The year began with the long awaited erection of a new safety fence, funded by a £4,900 National Lottery grant, secured by Mike Hack. The works were carried out by former rider Steve Blair’s fencing firm. Further facility improvements followed with the renovation and re-painting of the six banks of seating, along with new sodium floodlights installed by the Miners’ Welfare Club, to reduce their electricity bill. With the sport now coming under the British Cycling umbrella, A&T signed up for their Project Impruve initiative, receiving Stage 1 accreditation, with four Get Set Programme Managers trained up. This was the fore runner of the Go-Ride scheme.

On track, we beat Sheffield in a thrilling Northern Junior K.O. Cup Final, at Stockport, after three extra races. However, team manager Martin Phillips, along with several other riders, quit at the end of May. The team soldiered on without a team manager for a month, before Mike Hack and Steve Holland took over as joint team managers from the start of July. Steve recruited several new riders, including a Spaniard, Inigo Garcia, whilst Martin returned to the team late on in the season. The team finished 2nd out of 4 teams in the Midlands/ North League Division 2, losing a play-off with Sandwell for the title, 83-66 at Wednesfield. This time there was no controversy, as Sandwell took a deserved win.

We finished 4th out of 7 teams in the Northern Fours League, 8th out of 10 teams in the North/ Midlands Regional Qualifying League of the British Junior League and 5th out of 7 teams in the Northern Junior League. A team of three juniors and one veteran put up an excellent showing in the British Indoor Team Championships, at Cheslyn Hay, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the Final. Mike Hack was top scorer, with 189 points, whilst Damien Hack topped the race averages, on 3.13.

Overall though, it was a poor year for the club, with just five regular riders turning out – Damien Hack, Mike Hack, Russ Holland, Steve Holland, Martin Phillips.

Photo below of the team which finished 5th in the British u-19 Team Championship Final, at Horspath, on 30th September. L-r: Damien Hack, Martin Phillips, Mike Hack, Phil Embrey,
Russ Holland.