The club committee has been greatly saddened to learn of the sudden passing over the weekend of Donald Ashton, our Time Trial secretary. Donald had some issues with his health for some time, but this tragic news has come as a great shock to all.
Donald has been an outstanding servant of the club for several decades. He has been known within FCCC mainly for his work in organising and running the weekly club time trials for many years up until relatively recently, and also in organising and running our Open club TTs where we attracted sometimes 100 or more participants.
Donald was also a keen competitor himself, and won several of the club TT trophies over the years, including the Hill Climb championship several times, and the Club Championship Challenge trophy no less than six times. He also won the John Pickers Memorial trophy for his service to the club on more than one occasion.
He was not just a great servant to our own club, where we were very lucky to have his contributions. It is likely no exaggeration to say that Donald dedicated his life to the sport of cycle time trials, and to that end he was Events Secretary of our local Cycling Time Trials (CTT) district council, London West. He was also a registered timekeeper and course measurer, and as such he was involved in a great many Open TTs run by other clubs across the South of the country. He also organised and ran the National 12 hour TT championships on behalf of our club a few years ago.
Everyone who knew Donald recognised his passion in this field, and he was also incredibly generous in sharing his encyclopaedic knowledge of TTing with anyone who asked.
The London West DC secretary, Jim Parker, had this to say: “Donald’s involvement with our sport goes back so far that those currently on the London West DC committee cannot remember a time without him”.
This is a great loss not only to the club, but to the sport of time trialling in general. We will miss him terribly.
The club passes on its condolences to Donald’s wife, Margaret, to his son, Mark, and to his daughter, Beverley.
FCCC Club Committee
