, ladies biking, adaptive biking, intro to skateboarding etc in the near future
Ran sessions at parasport festival which went well
CA Nevis Cycles exploring the possibility of running a 2nd hand bike/ outdoor sale at mart and would like to know if wheelers would collaborate, also asking Off Beat Bikes if they would like to be involved. Working plan is £10 a table, agreed we would like to be involved, will advertise to members and ? club have a table for folk to drop off if only one or two items to sell ?
AGM November 14th 2024
Action HC email out agenda and notification
Commando TT results
Congratulations everyone taking part in the TT on a very wet and windy evening!
The biggest thanks to Spook, Donald and Sarah for organising, timing and marshalling in the wild weather.
1st Iona 49.56
3rd David 52.53
4th Andy 65.13
5th Emma 85.00
That’s a wrap for our 2024 time trials. Many thanks to everyone who helped over the series. Spe