Bann Wheelers

Bann Wheelers History

The Bann Wheelers Cycling Club was formed in August 1966 after a number of local riders had taken part in a Cycle Race for novices at Garvagh promoted by the well-known Ballymena Road Club. These young cyclists got the "bug" and started training and racing around a circuit based on the Garvagh/Coleraine Road with Billy Mitchell as timekeeper, so by the time the next event promoted by the Ballymena Club came along they were ready to take on the opposition. After the prize presentation in the gymnasium of Garvagh Intermediate School, the locals got talking to Mr. Rex Bonar, the then Chairman of the Ballymena Club and he agreed to come to Coleraine's Lombard Café to tell them more about the "game" and how they should go about starting a Club. This first meeting which was held in the Oak Room of the Lombard Café on 5th August, 1966 was attended by Rex Bonar, Robert McKinley, Eddie and Harold McKinney, Wilbert and Billy Mitchell, Kenny, Uel and Shaun Doherty, as well as Eddie Kane - a former member of the Ballymoney and District Club who was keen to get Cycle Racing revived in the area. After long discussions they decided to start up a Club which was to be called the Bann Wheelers and the Clubs first office bearers were elected as follows: - Chairman - Billy Mitchell; Secretary - Eddie McKinney; Vice President - Billy McKinney; and Tour Captain - Robert McKinley, Application was made to the Northern Ireland Cycling Federation for affiliation and Aghadowey Presbyterian Church granted the Club the use of the Collins School for their Club Meetings, their only expense being whatever electricity they used. But the new Club still needed Trophies to compete for. This bridge was soon crossed when Davy Munnis - the former Secretary of the now defunct Ballymoney and District Club gave the new Club the use of their trophies and stopwatch. After a good winters training, a team of cyclists set off, chauffeured by Robert McKinley and clad in Rugby jerseys (as their new Royal Blue and Scarlet jerseys had not yet arrived) to take part in their first open Road Race - A 40 miles Handicap event at Annaclone, Bannbridge and they really got christened - with sleet and snow. Still, they got off to a good start that year (1967) and Harold McKinney brought the Club its first Championship medal when he beat Ronnie Grant, one of the North's top sprinters of the time to take third place in the Northern Ireland Junior Road Race Championships. In November the Club held its first Dinner Dance and Presentation of 4wards in the Carrig-Na-Cule Hotel, Portstewart when they danced to the music of "Speedy" Moore and his band. The following season, the Club went from strength to strength with Wilbert Mitchell representing Ireland in the Junior Team to the Tour der Jurgend in West Germany, and Harold McKinney winning the Northern Ireland Schoolboy Championship when he was one second faster than East Tyrone's Ian Henry on the Larne Road, as well as finishing runner up to Archie Cunningham in the Northern Ireland Junior Road Race Championships and in the N.I. Junior Time Trials Best All Rounder. He also won the Mayfair Grand Prix at Ballyclare and his finishing sprint brought him a number of good placings in other open events. Then in the winter months the E.Mckinney brothers, Wilbert Mitchell and Graham Calvin - another former Ballymoney and District rider broke the Ballymena Road Clubs Northern Ireland 3-Hour Roller Record which they were to retain the following year until the Ballymena men eventually claimed it back again. In the years that followed Eddie McKinney brought more Championship medals to the Club, ranging from a silver in the Irish 100 miles Time Trial Championship to a gold in the Northern Ireland Road