Tour de Freuchie 2008
Another great day. Expect a fuller report in a few days, but the main facts for now -
We had fifteen teams
Fastest race time was 1 hour 48 minutes 52 seconds
Fastest laps were 12 minutes 16 seconds and 12 minutes 20 seconds (from the rider of laps four and eight of the winning team)
These times compare with last year’s figures of 1 hour 50 minutes 26 seconds and fastest laps of 12 minutes 54 and 12 minutes 20, again from the rider of laps four and eight.
So our competitors are getting fitter ….. Well, some of them are. And chaps and chapesses, if you want to succeed in this event, you have to do something about this guy who is turning in these super-fast laps ….. A few drawing pins? A can of Instarust for his chain? Or just make him ride the bike that our unfortunate team of juniors was using – it wouldn’t be quite true to say that they spent more time trying to fix it than they did cycling it, but that’s not far off the mark.
And chapesses? A team of ten ladies had the fifth best start to finish time of the day at 2 hours and 34 seconds, although it has to be admitted that they completed five laps against the others’ eight. They went round in pairs, and if it looked a bit on the leisurely side at times, just be aware that at least two of the lap times beat some of the men’s.
We think we raised about £2,900 for our fund for Junior (and senior) coaching in 2009. Details to come. That’s a great, great effort from everyone, from organiser Alan Wallace to all the riders, all the marshals, the couple sitting in the car tracking times and shouting desperately “what number was that that just came in?”, the ladies with the soup and the pies, the spectators – everyone.
Technorati Tags: Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club
Kiddies Party
Yesterday was the annual Kids Xmas Party here at Freuchie Cricket Club. The youngsters enjoyed themselves immensely, especially as the sound of Jingle Bells raised the roof of the clubhouse and sounded the arrival of Santa, who had travelling down to Freuchie from the North Pole. Thank you Santa.
The new Club President made his first public outing and speech to a captivated audience, well the youngsters could well have been captivated by Santa! President Paterson thanked everyone for their hard work and wished the members and their families a very Merry Xmas.
It was just unfortunate that the sound system broke down during the children’s games, leaving Faye Dick to do a grand job of belting out the songs at the top of her voice like Ethel Merman on speed.
Photos: Photos from the Kids Xmas Party 2008
At this point we’d like to quash the rumours circulating that President Paterson reacted just like Elf (video below) when he was told that Santa would be coming to the party. No truth in that rumour at all!
Finally, Santa has passed on a message to say he hopes all the children are being especially good as he doesn’t want to see anyone from Freuchie moving from the nice list onto his naughty one!
Technorati Tags: Elf, Ethel Merman, Father Christmas, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Kids Xmas Party, naughty list, nice list, Santa
Press Release: Tour de Freuchie
Freuchie Cricket Club will be ushering in their 2009 season next Saturday afternoon with their annual winter sponsored cycle race to raise funds for the cricket club and other clubs in the area.
Teams of 4 will compete against the clock in a relay race for 2 laps each of a 4 ½ mile circuit around the village. The record time from last year’s race was 1 hour, 50 minutes and 26 seconds for the winning team to complete the total distance.
Photo: Dave Cowan and Robbie Birrell getting in some training
Cricket club first team captain, Robbie Birrell, who was out on his bike practicing last weekend, told us:
“It’s a great way to get all the family out in the fresh air, work off some of those extra pounds gained over Christmas and get ready for the Hogmanay celebrations. Some of the cycling can be a bit tricky at this time of year on wet roads, but we’ve got marshals all round the circuit to keep everyone safe”.
The Fife club, who are the only ever Scottish cricket team to win the UK Village Championship at Lords, managed to raise over £3000 at last year’s event. This year they are also inviting other local sports clubs to join the race and use it as their own fundraising opportunity too.
Vice captain, Dave Cowan, who was also out getting in some training last weekend, added:
“There was a great party atmosphere last year with families out supporting the cyclists, having something to eat and drink, and a disco in the evening to award the prizes. We are hoping to repeat the same success again this year and would welcome anyone from the village or further a field to come along and join in the fun”.
