British Best All-Rounder


The British Best All-Rounder competition, organised by Cycling Time Trials, is an annual British cycle-racing competition. It ranks riders by the average of their average speeds in individual time trials, over 50 and and 12 hours for men, and over 25, 50 and for women. There are similar competitions for under-18s and teams of three. Qualifying races have to be ridden between April and September.
Certificates are awarded to men with 22 mph or faster and women averaging 20 mph or more. The junior speeds are and 21 mph. Competitions modelled on the BBAR are organised within UK regions, and for over- 40s.

History

The BBAR was announced by the magazine Cycling on 4 April 1930. It offered an annual trophy valued at £26 and a shield to be held for a year by the winning team.
Time-trialling had been the staple of British cycling since the National Cyclists' Union had banned massed racing on the road in 1888 as a reaction to police objections it feared would threaten all cyclists. The NCU wanted clubs to promote races only on tracks, or velodromes, but they were too distant and local groups began organising not the massed races that the NCU banned but individual competitions against the clock: time trials.
British cyclists came to see time-trialling as the purest form of competition, free as it was of the tactics of massed racing. But there was no reliable way of seeing who was the best all-rounder, over all distances and across a season, because difficulties with travel meant not all riders could take part. The BBAR overcame the problems by allowing riders to compete where they chose and then register their performances. According to time-trialling historian, Bernard Thompson: "It was probably the best thing that has ever happened to British time-trial sport, even to this day."

The first winner

The first winner was the South Londoner, Frank Southall, riding for the Norwood Paragon club. He averaged and won again the following three years. After his fourth consecutive win, 7,000 cyclists watched at the Royal Albert Hall in London as Southall signed the Golden Book of Cycling during the BBAR prize-giving concert.

Change of ownership

The BBAR competition was suspended during the war. It restarted in 1944, promoted not by Cycling but by the time-trial administrative body, the Road Time Trials Council, today known as Cycling Time Trials.
British cycling was by then in a civil war, with the NCU's ban on massed racing having been thwarted by a new organisation, the British League of Racing Cyclists. Both the RTTC and Cycling had campaigned against the BLRC, still convinced massed racing threatened the sport as a whole. But the editor of Cycling, H. H. "Harry" England was so upset that the RTTC had taken over the BBAR that he changed sides and began reporting BLRC races.

After the war

The 1944 BBAR recognised that few riders had been able to train as they had previously and averaged speeds over 25, 50 and. Twelve-hour races would also have been hard to organise because, said Bernard Thompson: "Signposts had been taken down during the war and it is doubtful that a sufficient number of marshals and feeders could have been mustered in those austere times." This shortened BBAR was won by Albert Derbyshire with. In 1945 the competition returned to its full distance.

Tom Barlow

Calculations of riders' averages were made from 1945 to 1976 by a Manchester enthusiast, Tom Barlow. Bernard Thompson related: "All Tom's calculations were done the hard way; there were no pocket calculators in his lifetime and it is doubtful that he would have changed his tried and trusted methods, his tables of average speeds combined with his outsized slide-rule... about three feet long." Barlow died aged 90 in 1982.

