Cleveland Wheelers

It is with great shock and sadness to learn of the unexpected and tragic passing of Lawrie Dryden. He was a bright and enthusiastic young club member and will be dearly missed by all.

For all who knew Lawrie, this is likely to be very difficult news to comprehend but unbeknown to many, he was battling with some of the challenges of life.

It can be especially difficult to understand how someone is processing things internally, compared to their external persona and it is important to remember there is assistance available via a number of sources e.g. https://www.nhs.uk/…/where-to-get-urgent-help-for…/

At just 17 years of age, he was one of our young, but very eager and accomplished riders.

Lawrie started cycling in the spring of 2020 with the Cleveland Wheelers, developing quickly into a fast and respected rider in the both the club and wider cycling community.

He was excited to buy his first road bike, enjoyed training and racing at the Middlesbrough Cycle Circuit at the Monday night youth and junior sessions. During the lockdown restrictions, Lawrie used virtual group racing to build friendships and fitness throughout this period.

But soon he wanted more and started to enjoy the delights of the Sunday club runs, encouraged, and supported by several club members. Within a year, Lawrie had progressed to riding in the fast club runs, happily completing the 150-mile challenge ride in a single day at the age of 16. He loved cycling with the faster riders, learning quickly from these more experienced members, but it wasn’t just the hard effort of the ride, he also enjoyed the camaraderie, and the social side of post ride café stops. He was a regular on the away weekend trips and was especially keen on the tough early season tours.

Lawrie was blessed with an exceptional ability for climbing hills, fast. In 2021, he was the Teesside Hill Climb Junior champion and sixth overall, based on three hill climb events in the region. He won the Cleveland Wheelers Newgate Bank prime in the Four Dales TTT in 2021 and 2022. In time trials he was the 2022 Teesside District Championship Sporting Courses Boys Winner, and in regional circuit races he was consistently on the podium.

He was academically gifted, well-read, and possessed a tremendous general knowledge. He was confident, well-mannered and had a lovely dry sense of humour. In short, he was a pleasure to ride with on the long winter club runs and will be massively missed.

Lawrie’s funeral will be held on Wednesday 17th January and details of his memorial service are attached above.

Ride High Lawrie.

Sadly, we recently learned of the passing of Pam Clayton aged 90, who was one of the few remaining founder members of Cleveland Wheelers. She died peacefully on 28th December, aged 90, with her son Martin at her bedside, following a period in a care home.

Pam loved cycling, and this is where she met her other love, husband Burt (in photo), whilst riding. They were married for over 50 years, and she survived him by just over a year. She would have continued riding except her family stopped her in her early 80s due to safety reasons.

Pam co-ordinated the social scene for the regional VTTA for a many years and was a friendly face at many clubs’ social events.

Despite the advent of much new technology in cycling, Pam, still to this day, holds the Cleveland Wheelers ladies club time trial records over several distances (15, 50 and 100 miles) which she set in 1969.

Pam’s funeral will be held at 1:30 pm on Monday 15th January at St Bede’s Chapel, Teesside Crematorium on Acklam Road. Cycling wear is welcome for the service.

Pam’s family have asked that any donations which people would like to make are to one of the two charities which we dear to her heart, Dementia UK or The British Heart Foundation.

RIP Pam