Our 1st Champion, Robert Jackson 1993-94
Saudi Gazette, 70km RR 25th March 1994
No picture could be found of the first winner of the Riyadh Wheelers Championship, Robert
Jackson from Australia, but here is an account of one of his many victories. Jacko went on to
compete at the World Master's Games for Australia and is now involved with the World
Superbike circuit (motorcycles).
Our 2nd Champion, Fabrizio Bielli 1994-95
Fabrizio was a pure Italian road sprinter and was a weight fanatic,
watching his own and that of his bike. His father almost disowned
him for putting Shimano on his Italian thoroughbred due to it being
several grams lighter than Campagnolo! He had never ridden a
Time Trial before joining the Wheelers and didn't consider it
"racing", but to win the Championship he had to learn fast and went
under the hour by sprinting 200m out of the saddle, then sitting for
100m. He naturally used no aero aids whatsoever! He left Riyadh
to take up a position with the Italian Embassy in Tehran where he
discovered motorbikes and put on several kilos.
Our 3rd Champion, Nigel Howell 1995-96, 1996-97
Nigel came to join the Wheelers from mountain biking
for fun in Riyadh. He joined the DQ chain gang and
quickly learned the basics, using bike skills from his
motorcycle days. Time trialing was his forte which he
carried over to road racing and became a good road
rider. After a holiday in California, he brought back a
new bike and was one of the first members to use a "tribike" for TT's. He left the Kingdom for a job promotion
to the Emirates, and sadly was killed in a motor cycle
accident there. He was Chairman, magazine editor and
his Dirab Hill Climb record still stands with the event
now named in his memory.
Twice weekly, the "chain gang" met at the DQ, LtoR Hank
Cooper (Aus), Nigel Howell (Eng), Ulf Wolfgruber (Ger),
Rob Patrick (IOM), Fabrizio Bielli (Ita)
Our 4th Champion, Rob Patrick 1997-98
Rob was in Riyadh in the 80's, just when the new
sport of triathlon was starting. When the opportunity
came to return in the 90's he thought it would be a
good idea to bring his bike with him. It proved to be
a good decision and after a lay-off of many years,
when previously he competed in International events
for the Isle of Man, the RAF and Combined
Services, he was back in the saddle. An all rounder
who didn't (doesn't) like training; he was able to use
his 'experience' to beat some younger and fitter
riders. Rob was to go on to finish second in the
Championship more times than Raymond Poulidor,
and is still riding and not training too much, relying
instead on technology to get him round!
Our 5th Champion, Stuart Heade 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01
Stuart was a talented junior in the UK
who had caught the eye of national
team selectors and advanced to the
senior ranks along with lifelong friend
Joe Bayfield who was to go on to a
successful professional career. Stuart
instead concentrated on working for a
living, and after clinching his first
championship in the final event, was
never to look back, dominating his next
2. Being Wheelers Champion opened
doors for Stuart and he was invited to
compete in the South African Giro del
Capo, where he rode with distinction.
He left Riyadh to do his MBA and has
since discovered fast cars and
competes in Gum Ball Rally style
events, as well as cycling the UK End
to End for charity.
Our 6th Champion, Patrice Delile 2001-02, 2005-06, 2006-07,
2009-10
Patrice first starting riding with the Saudi-Aramco riders in Dhahran and
soon was travelling to Riyadh for the big events. When he announced
he was a former team mate of Laurent Jalabert, we knew we were in
trouble. In his younger days he competed in top regional and national
events and was another European who found the TT side of cycling a
strange "British" past-time. A truly dedicated cyclist, he soon based his
season around winning the Championship, which he did many times.
Although changing jobs, he returned to the Kingdom each time with
winning the Championship in mind. Now in his mid 40's, he is still the
man to beat, by winning again this season (09-10).
Our 7th Champion, Alan Wood 2002-03
Alan was first of all a cyclist - who then discovered triathlon. He was
probably one of most talented all round athletes we have seen in Riyadh
and all his achievements were brought through an incredibly hard training
regime. Although built for strength not speed, he nonetheless turned out
near 2 hour Olympic Distance triathlon times, which are yet to be bettered
in Riyadh. Alan worked at KKIA, and thought nothing at riding to work; a
maneuver which almost cost him his life when the authorities put a chain
across the slip road he used and Alan was nearly garroted. He was
famous for shunning modern technology (except for his wheels with
GoldTek hubs) and continued to favour steel frames to the end. Alan
married and settled in Canada where he put his considerable energy into
house remodeling.
Our 8th Champion, Khalid Ali 2003-04
Khalid was a member of the "Dhahran raiding party",
who used to pick their events carefully and generally
gave the Riyadh riders a thrashing. He learned the finer
points of racing from Christiaan Beyers; which was to
attack early and use your TT skills to stay away. It also
just so happened Khalid was a talented TT rider, so as
well as taking care of the time trials, he found no problem
tempting the sometimes lethargic Wheelers riders to
chase him in road races, so usually came in alone.
Before we knew it the season was over and Khalid had
been crowned Champion. He went on to use his great
solo skills to do well in Triathlon and became one of the
best in the Eastern region.
Our 9th Champion, Jaime Sunga 2004-05
In the aftermath of the terror bombings in Riyadh, when most
of our Western members stopped training on the open roads,
the strong Filipino membership were able to come to their own,
using their limited time for training to full effect. A good allrounder who had been knocking on the door for several
seasons, Jaime proved to be a very popular winner of the
Championship. He was then and still is a much respected
rider, who is not afraid to do his bit. Jaime works in the cycle
trade as a branch manager for Wheels and has helped many
over the years with advice and the maintenance of their bikes.
Dogged with untimely health problems and missing-out on
training has resulted in Jaime having a quiet couple of
seasons, but I'm sure he'll be back at the top again.
Our 10th Champion, James Cusden 2007-08, 2008-09
James joined us with a formidable cycling CV and although
having taken a few years off, proved he had lost none of his
impressive power, by winning all his counting events. After
an early career in the professional ranks, where he raced
with some of the best in Europe, he fell back to his "pay the
bills" alternative and worked while travelling the world
before arriving in Riyadh. With one of the hardest training
regimes, coupled with meticulous attention to detail, James'
victories were all well earned and it was a great shame (no
really!) when again he took the sensible path and hung-up
his wheels while studying for his MBA. That is all behind
him now and it's rumoured he is spending a hard summer
of training in Spain preparing for the new season (2010-11).
This season he'll have the French speaking trio of Patrice
Delile, Thierry Mathy and Gaetan Contrino to contend with,
along with many new members who are coming to Riyadh
with strong cycling pedigrees. It looks like it's going to be a
great season!