Where it all started...
We have researched the origin of the league's somewhat patchy history. To the best of our knowledge it appears it was originally the idea of Bill Best of the Sydenham Wheelers, founded either in the late 60's or early 70's, named the South London Road Race League. As clubs all over the division stopped promoting races it was obvious that another route to provide competition was urgently needed. In the mid 70's Colin Coe aided by Dave Creasy and Pete Harris remodelled the league to make it easier to run. The name was then changed to Kent Cycle Road Race League.
The league flourished, promoting 2 races at each circuit with higher category races in the morning and lower categories in the afternoon. Many Kent and South East London division clubs attended and enjoyed the racing that was provided. Such was the success of the Kent League, Keith Butler, one of Britain's former pro riders established a similar league in Surrey. The Surrey League has grown into an extremely well attended league. During the 90's under the leadership of Bill Lewis and Vic Hopkin the league continued to provide most of the racing in the Kent area. The name of the league was changed to the South East Road Racing League, to reflect it's popularity. The league then ran one larger race per day as race helpers were thin on the ground. Both Bill and Vic decided to retire at the end of 2002 and so Paul Bridgeland stepped up to administer the league in 2003, assisted by Preston and Kim Anderson and Adrian Kingwell. The races continued to be well attended and a full calendar was run. The SERRL had a difficult start to 2004 as Paul Bridgeland could no longer devote enough time to the administration of the league. It was then that Kim Anderson offered to take on the responsibility of co-ordinating the league to prevent a massive shortage of racing in the area. The season provided much exciting competition across all categories. Moving on into 2005 the SERRL had a full programme of racing and dedicated support staff along with newly acquired league sponsors. It is with the help of these sponsors that the league could now run an informational website and offer both increased overall prizes and on the day race prizes. 2006 saw the introduction of a group of National Escort Motorcycle riders who the League recruited to assist in the safe passage of the races on the open road. The N.E.G. riders massively transformed the presence of the convoy on the road allowing all riders peace of mind even on busy or technical circuits. The membership of affiliated riders and clubs in the league was still quite low; however, the field sizes grew substantially with the ever-increasing professionalism of the race organisation. 2008 saw several major changes to the league. Firstly, for the first time Points no longer meant prizes. As affiliations had been in decline for some while not many riders were benefiting for pay-outs at the end of the year. It was decided that we would continue offering the on the day cash prizes and winners medal and offer the overall top 3 riders a Medal / Trophy. Secondly came the introduction of online entry via RiderHQ.com courtesy of Nat Spurling. RiderHQ has helped transform the administrative side of the league for riders and staff. This has also helped increase numbers as entry is so much easier and faster for all concerned. And finally, the league got a Grant for timing Transponders after 3 years of trying. The equipment cost a little over £12000, including a laptop & Honda Generator to power the system. 2008 /09 was the inaugural year for a winter series based at the Fowlmead circuit nr Betteshanger. While numbers have been low the racing has been good, seeing some newcomers into cycling gaining their first wins. These riders went on to race in the summer series and benefited from their early season racing. In 2009 the league decided to make Affiliation to the league compulsory for all riders. The cost was £10 for the year, and the cost was to maintain the leagues’ ability to run safe races for all. With this new amendment it was possible to track how many riders used the league and we were proud to realise that by the end of the season over 400 riders would ride our races on at least one occasion, usually more. In 2009 /10 numbers had been much higher for the winter series, running fewer events has been the key in driving up the desire to race. Running the league is an almost full-time job in itself. The whole Anderson family were involved with Kate following the race convoy to provide first aid and a spare wheel to get riders back on after a puncture. Luke was hands-on from the start of the family “takeover” in 2004, firstly creating the website and running the points spreadsheet, and also in helping provide assistant commassaire time for some races.
Unfortunately, since 2010 the league has seen a steady decline in affiliation from both individual riders and more importantly clubs.
The next chapter…
At the end of 2016 the Anderson family decided to hand over the batten to someone new. A new organising committee of Alan Denman, Adam Cotterell and Crinnan Gould got voted in at the AGM and hit the ground running with the Cyclopark winter series. Now in their 5th season, the team have steered the league through some tough times that has seen many changes, particularly with the traditional club structure changing vastly. But rest assured, the league will always find a way of running and continue to provide grass roots racing.