Winners

The men's competition has been won eleven times by Kevin Dawson, two more than Ian Cammish. The women's competition was for many years dominated by Beryl Burton, who won 25 times from 1959 to 1983 inclusive. The only other women to have won the competition more than twice are June Pitchford, who won three times in a row from 1984, and Julia Shaw who won a fourth title in 2010.
Three BBAR winners have competed in the Tour de France: Charlie Holland, Peter Hill, and Arthur Metcalfe ; Metcalfe is the only one to have completed the event.
The winner of each competition is determined by a simple average of the average speeds over the three distances. This average is not an average speed, since the distances are not used to weight the average. The table below shows this
simple average as ``average speed``.
YearWinner ClubAverage speed Winner ClubAverage speed
2019Jonathan ShubertArctic Aircon RT28.414Vicky GillDRAG2ZERO28.032
2018Kiran DaviesDRAG2ZERO28.954Alice LethbridgeDRAG2ZERO28.360
2017Adam DugglebyVive Le Velo29.356Alice LethbridgeDRAG2ZERO28.220
2016Richard BideauPendle Forest CC28.867Hayley SimmondsAeroCoach28.705
2015Adam TophamHigh Wycombe CC28.774Hayley SimmondsTeam Velosport27.145
2014Adam TophamHigh Wycombe CC28.231Jasmijn MullerKingston Wheelers CC26.586
2013Adam TophamHigh Wycombe CC27.322Paula MoseleyClimb on Bikes RT25.969
2012Adam TophamHigh Wycombe CC27.860Paula MoseleyClimb On Bikes CC25.668
2011Jeff JonesChippenham & District Wheelers28.023Jane KilmartinCult Racing26.214
2010Julian JenkinsonUTAG Yamaha.com27.202Julia ShawUTAG Yamaha.com27.415
2009Nik BowdlerFarnborough and Camberley CC27.206Julia ShawUTAG Yamaha.com27.451
2008Nik BowdlerFarnborough and Camberley CC27.329Lynn HamelThegreenroomgroup.com26.193
2007Kevin DawsonPinarello RT27.283Julia ShawGS Strada25.562
2006Kevin DawsonAgisko-Dart RT27.454Julia ShawGS Strada26.005
2005Michael HutchinsonAPI-Metrow27.203Ruth EylesBeacon RCC25.228
2004Kevin DawsonPlanet X27.541Carol GandySan Fairy Ann CC24.806
2003Kevin DawsonLife Repair CRT28.26Ruth DorringtonPete Read Racing25.421
2002Kevin DawsonCompensation Group RT27.793Karen SteeleCaygill Frames RT25.364
2001Kevin DawsonPete Read Racing-Caygill Frames27.631Karen SteelePete Read Racing-Caygill Frames25.29
2000Michael HutchinsonBio RT27.558Liz MilneGS Strada25.946
1999Kevin DawsonPete Read Racing27.15Jill ReamesSwaledale CC26.072
1998Kevin DawsonTeam Ambrosia27.33Maxine JohnsonLetchworth Velo Club25.417
1997Kevin DawsonGS Strada27.92Jill ReamesSwaledale CC27.025
1996Andy WilkinsonPort Sunlight Wheelers28.236Julie DerhamTwickenham CC26.697
1995Gethin ButlerNorwood Paragon CC27.148Anne PlantSwaledale CC25.169
1994Gethin ButlerRacing Team Italia26.874Yvonne McGregorSwaledale CC26.094
1993Kevin DawsonGS Strada27.062Leigh LamontAntelope Racing Team25.684
1992Kevin DawsonGS Strada26.777Sue WrightChelmer CC25.612
1991Glen LonglandAntelope Racing Team26.94Mandy JonesLiverpool Mercury RC25.766
1990Gary DightonManchester Wheelers26.216Elaine WardScarborough Paragon CC25.268
1989Ian CammishManchester Wheelers26.412Sue WrightChelmer CC25.259
1988Ian CammishManchester Wheelers26.369Margaret AllenBarnsley RC25.298
1987Ian CammishManchester Wheelers26.094Margeret AllenBarnsley RC25.687
1986Glenn LonglandAntelope Racing Team26.771June PitchfordStourbridgc CC24.962
1985Ian CammishGS Strada26.234June PitchfordStourbridgc CC25.321
1984Ian CammishGS Strada26.013June PitchfordStourbridgc CC25.463
1983Ian CammishGS Strada27.355Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.118
1982Ian CammishGS Strada26.000Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.206
1981Ian CammishGS Strada26.341Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.219
1980Ian CammishEdgware RC26.174Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.733
1979Phil GriffithsGS Strada26.149Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.228
1978John WoodburnSydenham Wheelers26.067Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.565
1977Paul CarbuttGS Strada25.566Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.069
1976Phil GriffithsGS Strada25.97Beryl BurtonMorley CC26.665
1975Phil GriffithsCity of Stoke ACCS25.418Beryl BurtonMorley CC26.047
1974Phil GriffithsCity of Stoke ACCS25.093Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.302
1973Ray LewisCoventry CC25.022Beryl BurtonMorley CC26.267
1972Bob PorterHounslow & District Wheelers24.914Beryl BurtonMorley CC26.112
1971Phil GriffithsGloucester City CC25.109Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.463
1970John WatsonClifton CC25.958Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.729
1969Antony TaylorOldbury & District CC25.67Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.849
1968Martyn RoachHounslow & District Wheelers25.428Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.942
1967Mike McNamaraRockingham CC24.593Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.696
1966Arthur MetcalfeLeeds St Christophers CCC24.797Beryl BurtonMorley CC24.812
1965Keith StaceySeamons CC24.309Beryl BurtonMorley CC25.439
1964Peter HillAskern CC24.645Beryl BurtonMorley CC24.716
1963Peter HillAskern CC24.041Beryl BurtonMorley CC24.138
1962Frank ColdenCamberley Wheelers24.652Beryl BurtonMorley CC24.036
1961Brian KirbyArmy CU24.04Beryl BurtonMorley CC23.656
1960Brian WiltcherZeus RC24.526Beryl BurtonMorley CC23.714
1959Brian WiltcherZeus RC24.045Beryl BurtonMorley CC23.724
1958Owen BlowerLeicestershire RC24.363Mildred RobinsonManx Viking Wheelers23.193
1957Ray BootyArmy CU24.126Iris MilesScala Wheelers22.849
1956Ray BootyEricsson Wheelers CC24.126Iris MilesScala Wheelers22.761
1955Ray BootyEricsson Wheelers CC23.956Mary DawsonTeesside RC22.632
1954Vic GibbonsBrentwood RC23.811Mary DawsonTeesside RC22.399
1953Vic GibbonsBrentwood RC23.578J HarrisApollo CC22.436
1952Ken JoyMedway Wheelers23.83C BrownSouth Shields Victoria CC22.289
1951Ken JoyMedway Wheelers23.414E HortonCoventry CC22.38
1950Ken JoyMedway Wheelers23.33Eileen SheridanCoventry CC22.134
1949Ken JoyMedway Wheelers22.808Eilleen SheridanCoventry CC21.827
1948Pete BeardsmoreMedway Wheelers22.584Suzy RimmingtonMeersbrook CC21.756

YearWinner ClubAverage speed
1947Albert DerbyshireCalleva RC22.744
1946Albert DerbyshireCalleva RC22.843
1945Jock AllisonMusselburgh RC22.479
1944Albert DerbyshireCalleva RC23.549
1939
1938H. 'Shake' EarnshawMonkton CC22.627
1937Cyril HepplestonYorkshire RC22.348
1936Charles HollandMidland C&AC
1935Stanley W. MilesCentury RC21.809
1934Ernest J. CapellAllondon RC21.622
1933Frank SouthallNorwood Paragon CC
1932Frank SouthallNorwood Paragon CC
1931Frank SouthallNorwood Paragon CC
1930Frank SouthallNorwood Paragon CC21.141