Present – Doug Little, Mandy Watson, Aidan Baltrunas, Stefan Baltrunas, Dave Parfitt, Jacqui Parfitt, Sally Weaser, Gregor Muir, Nathan Marsh, Aileen Marsh, Lia Marsh, Ava Marsh, Leon Simms, Emma Pearce, Steve Bradley, Gary MacDonald, Jo Doeg-Smith, Andy Rogers, Marian Austin,Claire Abernethy, Gill Barnes,Damian Forster, Nicola Forster, Vince Mackintosh, Ross Dunn, Ruby Clark, Norman Clark, Alastair MacLennan, Norma Marshall, Lance Marshall, Melissa Cardosi, Elise MacGregor, Lorraine Whelan, Linzi Beckett, Stephen Cant, Campbell Mackintosh.

Apologies – Mark Clark.

Doug thanked everyone for coming, The Highland Soap Factory for providing the venue and Mandy for organizing everything for us.

Minutes of the last AGM – Proposed as accurate by Marian, seconded by Jacqui.

Chairman’s report;

Notable successes. In no particular order.

• Liam Moynihan -3^rd in Mountain of Hell, 2^nd in Megavalanche, 1^st in Macavalanche
• Daniel Parfitt – 2^ND under 16 at the mega, 43^rd overall.
• Alastair Maclennan- 1^st in BDS race at Fort William, 2^nd in the national champs.
• Nina Cameron has competed at 3 World cups.
• Cole Jackson – first overall youth at the SES 2022.

• SDA Series overall

Sean Petig 2^nd senior men

MacLennan 3^rd veteran men

Mikayla Parton 3^rd elite female

Archie Ferguson 2^nd youth

Daniel Parfitt 3^rd youth

• Mini Downhill at the World Cup at Fort William

U10 Daniel Fronzcek 1^st, Fraser Crans Crombie 2^nd

Under 16 – Sorley Swabey 1^st

U10 females 1^st Lily cant 2^nd Charley Kennedy

• Mikayla is one of the contenders for the DMBINS female riders of the year
• Gary Macdonald -1^st 10 under Ben 19-39 solos, 1^ST IN Scottish cycling cyclocross at Muir of Ord and currently leading the overall standings .
• Ladies group – Going from strength to strength and Scottish Cycling have recently made a video which they intend to use an example for other clubs – many thanks to Jacqui for all her efforts.
• Wed night teenage group – There are regularly 8 youngsters going off with Gregor whatever the weather – great to see.
• Jacqui Parfitt, Linzi Beckett and Lorraine Whelan are all now Scottish Cycling Mental health champions.
• Although there are still more girls than boys in Kids Club, the number of girls is increasing and they now make up almost a third of all participants . There were 5 girls racing in the recent hardline at Golspie ( this is a great increase on previous years). We have had funding to specifically train up female leaders and have created 2 girls only groups to try to increase female participation and it seems to be paying off!
• It is really great to see teenagers who have been coming to Kid’s Club sessions for many years  now regularly helping out with coaching sessions. Congratulations to Nina Cameron and Cory Muir for getting their Fundamentals of Mountain bike ( level 1) qualifications.

Fort to Fort

Held last Sunday the 30^th of October, starting in Fort William. This was the 30^th anniversary of the FTF, so it was really great to see John Ireland taking part as he was behind the original event which was part of the opening week of the Great Glen Way. 43 participants, with £260+  being raised for MacMillan Cancer support in memory of Fiona Gunn.

1^st Male – Gary MacDonald 1.35.47      2^nd male Gavin Dempster 1.40.05

1^st Female – Marie Meldrum 2.00.07  2^nd Female Hannah Barnes 2.37.37

1^st Junior Campbell Mackintosh 1.42.00   2^nd  Junior – Logan Anderson  2.21.53  

1^st e-bike Lorraine Whelan 2.32.23   2^nd e-bike Linzi Beckett 2.32.24

Special mention to Aaron Tressider ( years old)2.19.51 and his younger brother Kai 3.07.06

A huge thanks to Jacqui for spending all day doing the timing, driving people around and providing refreshments. Many thanks also to Lance, Rachel, Andrew and Marian for marshalling in the rain.

