This has again been another fantastic season for Lincsquad. We have again run our 3 flagship races – the Challenge, Bomber and the Brigg sprint. These races were a great success and with even more entries for these races since last year, meant the committee relied heavily on Lincsquad members and family to help out. They did help in abundance showing just what a fantastic club this is and there cannot be many clubs who run so many races in a year successfully, so I think everyone should be very proud with what we achieved.
New to last year was the Sportive which was again very popular, raising thousands of pounds for local charities. This is again looking like a popular event for this year so hopefully we can top the amount raised for charity from last year. I would like to welcome Dave Hinch as he has taken over the role of organizing the TT Series. This has been a hugely popular series and I think that this has had a lot to do with the enthusiasm and hard work of Phil Binch. The effort he has put in, especially the last 2 years to make the TT Series so popular that last year we even ran out of numbers as we had so many people turn up. This enthusiasm by Phil is paramount also with the success of the Brigg Bomber. Before Phil took it by ‘the scruff’ of the neck 2 years ago this race was looking in danger of disappearing but has now become so popular and maybe even more so than the Challenge, so with Dave coming on board, and with his undoubted enthusiasm with anything he does, then I can only see this series being as popular as ever.
This year, as was the same the year before, we have welcomed many new members to the club who have never raced a triathlon before. With the club investing heavily on getting people through their level 1 and 2 coaching qualifications, the club is now able to offer quality coaching sessions, and the improvements we have seen in these new members as well as our older ‘ seasoned’ members is proof that these sessions are an absolute must for Lincsquad members. Following on from this we should look at the achievements of individuals at the club. We have, for the second year running the British National Quad Champion, Steve also came 3rd in the World Championship in Czech. We have had people representing Great Britain in Quadrathlon, Triathlon and Duathlon all over Europe which goes to show the depth in strength we now have at the club.
I could go on and on praising the efforts of all of you but I really need to close my notes but before I do there is one person I would like to thank. Paul Carvill does things for the club that most people don’t see or hear about. He has constructed and over the years, developed what is admired by nearly every club in the country, our fantastic website. I think we all, myself included, take going on the website for granted but without it where would we be. The forum is absolutely invaluable and the latest addition is the fantastic new online shop. Paul is always improving and updating the site and he has made it into one of the most important ‘Hubs’ of the club.
As you may have seen on the Forum Steve Clark is stepping down this year from the committee to concentrate on his training and his own ambitions for this year. Steve has been an invaluable member of the team with the time and effort he has put in and hopefully we will once again see him at the helm in the not too distant future. With Steve stepping down and as I have mentioned before we now have Dave Hinch stepping up and taking an important role in member’s development. We also welcome Steve Dolby onto the committee. Steve and Dave have both shown that they are willing to give up some of their spare time to make sure this club moves forward with new goals and ideas but we need more of ‘You’ to make sure Lincsquad is always looking forward and never back.
So finally, I would like to thank all of you for supporting me as Chairman over the past 3 years.
To see the club grow as it has would make any Chair proud to be part of such a club and I would like to say that there is no prouder Chair in the Country than the one sat in this room tonight.
Thank you.