Bourne Wheelers History

The first mention of a cycling club in Bourne dates to 1888. The earliest picture we have is one taken outside The Nags Head Hotel in 1910, showing nine riders suitably dressed for their club ride.

It is believed that Bourne Wheelers CC was originally formed in 1935 with approximately 15 members and this landmark anniversary was celebrated in 2015 with a special edition 80th anniversary club jersey and again in 2025 with a 90th anniversary celebration for all current and former club members, held at the Red Hall in Bourne.In the 1930s the club season typically ran from June to October. This included time trials and hill climbs. Club social rides included trips to Kings Lynn and Hunstanton as well as St Ives, Oundle, Market Harborough, Oakham, Melton Mowbray and Lincoln. The club still has a strong focus on social rides as well as fulfilling a packed racing calendar for those members with a competitive edge!

At some point after WWII the club became dormant but was resurrected by a group of local cyclists in 1961. The group consisted of Terry Barnatt, Alan Dolby, Tony Dunthorne, Doug Pinkney, John Anniss, John Gortan, John Gaches, Brian Asher and James Gout among others. Their first meeting was held at the Anchor pub in East Gate. Later the club met at the Bourne Institute, now known as the Pyramid club. The club colours at this time were red and white; the jersey having a red top with a white band across the chest and white sleeves.

Unfortunately, the club became dormant again at the end of 1964 but was once again resurrected in 1982 by Dave Richardson and former member Fred Archer. The focus with this re-introduced club was very much on being a social, family club, with children and adult members welcome across the age spectrums. This philosophy is still at the heart of Bourne Wheelers club today.

Bourne Wheelers CC grew and progressed over the years, putting on charity rides, taking part in National Cycle Week activities, putting on treasure hunts for the town and holding club time trials, with one of the first club 10-mile TT courses going from Meadow Drove to Guthram and back.

Bourne Wheelers is a progressive club and over recent years has gone from strength to strength with youth and adult members representing the club in multiple disciplines, across local, regional and national level and being the seed to several professional careers in cycling.

The club jersey has undergone several iterations over the years. The current club jersey was introduced in 2025 and pays homage to the club colours from the 1960’s.

In Memoriam - Robin Day & Tim James

In 2016 the club was very saddened by the passing of long-standing club member Robin Day. Robin had been a keen cyclist for most of his life, riding for Norwood Paragon and racing in Belgium as a junior. He was a member of Bourne Wheelers for over 30 years, ending up as chairman of the Club. In his later years he was very keen to help junior riders and was adept at sorting out race results and Time Trial handicapping for Bourne Wheelers' leagues and the Hereward League. He was also on the committee of Lincolnshire Cycling Time Trials and would be the first to help out marshalling and sorting out the results of local and National events. Even when very poorly Robin would drive out to meet at the coffee stop to be with the morning club ride. Always the gentleman and supporter of cycling, the club initiated the Robin Day Memorial Trophy time trial series over 10, 25 and 50 miles and more recently has named an annual club award in his honour - The Robin Day Chairman's Award.

Bourne Wheelers CC was first introduced to Tim James during some after school Go-Ride sessions at Tim’s primary school in Bourne. A natural flair led to him quickly progressing to club sessions and then onto racing road and cyclocross. His talent was recognised more widely as he moved into the senior ranks, moving through the Catford CC junior team and 365 4 Bikes Academy before moving to Italy to race for Zappi Racing Team. Two successful years here followed, mixing it with fellow future professional riders and picking up top results in some of the biggest U23 races in the world.

Tim moved back to the UK in 2020, racing just once before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. At a similar time, he started to experience symptoms that would soon lead to diagnosis of an incredibly rare form of cancer. Tim fought bravely through major surgery and several rounds of chemotherapy, but nothing could help him and he sadly passed away on May 14th 2021. Tim was always positive and had a smile for everyone, even during his difficult final months. He is missed every day and remembered with love by everyone that knew him. We at Bourne Wheelers are proud to hold an annual road race in Tim’s honour – The Timmy James Memorial Grand Prix.

Event History:

In 2016 the club hosted and organised the first round of the newly-formed National Junior Women's road race series on Sunday around the Witham on the Hill circuit over a 40-mile course.

In 2018 The club organised the National Junior Men's and Women's National Road Race Championships over 68 miles for the boys and 45 for the girls on Sunday, July 15.

In 2019 the club hosted the Bourne CiCLE festival, a weekend of thrilling cycling for everyone from sportive riders to the professionals. The publicity picture shows a few of the club riders on their way to ride out to the Toft TT.

The club has run its sportive in previous years the Bourne Ultimatum and in 2019 combined it with the Bourne Cicle road race.

The youth wing of Bourne Wheelers, known as Bourne Bullets, has produced a string of promising racers in recent years such as Sian Botteley, Tim James, Ali Slater, Ride London participant Jess Woodworth and national cyclo-cross under-16 girls trophy winner Maddie Gammons.

Recently the during 2020 the outstanding results from the junior section has come from Alex and Dan Galpin, Jacob and Toby Bush.

Jacob achieved Five Age Group National Championship's during 2020