Condors Club Direction

Happy New Year 🙂 We hope you had a fantastic Christmas and all your cycling themed present wishes came true.

The recent Condors Board meeting, the first of the new season, was a chance for board members to discuss in detail what we felt were the main aims and objectives for the Cowley Road Condors in 2019. We’re writing to you all to bring you up to speed on what was agreed should be our primary objectives and direction over the coming year, and beyond.

We have always greatly valued the thoughts, and views, of our members and it’s hugely helpful to receive your feedback – so, to this end, please do get in touch with any comments or input you may have on the below items. Please know that the board’s door is always open – and until we have an actual door the best way to reach us is via [email protected] or directly via any board member. 

In addition, throughout this season and prior to each meeting of the Condors Board, we will be asking members to submit questions or put forward items they’d like discussed – you will have seen this on the December newsflash.

Club Aims 2018/19

These aims reflect what we perceive our strengths as a cycling club to be and the great input provided by members in our annual survey:

• To be a fun, friendly and inclusive cycling club
• To empower members through training & skills development across multiple cycling disciplines, and promote personal cycling safety
• To offer people the chance to try new things and stretch themselves, enabling members to reach their goals
• To promote equal opportunities and be a constant champion for women’s cycling, aiming for a 50:50 male/female split
• To be an active, visible, participant in the Oxford community, and an advocate of cycling initiatives across the city recognised as valuable to our members.

Now, the eagle(condor?)-eyed amongst you have probably noticed the above is very similar to last season’s stated aims. Having reviewed and discussed each as a group we felt these aims still best represent where we want to be as a cycling club. Also, we see it as a positive to have longstanding aims the club is dedicated to make happen, and know are achievable.

Condors Racing

We’ve been delighted to see Condor members do well at racing and progress to dedicated racing teams such as zeroBC and Team Vision over the last couple of years. They can offer the training, support and financial subsidies needed to take racing seriously. We see ourselves as an amateur cycling club, that excels at getting new people into group riding, encouraging them into racing, and developing their skills. Building and retaining talent is important to us, and our doors are always open for riders who want to return or have membership with multiple clubs. Arguably we could go down the road of developing our own official race team, with sponsors and all the organisation that goes along with it. But that would be a sizeable piece of work for the benefit of very few. Given that other teams in the area are doing such an excellent job already, it doesn’t make sense for us to reinvent the wheel, when we can act as a feeder-club for talented individuals that want to move on. We would rather put time and energy into another area which needs much more attention in Oxford. This brings us onto…

Condors Kids

We’re a large established club these days and creating a secure environment where families can share the love of cycling seems a logical next step – especially as increasing numbers of members are having children of their own.
It’s our intention to start small with this, taking time to fully explore all that’s required to run safe, secure events for children and their parents. A Condors family day at South Park with a summer BBQ bolted on is the sort of initial offering we’re thinking. Any approach will be fully communicated with members and we’d welcome any input from anyone who has had experience in this area.  For those of you worried about having to chaperone teenagers on rides, please rest assured that provision for under 18s will be separate from the mainstay of Condor rides. We are also keen to stay off-road as much as possible.
Current youth provision in Oxford is limited and geared heavily towards racing – current president Cheryl is especially keen that Condor kids have opportunities to ride socially, just for fun, and to enjoy all the wonderful experiences cycling can bring. 

Condors CX race

A group of Condors mud enthusiasts are looking into the possibilities of staging a Condors Cyclo-Cross (CX) race later this year for the Wessex CX League.  We’ve reached out to a couple of nearby venues earmarked as suitable with facilities capable of meeting requirements. If our plans are successful we’ll hosting a full day of off-road racing that will cover under 8s to Vet50s and beyond. The fact that we are in a position to be considering this shows how much the CX scene has grown within the club and we’re delighted to support this. Do please get in touch if you’re interested in helping to make this happen, or head over to the Condors Mud Kids facebook group and make yourself known there.

Welfare Officer

Lastly, we wanted to take the opportunity to remind everyone we now have a dedicated Welfare Officer! We’re delighted to have Jen Graystone join the board. Jen will play a vital role in helping members, ensuring the safeguarding and protection of all Condors. Her input will be especially important when it comes to our expansion into the youth cycling area. Do get in touch with Jen directly should you ever require support – all  matters will remain private and confidential: [email protected]

And finally, it goes without saying that we will continue to keep up the excellent work that we have been doing for women’s cycling in the area. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this update and we look forward to seeing you soon. 

Cheryl, Ollie, Dave, Arran, Becci, Chris, Jo, Joe G, Joe W, Jen, Matt and Pete

The Condors Board