Fun Tour Roll Call

Thursday, January 3, 2013
FUN TOUR ROLL CALL
Ballymena Road Club – Chain Reaction Cycles – will attend a special reception, which is to be hosted by the mayor PJ McAvoy, at "The Braid” next Tuesday evening 8th January at 7pm.
The reception is to recognise the efforts of all those who took part in the Autumn and Winter thirteen week series of fun cycle tours. The mayor will present medals and certificates of merit to all the successful participants.
Representatives from the Chernobyl children’s appeal NI will also be in attendance.
2012 was the seventh successive year during which the club supported the CCA. During that time the cyclists have donated £4536.50 to this very worthwhile cause.
This year’s fun tour series has been the most successful ever held with a record total turnout of 779 cyclists over the 13 weeks, an average of 60 per week.
133 different individual cyclists completed at least one tour with nine riders achieving full attendance. They were; Martin Ruddy, Danny O’Loan, Pius McKernan, Iris Grant, Sean Elliott, John Elliott, Jim Doherty, Maura Bradley and of course Rex Bonar who was in attendance every week to open up the car park and clubrooms.
There were 24 gold medallists who completed at least 11 tours: 23 silver who had at least 8 tours and 26 bronze for 5 tours.
The charity fund reached a record total this year too with £1015 being donated to the Chernobyl Children’s appeal NI.
The full roll of honour reads:
BRONZE (with five tours)
Jim Burns, Donna Carroll, Michael Carroll, Scott McAllister, Alice McClean and Paul McWilliams.
BRONZE (with six tours)
Derek Agnew, Hall Booth, Sam Campbell, Brian Geddis, Judy Mahon, Leo McCavana, Quinton McFall, Maeve Savage and Simon Taggart.
BRONZE (with seven tours)
Graham Bonner, Maurice Carruthers, Michael Clarke, Uel Cunningham, Tom Douds, Clifford Grant, Hugh McCullough, Owen McLaughlin, Ryan Shaw, Nigel Small and Des Wright.
SILVER (with eight tours)
Geoff Allen, Caleb Dempsey, Aaron Swan and Andrew Wills.
SILVER (with nine tours)
Sammy Connor, Stephen Dempsey, Siobhan Fisher, Hazel Hughes, Nigel Kernohan, Alan Mark, John McAllister, James McBride, Patsy McGurk, Millar Montgomery and Paul Patterson.
SILVER (with ten tours)
Christina Clarke, Ryan Currie, Michael Diamond, Billy Jebb, John Maxwell, Alastair Petticrew, Caolan Stuart and Karl Taylor.
GOLD (with eleven tours)
Liz Carey, Bobby Currie, Alan Donegan, Paddy Mooney, Lori Phillips and David Rankin.
GOLD (with twelve tours)
Alan Blair, Ronnie Grant, Sammy Kerr, Jackie Knowles, Gordon Lennox, Francis O’Kane, Laurence O’Neill, Richard Wilson and Wilnor Worthington.
GOLD (with full attendance 13 tours)
Martin Ruddy, Danny O’Loan, Pius McKernan, Iris Grant, Sean Elliott, John Elliott, Jim Doherty, Maura Bradley and Rex Bonar.
 
One of the organisers was touring committee member Richard Wilson and he said "We were really very fortunate this year with the weather conditions. We only had one wet Saturday and even then the rain didn’t last for the full tour. This obviously contributed to the record numbers who turned up each week. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance and support for this year’s series. Alan Blair took charge of the "A” group, while Patsy McGurk and Paul Patterson looked after the "B” group.
"The touring section bunch was where most of the newcomers and youth riders participated and I received help here from numerous people including, amongst others, Laurence O’Neill, Billy Jebb, Alan Mark and Pius McKernan”
"Many thanks also to Rex Bonar who was in attendance, and first to arrive, each week to open up the car park and the club rooms and to Martin Ruddy for his weekly reporting and Garmin satnav downloads” added Richard
Record collection for Chernobyl Children.
John and Eleanor Duffin of the Chernobyl Children’s appeal NI, the chosen charity of this year’s fun tour series, will also be present at the Mayor’s reception to accept a cheque for £1015, which was the total donated by the fun tour entrants and by those who had taken part in the Nine Glens Challenge in July. 
Ballymena Road Club first became involved with the "CCA” through their touring committee member Martin McKernan who, along with his wife Jennie, acted as a host family for the children.