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Eddy Merckx meets Addiscombe

Or more correctly, how three of the Addiscombe dined with Eddy Merckx …

Three club members were guests of the Road Time Trials Council at the 57th Champions Night held at Derby on January 6th. Eddie Mundy was there as President of the Road Records Association, a national body founded in 1888 to certify claims to national records. Chris and John Watts attended for their work in the RTTC London South District.

If, as the RTTC Chairman commented, Merckx and Boardman were separated at their respective tables by a distance of approximately 10 metres, the distance between their two Hour Records, then the Addiscombe members were indeed honoured, being about two metres from Chris Boardman and 12 metres from the great Belgian. The balcony of Derby's Assembly Rooms was decorated with banners to Team Champions past and present. It was coincidental that our members were seated beneath the Addiscombe banner which represented the girls' 1954 Best All Rounder Team win.

The girls also took the 50 and 100 miles team titles in 1954 and on that occasion the awards were presented by another great Tour de France rider, Louison Bobet.

As well as coming away from this year's function with special coasters provided by Beekay Products printed "I had dinner with Eddy Merckx", Eddy autographed Chris's copy of the 1974 French edition of his book "Coureur Cycliste". Chris Boardman and Yvonne McGregor were also busy signing an assortment of programmes, books and photos for everyone.

Our Chris, as a member of The Bidlake Trust that adjudicates on the annual Bidlake Award was pleased to have a chat with last year's recipient, Yvonne McGregor. With a host of names submitted as contenders for the award in 2000, Yvonne's brilliant World Pursuit title at Manchester finally clinched the award for her and will be presented at the Yorkshire Cycling Federation luncheon in late February.

In the 1950's when the Champions' Night was held at the Albert Hall in conjunction with a concert, the Addiscombe used to hire a double decker bus to get us all to and from the function. Sadly London eventually became too expensive, both for the RTTC to hire a venue and for hotel accommodation. However, the RTTC's Champions' Night at Derby still remains a great evening out with "the stars" - see you there next year?

Chris Watts