The Concorde Cyclists Club was born out of an ideal. In The Beginning Originally formed in 1948 as the Concorde Racing Cyclists Club, prior to it's formation all the founder members were active in several local clubs but for various reasons were unhappy with their situation. In 1948 cycle clubs were dominated by touring and time trialling. At that time road racing on open roads was not permitted by the National Cyclists Union, the controlling body for track and closed circuit racing. The emergence of the British League of Racing Cyclists in 1941 had provided a platform for road racing, but as a rebel body riders who chose to race under BLRC colours were denied international selection. Additionally, the time trialling factions in most clubs were reluctant to give recognition to the new "massed start" racing men and friction between these groups was the background to the formation of Concorde and other clubs at that time. During 1948 much discussion took place at clubroom level and after training and at the end of the racing season clearly something had to be done. The formation of a new "racing only" club was talked about but the members, who were all active racing men and women, acknowledged the need to do all of the many official jobs required for a club to be successful. Eventually a group drew up a set of club rules and a constitution (one rule stating that "all members must be active racing cyclists"). The draft rules and names of club officials were submitted to the NCU and an inaugural meeting was held which was attended by 25 cyclists. The constitution and rules were eagerly accepted and officials were voted in. The name Concorde was chosen to signify the unity present and an affinity for France, at that time the greatest cycling nation. The need to resign from present clubs created further evidence of the attitude of some of the clubs to road racing. 12 riders submitted their resignation to Solihull Cycling Club and the resignation of 11 was accepted but one member, Bob Maitland (our president), was asked to attend before the committee. Bob was at that time the National Massed Start Champion and had captained the GB team in the 1948 Olympics, finishing 6th and leading the men's team to a silver medal. Bob objected to being treated favorably because he was an established rider and the club had neglected younger members - this attitude to younger riders had helped create the rift in the first place. So a racing club and an ideal was born. Former riders from many local clubs gave an initial membership count of 28, and initially members took turns at doing the many official club jobs. This spread the load and created an air of cooperation between all club members....Continue

All Content © Concorde C.C.