Wigmore Cycling Club

Wigmore Cycling club is a club for any cyclist, we cater for many disciplines for sport & recreation, and have an active membership aged from 4 - 80+.

WCC Go-Ride is the young peoples part of Wigmore Cycling Club, which dates back to 1948.

The Go-Ride club was created out of the former Medway Youth Cycling Club, Victory CC, in April 2010.

Wigmore CC has 7 qualified British Cycling Coaches, who run structured coaching sessions for riders aged 8yrs *- 16yrs every Saturday Morning. Our base is at the Howard School in Rainham, Kent. ME8 0BX. As well as running traffic free coaching sessions covering basic and intermediate techniques, we also take our young riders out on rides in the local area. These are mainly off-road rides, where riders get the chance to try out their skills on local trails and woods, and also some road safety work on quiet roads. We meet at 09:45 for registration, and sessions start at 10:00 every Saturday. We encourage all types of cycling, whether for fun or for sport, and will always support children who want to race for the club. We recently achieved third place in the South East Inter-Club Go-Ride championships at Cyclopark.

For more details contact one of the coaches on the Coaches & Volunteers page. Riders should bring a drink and a snack, and wear suitable clothing for the weather conditions on the day. We still ride in the wet and cold!

The club owns a fleet of bikes & helmets for new riders to borrow for sessions if they do not have their own. These are free to hire, and at coaches discretion club members can use the bikes for race events. All bikes used must be in a safe and roadworthy condition, and bikes will be checked before each ride or coaching session.

WCC Go-Ride is a Sport England Clubmark accredited club. This means we are recognised as one of the best sports clubs for young people in terms of following best practice, and providing fun and safe activities. All of our coaches are fully trained, are covered by British Cycling insurance, and are also CRB checked. The club also has two welfare officers, Scott & Martha, to deal with any issues that may arise with young people or vulnerable adults. Please get in touch with the welfare officers if you have any concerns regarding club activities, riders or volunteers.

We have a rider skills award, which riders can complete over a long period of time to show their progression as a rider. The levels are White (basic) Pink (intermediate) & Orange (Advanced). Each level will take between 3 months and a year to complete. Each level is designed to test the riders progression through regular coaching, over a range of different techniques, and elements of club cycling.

The club are always looking for new volunteers to help us at sessions or on rides, or contribute to the running of the club. If you are interested please get in touch and we will get you involved, in whatever way you feel you can help us.


The beginnings of Wigmore Cycling Club

In March 1948 five ex-servicemen were at a loose end and decided to have a meeting at the Smallholders Club. The five went on to become the founder members of a cycling club. The five were Tom Butler, Pete Milner, Roy Harman, Ted Lewis and Ian Kasper, with Phill Tapp,J Crayton and John Cruddington joining soon after.

One Monday evening a meeting was held at which 30 people were present, all having been rounded up after tremendous efforts by the founder members. This meeting resulted with the election of the first committee and Tom Butler being elected as club leader. For the first six months the club meetings were held at the Smallholders Club and then moved to a tin shed, better known as the British Legion Hall.

Actual cycling activities did not start until 1949. The first club run being attended by twelve members who, after numerous stops for recovery, arrived at their destination 8 miles away in Maidstone. The club run attendance picked up to 40 riders and it was decided that each week they should try to get one pub further than the previous week.

It wasn’t long before Time Trialling was introduced into the club. George Butler, with an amazing time of 1 hour 9 minutes and 30 seconds for 25 miles became the clubs first “ Best All-rounder “. In 1951 the B.A.R. was officially started, with a ladies and junior championship as well. Pete Milner won the first official B.A.R. and retained the title for the next three years. Following this came Charlie Staff, a former club junior champion, who won the B.A.R. in 1955 and 1956. More recently, in 2001 Malcolm Evans, holder of many of Wigmore CC time trial records, became National Veterans (over 40s) Champion for 12 hours, and in 2003 was the 4th best British competitor in the 4 yearly run Paris-Brest-Paris event.

Wigmore Cycling Club has now survived over 50 years and has over that time produced many fine riders in all disciplines of the sport, with the highest honour going to Kim Staff who rode for Great Britain many times, including at the Commonwealth Games.