More…
The race starts at midday next Saturday 27th at the rear of the clubhouse on Muir Road, Freuchie. There will be refreshments available all day and anyone who wants to enter either as a team or as a club, or come along to the evening disco should contact the event organiser Alan Wallace on 07872 379224.
Ends
Editors Supplemental Notes
- Freuchie Cricket Club was founded in 1908
- In the 1985 final at Lords, Freuchie became the only ever Scottish team to win the UK Village Championship
- Christiegait in Freuchie is named after Dave Christie, the Captain of the victorious 1985 team
- Freuchie’s first team play in Division 2 of the Scottish National League, the second team in Division 2 of the East of Scotland League and the club have 4 junior teams playing in various age groups
- Freuchie Cricket Club is both a sporting and social venue at the heart of the Howe of Fife village’s community
For further information on Freuchie CC please contact Richard Blanchfield, Press Officer, on 01337 858433.
Technorati Tags: Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Fife
AGM – Onwards and Upwards
Our AGM on Sunday 7th December was the best-attended for a long time. A cynic might suggest that this was because we had such a stinker of a year on the field in 2008 and a lot of people thinking things needed fixed, but that would be quite wrong. The mood of the meeting was very positive and actions before and since testify to that.
Just the one bit of not-so-good news: We have known for a long time that our Centenary Year President Alan Duncan was going to step down. We bent his ear mercilessly about staying on, but in the end admitted defeat – for a good cause. Alan looks after Grey Lodges in Dundee, a charitable organisation dedicated to promoting learning, leisure and local action in the community. His operation had a difficult year in 2008. He knows it’s going to be even tougher next year and we know that what Grey Lodges do is very important in Dundee. Maybe they need him more than we do. Let’s recognise that if we had a bad year on the field in 2008, we had a great year off it – our pre-season tour to Ireland, our mid summer cricket festival and our fixture with the Cross Arrows in September – all down to Alan’s enterprise and contacts. He remains with us as a committee member (and says he’s in training to get back into the first team!).
Not easy to find a replacement, but we think we have a good one in Ian Paterson. Patsy’s involvement with us came about through the football club, but he’s been a committee member (and 2nd XI batsman of distinctive style – say no more) for the last few years. We had our first committee meeting with Patsy in the chair on Monday night, with more buzz about the place than we’ve seen for a while.
That in turn comes from one of the most gratifying outcomes of the AGM – more players on the committee. Freuchie Cricket Club is about cricket, first and foremost. If our committee has maybe been a bit short of active players in the recent past, it’s not now! Scott Birrell and Scott Gourlay come back, Steve Rowley joins us, Robbie Birrell and Alan and Jock Wallace are still with us, and two really positive additions – junior member Robbie Wright and football club member Davie Houston. Development of our junior players is absolutely crucial, and having Robbie on board will help in that, while the mutually beneficial relationship of the cricket and football clubs is so important for us all. Good on ye, Davie Houston!
Robbie Birrell takes over as club captain and is already making an impact. Indoor training starts in January, with a programme of events already mapped out, and we’ll have the experience of Dave ‘Coo’ Cowan as vice captain. Second team leaders have yet to be elected.
We are also – gulp – working to bring in a pro for next year. We’ve said before that while our overseas players have not necessarily been highest scorers or wicket takers, week in, week out, they have provided a strength in the team that we visibly lacked in 2008. Even more important, we must have top-level coaching in place to bring on our juniors and younger players. Why ‘gulp’? Gulp and gulp again, because we look like pushing our finances to the limit, and there’s a lot of nail-biting about our plan. But we have no wish to be financially comfortably-off and sliding out of the SNCL leagues.
Onwards and Upwards!
Photographs from the Centenary Dance
The earlier blog post on the Freuchie Cricket Club Centenary Dance has now been updated with photos. Apologies for it taking so long. We hope you like them.
Go have a look here.
Technorati Tags: Centenary Dance, Freuchie Cricket Club, photos