Winter League

All 8 planned races went ahead last year. Many thanks to everyone that helped with organizing races and marshalling. Thanks also to Andy for working out the scoring. In all 43 males (including 8 e-bikers) and 18 females took part ( including 3 e-bikers)

There were also 7 junior races held with 4 girls and 10 boys taking part

1^st Male- Gary MacDonald  2^nd Male Campbell Mackintosh

1^st Lady – Sam Potter   2^nd female Gill Barnes

1^st Junior Campbell Mackintosh 2^nd Junior – Daniel Parfitt

1^st male e-biker –AJ MacDonald 2^nd e-biker Leon Simms

1^st lady e-biker Lindsay Jarret 2^nd lady – Norma Marshall

U12 boys 1^st Aaron Tressider, 2^nd Archie Kennedy

U12 girls 1^st Lily Cant 2^nd Isla Cant

U8 boys 1^st Kai Tressider 2^nd Alastair Cant

U8 girls 1^st Charlie Kennedy 2^nd Niamh Cant

This year things have become a little more complicated with Forestry asking for licences to be granted for any events on Forestry Land where more than 25 participants are expected. This has slowed down the planning process a little. Marian has put together the following schedule. As ever, dates and venues may be subject to a little bit of change, although the first few can definitely go down in your diary.

Sunday 20^th November – Cour Loup time trial –  Marian  and Doug

Sunday 4^th December – Achaderry Estate, Roybridge – Leon Sims and Lance 

Sunday 18^th December – Xmas Handicap – Glen Nevis – Andy Rogers 

Tuesday the 27^th December – Nevis Range – Clare Mackintosh Memorial – Vince Mackintosh 

Sunday 15^th January – Upper Glenloy – Mark Clark 

Sunday 5^th February – Invergarry, whitegates-  Vince 

Sunday 26^th February – Wolftrax? 

Sunday 19^th of March – Argyll –  NACC? 

Sunday 23^rd April. – Nevis Range Enduro 

Please note that we still need Organizers for the race at Wolftrax in February and the enduro at Nevis Range in April. Please get in contact with Marian if you are able to help.

 With 8 races planned, the best 5 will count towards the overall league results. Kid’s races will be held where possible and will be run separately by kid’s club.

Races will be free of charge for members. For non-members the charge will be £2 for children and £5 for adults.

Anyone completing 3 races will receive a WHW buff

The aim would be to have some shorter, less technical options to be available at most venues.

Xmas Handicap

Many thanks to Andy for once again organizing this. To be held in Glen Nevis on Sunday the 18^th of December.

Membership

We have 319 members in total ( 369 last year, 247 in 2020)

22 under 18 student memberships

61 adult memberships

226 members in 69 family memberships

10 members in small family memberships

With the new “rolling system” of membership only one renewal reminder is currently sent out. Jacqui is going to send out extra reminders to people who perhaps missed their first one.

Time Trials

Many thanks to Emma, Dave and Alastair who put together a schedule of 7 races. Many thanks also to everyone else that helped with organizing, marshalling and timekeeping. In all 24 males and 7 females took part. Alastair worked out that there were on average 9.7 riders per race.

1^st Male Campbell Macintosh 2^nd Male Ed Daynes

1^st Lady Mairi Meldrum 2^nd Lady Geraldine Sosnowski

1^st Junior Campbell Macintosh 2^nd Cory Muir.

With regard to next year’s Time Trials – Emma, Nathan and Vince are going to get together to have a discussion about how to approach things. Ross Dunn also mentioned that there is a keen road biking college student who may well be able to help develop things. Ross is going to contact him.

Wednesday Night Rides

Numbers have been good for these. Many thanks to Gregor for putting together the schedules.

• The club is going to buy 4 handlebar mounted night riding lights for members to borrow. Gregor will keep a hold of these.

Rock up and ride project from Scottish Cycling

This is going ahead, with pupils from Lundavra and Inverlochy primary schools taking part in the pilot scheme. Bridget is doing a large part of the organization for this – many thanks!

Festival

Confirmed from Event Scotland that we are getting £8500 funding to hold a festival to celebrate the World Champs being held in Fort William and  “The power of the bike”. Working together with the Fort William Foxes we are aiming to put together a 3 day festival with all activities free of charge and an aim to get people new people out biking ( as well as providing fun events for those that already bike!)

Elise MacGregor from the Fort William Foxes gave an update as to what is happening.

This is still subject to change, but the main details should be confirmed soon!

Friday 24^th March – Film night at the Highland Cinema

Sat 25^th March – Caol Community Centre – a day of fun filled family friendly biking (and non biking) activities.

