Southdown Velo 20 years 1981 to 2001 by John Pendelton

Scribed in 2001

Following the reign of Willy Hill, our most successful rider of the 1970s. Our star rider in the 1980s was Keith Jarrett who gained 75 pIacings in the 1st six between 1981 and 1986 with several excellent wins. Keith was a wily little rider who managed to place himself nicely for finishing sprints, but above all he was a truly gutsy rider, and kept the rest of the team happy with his constant humour. Hugh Broadhead then took over the honours until the mid 90s. A quiet bloke off the bike he was (and still is) a real animal in competition. He won many a good race and collected a host of King of the Mountains jerseys over the years. Also we had Mark Staden, Chris Redhead, Graham Childs, Martin Harris, Steve Sexton, Danny Watson, Chris Meeus, Sean Hodges, Phil Phillips, Michel Holden, Jacqui Neave, Shaun Smart and Tim Costello who have been our most successful riders (Tim making his umpteenth comeback after about 10 years). Not forgetting our remarkable club secretary, Eugene Bardwell, who races more than anyone else, since he started in 1954. He rejoined us in 1992 after a defection to Central Sussex CC in 1980.

A rare photograph of Eugene smiling. 1976 or 1977

Photograph courtesy John Pendleton.

Right to left: Tim Costello (VC St Raphael) leads Keith Jarrett.

Rivals, training partners and friends; Tim Costello and Keith Jarrett fought out the News Shield in 1983. Keith was the deserved overall winner at the end of the year.

Photograph courtesy John Pendleton.