| 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.
| 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 | 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.
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