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Club History
Beacon RCC was founded on 10 November 1946, by a group of
young men who used to meet on the slopes of Beacon Hill, in
the Lickeys, southwest of Birmingham. Being admirers of the
great Italian cyclists of the day, such as Fausto Coppi, the
group chose red, white and green as the club colours.
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Beacon RCC's thirteen founder members were:
Johnny Haynes, Charlie Strick,
Nev Smith, Harold Haymes,
Charlie Lewis, Dennis Baker,
Ron Green, Bernard Green,
Pat Hanson, Peter Baker,
John Green, Jim Arnold,
Harry Morris
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From the outset, the Beacon was very active both as a racing
club and as a social and touring club. Early competitive successes
came from Norman Adams - an outstanding hill-climber and short-distance
time-trialist, who won the Welsh National 25-mile title in
1951 and was close to the British record at the distance on
several occasions - and from Dave Duffield, who excelled at
long-distance tricycle riding, setting a variety of place-to-place
records, including Land's End to John O'Groats. Many people
will know Dave best as Eurosport's Tour de France commentator
until recently.
 The
1970s was a golden era for racing at the club. Rod Goodfellow
was a prolific winner at all distances, but particularly in
endurance events, while his wife Chris joined forces with
June Pitchford, Maggie Gordon Smith and Janet Crowther to
form an all-conquering women's team. In '75, Steve Jones took
the National Junior 25-mile and Best All-Rounder titles before
stepping up to the senior ranks to carve out a professional
career. A little later, Dave Hughes and Tony Webb set a series
of national and regional tandem records, as well as having
a tilt at the world human-powered vehicle record in a tandem
with faring. Mixed tandem records were also set by Jane Herrin
and Trevor Bull.
Highlight of the 1990s was Hugh McGuire's national over-60s
road race title. In the modern era, the club's leading competitor
has been Ruth Eyles, a multiple national time-trial champion
and winner of women's events at all distances from ten to
a hundred miles. For details of the Beacon's major racing
successes down the years, see our Roll
of Honour.
 However,
the Beacon has never been just a racing club. As the picture
shows, sociable group riding - particularly on Sunday
morning club runs - was a big element of club life from
the outset. For generations, Beacon men and women of all ages
and abilities have explored the Midlands countryside together,
spending many an hour chatting in cafés from the Welsh marches
to the Cotswolds. The camaraderie fostered by these rides
remains one of the defining characteristics of the club to
this day. As a result, the Beacon is as well known for the
friendly welcome extended to participants in its Audaxes,
road race and
open time trials
as it is for the performances of its racing stars. In recent
times, the club has also forged new links with the wider community
through the
Go-Ride scheme.
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