Sun 26^th March – Bike sale at The Auction Mart followed by led rides by Wheelers and Foxes Leaders and World Championship ambassadors.

Club Dig day at Nevis Range on Sat 10^th December– from 10 until 2the club will be holding a trail maintenance day at Nevis Range in conjunction with Lochaber Trail Association.

Treasurers Report

Gill reported that (taking into account unsold stock) we are sitting in a similar position to the same time last year. Major expenditure over the last year was a £2873 donation to the Bike Park which enabled them to access a grant of £25000.

Kid’s Club

• 60 kids ( 9 groups) are regularly scheduled to come out on Saturday mornings.
• Kid’s from the club have been having some great results. As an example – A couple of weekends ago at the Highland Hardline at Golspie we had the following results

-u16 boys 1^st Sorley Swabey 2^nd Archie Ferguson

-U14 girls 2^nd Hollie Alderton 3^rd Ava Marsh

-U14 boys 1^st Alan Cameron2nd Ross Loughray 3^rd Jack Bamber

-U12 girls 3^rd Lia Marsh

-U10 girls 2^nd Charley Kennedy

-On the same weekend Archie Roger and Callan Brown both got first in their categories in the SES race at Innerleithen.

• The last club session for this year will be on the 3^rd December.
• 5 teenagers are going to be doing their fundamentals of Mountain Biking Leadership course with Mike Pescod on the 27^th and 28^th of November.
• Mandy and Stefan have been looking into organizing a residential at Innerleithen/ Glentress in April time next year.
• A massive thanks to all the leaders and parents who have all given their time voluntarily to help get the groups out and keep the spirit of the club going

Election of Office bearers

Doug gave a big thanks to everyone on the committee for all the work that they have done over the past year.

Chairperson – Doug Little                           proposed  – Marian Austin        seconded- Gill Barnes

Official Secretary – Marian Austin             proposed – Doug Little              seconded- Norman Clark

Membership Secretary – Jacqui Parfitt     proposed – Gregor Muir          seconded- Gill Barnes

Treasurer- Gill Barnes                                  proposed  – Norman Clark       seconded- Jacqui Parfitt

Minutes Secretary – Lorraine Whelan      Proposed  –  Doug Little             seconded – Dave Parfitt                                                       

Kid’s club rep  – Doug Little                         proposed   – Claire Abernethy   seconded – Marian Austin

Newsletter/ website ???

Child protection and

 covid officer -Gregor Muir                         proposed    Norman Clark           seconded-Doug Little

Junior rep   – Aidan Baltrunas, Ava Marsh, Hollie ?

Time Trials/ road Biking – Nathan Marsh.

General- Mark Clark, Norman Clark, Steve Bradley.

• With regard to the Child Protection position, Claire Abernethy has said that she will get more involved with helping out with this.
• We still need people to come forward to help with getting a newsletter out, keeping the website up to date etc.

Subscription rates – To remain the same as last year

• Juniors £8
• Senior £17
• Family £28
• Small family £24

AOCB

• Gary Macdonald asked whether it would be possible to bring the start times of the FTF and Winter League races forward slightly. It was agreed that this would be a good idea for the FTF, but not necessarily feasible for the Winter League races as there are quite often junior races to be held before.
• Sally Weaser is keen to help develop some sort of kid’s club in Oban. She wondered whether it would be possible to bring some kid’s up from Oban to do some sessions with kid’s club leaders so that they can get a taste of how the whole thing works. They have funding to pay leaders for this and it would be at a time out with of normal kid’s club sessions, so would not detract from these. It was agreed that it would be great to discuss this further at Kid’s Club.
• Vince is planning to run an SXC race at Nevis Range on May 21^st 2023. The club would be keen to help out with this. Scottish cycling have also just been in contact with Vince to see if we would be keen to run a junior Dirt Crit race – it was agreed that we would be keen to do this
• The importance of being able to access past results for comparison purposes was bought up. Vince is going to liase with Evelyn, Doug and Shaun about finding an easy way to do this on the website.

Next Meeting – Tuesday 6^th December- 7.30 at Doug’s house.

Trophy presentation.

Most improved Lady – Sam Potter

Most improved Downhiller – Sorley Swabey

Most improved Junior Male – Allan Grieve

Most improved junior Female- Lily Cant

Flying Gorilla Award – Cory Muir