2022 Rob Jebb
The Court of Trustees has adjudged Rob Jebb, of Hope Factory Racing, be granted the Award in recognition of winning the 3 Peaks Cyclo-Cross an incredible 13 times over 23 years.
The 3 Peaks is the toughest and biggest cyclo-cross in the UK (and arguably the world), with over 5000 feet of climbing in its 38 miles. It is staged annually in September, starting and finishing at Helwith Bridge in the Yorkshire Dales, and attracts up to 400 entrants to scale the peaks of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-Y-Ghent. The race is a high point of the Yorkshire cyclo-cross calendar and demands outstanding stamina and skills to conquer the rough and mountainous terrain, some years in very poor weather.
Rob was born in Bingley in 1975 and under the influence of his father he took up fell running, where he progressed to international standard and won several national championships. He also raced mountain bikes, then took up cyclo-cross, initially as a winter sport to supplement his running. Already possessing the necessary athletic ability and stamina, he developed his off road cycle climbing and descending skills to become a winning cyclist.
Every cyclo-cross rider with Yorkshire blood aspires to ride the 3 Peaks and Rob made his debut whilst still a junior in 1992. In 1997 he finished a creditable 3rd before climbing to 2nd the following year; then in 2000 he achieved the top spot, going on to repeat his victory in 2002-2006, 2008, 2010, 2012-2014, 2019 and 2022. His most recent win was at a remarkable 47 years of age, when he beat 343 other finishers and had a clear winning margin of 1min 48sec.
Rob rides a full season of cyclo-cross, from local events to the National Trophy Series, and has represented our country at the World Championships. However, he is clearly a class apart in the 3 Peaks, a race which he has made his own. His outstanding achievement in this one race has brought exceptional honour to himself and has raised the prestige of cyclo-cross racing in the county of Yorkshire and nationally.
2021 Mandy Parker
The Trustees are honoured to make the 2021 Award to Mandy Parker in recognition of her tireless work in promoting children's and youth's cycling.
Mandy discovered cycling in 2004 thanks to her son Joe, then aged 6, when she helped out at his after school bike club. When he then joined East Bradford CC and began training and racing at the Richard Dunn Centre she became increasingly involved in organisation, supervision and skills training. At that time the Centre was unique in West Yorkshire in providing a safe off-road facility for young riders to develop their bike skills and passion for all things cycling. Although it has now closed Mandy has been at the forefront of developing other facilities and activities, both in Bradford and throughout Yorkshire.
Mandy has become a qualified and very active coach, specialising in beginners and young riders across all disciplines. She has encouraged a team of mainly parents to also become involved in the sport and she has introduced hundreds of children to cycling, some who have since gone on to become successful national and international riders
Credit - Bernard Marsden
In addition to her work with East Bradford CC Mandy is also secretary of the West Riding Track League, being a driving force in providing racing for children in a safe environment, an official of the White Rose Youth League and serves on the committees of the Yorkshire Cyclo Cross Association and British Cycling Yorkshire. She also serves as national secretary of the British Schools Cycling Association.
Mandy has a heavy voluntary workload but has difficulties due to contracting multiple sclerosis; however she does not let this impede her and is forever positive.
In 2017 Mandy was named as BBC Yorkshire's 'Unsung Sporting Hero' and in 2019 one of Cycling UK's '100 Women in Cycling' for the incredible impact she has had on young cyclists as a regional and national cycling coach. She has rendered outstanding service to the furtherance of cycling in Yorkshire and is thereby a most worthy recipient of this Award.
2020 Thomas (Tom) Pidcock
The Court of Trustees pronounce the 2020 winner of the Award to be Tom Pidcock in recognition of his ascent to a world class competitor, primarily in cyclo-cross and road racing.
Tom was born in Leeds in 1999 and began cycle racing and winning at a very young age, accruing competitive experience beyond his years. He burst onto the world stage by winning Junior World Championships in both cyclo-cross and time trialling in 2017; in that year he also won the junior Paris-Roubaix road race and (at only 17 years of age) the Elite British National Circuit Race Championship.
He continued to build on these successes, most notably in 20119 by winning the Under 23s World Cyclo-Cross title, then taking the bronze medal in that group's Road Race World Championship on home roads at Harrogate, and again winning Paris-Roubaix, now in the espoirs category.
Starting 2020 at still only 21 Tom was granted dispensation to ride the senior World Cyclo-Cross Championship, where he took an impressive second place against very experienced opposition. Switching to the road he then swept the board in the Giro Ciclistico d'Italia ('Baby Giro', Italy's top amateur race) by winning three stages, the mountains classification and the overall. With the promise of a professional contract with Ineos Grenadiers for 2021 Tom then returned to off road racing.
Riding the Mountain Bike World Championships he picked up two more rainbow jerseys by winning the e-MTB Cross Country and the Under-23 Cross Country titles. As the year progressed he continued to mix his racing at the highest level, finishing his first Elite World Road Race Championship and concluding his year by winning his first Superprestige cyclo cross in Belgium.
It is impossible summarise Tom Pidcock's many achievements in his still youthful cycling career but the emergence of this exciting talent has already brought great honour to Yorkshire cycling. The Trustees are honoured to make this Award and look forward to Tom's continuing development.
2020 Peter Read (Posthumous Award)
The Court of Trustees acknowledges the outstanding contribution made by Pete Read in revolutionising training methods for time triallists. He was a pioneer in the use of structured indoor turbo training, assisted by heart rate monitoring, benefiting time triallists both within Yorkshire and nationally
Pete was born in Goole and after a number of jobs he joined the family jewellery business. He began cycling in 1978 with his sons, firstly with Goole Vermuyden CC and later VC York. He was one of the first to adopt out-of-season turbo training, resulting in a big improvement and he began winning races; he then qualified as an ABBC coach and left the family firm in 1985 to concentrate on cycle coaching. Pete's reputation grew as he worked with individual riders on personal training programmes, one of the first to do so. He also held training sessions with clubs and wrote three books about training, setting out generic turbo programmes involving heart rate zones.
Protégées of Pete began to make their mark and this led to the formation of Pete Read Racing Team in 1998. They announced their arrival on the scene in 1999 by winning the men's national 50 team prize, which they retained in 2000 and 2001; the women’s team meanwhile won the British Best All Rounder in 2000 and 2001. In 2005 Pete Read Racing became Team Swift and they continued to win national awards, including seven BBAR team wins plus national championships and competition records. This success was down to Pete's vision and his ability to motivate and prepare riders to succeed.
As the founding father of Team Swift Pete was passionate about time trialling, but ensured they were not seen exclusively as a racing team. They organised events, including national championships, and it was a condition of membership that all team riders had to assist occasionally.
Pete died aged 75 on 5th February 2020, after battling cancer. His friendly disposition and advice readily given is sadly missed at time trials but Yorkshire cycling is richer for his legacy.
C. A. RHODES MEMORIAL AWARD
RECIPIENTS OF THE AWARD - 2020 TO 2029