About us

The British Cycling North East board is a combination of British Cycling employees and British Cycling members, both club riders, and non-club riders. Our role is to implement the policies of British Cycling as applied to our region and promote, develop and support cycling in all forms. 

The volunteer members of the regional board are cyclists from the region, with members having a wide range of cycling and volunteering experience. If you would like to contact the board please send us an email at BCNEsecretary@gmail.com  or contact us via Facebook.

Steve Tunmore, chair

Steve Tunmore is a recreational cyclist , becoming involved with the sport when he retired from the police after 30 years service.
He is a qualified and practising road racing and downhill mountain biking commissaire (referee). Although he is embedded in the racing side of cycling his drive is simply to have more people riding their bikes in all forms and at all levels and improving infrastructure and opportunity for all. 
Steve fully recognises the need to maintain and develop the competitive side of the sport but also recognises that this will only exist and thrive if the recreational cyclists are valued and encouraged to become part of the family of cycling.

Peter Reynolds, secretary

Peter is declares himself a fair-weather recreational cyclist and is involved with Tyneside Vagabonds Go ride in a support  role. At certain times of year he probably spends more time cutting grass for the club’s Go ride Cyclocross course than he spends on his bike. 
Peter is an Accredited Marshall and has been involved with most of the Region’s road races over the last few years.  Peter wants more people on bikes on all levels be it  recreation, active transport or competitive racing and is keen to try and help that happen in any way he can. 

Ian Jones, member

Ian has been MTB Commissaire 10 years, starting at regional and now at National level. Ian has marshalled at the UCI MTB World Cup for 15 consecutive years and 2020 would have been his second year as BC appointed Commissaire at the Fort William World Cup.Ian started racing in 1996 at local XC events, and also raced DH at International level winning his category at a French race in 2005 and competing at World Masters at Praloup in 2008. He has been an organiser of club events and although no longer competing, is still an active rider and still likes to take his chances with the trees.He has been on the BC board since (ask Lorna/Sam?) years and would like to advise anyone thinking of getting involved that "age isn't a restriction".

Phil Metcalfe, member

Phil is a British Cycling Road & Track Commissaire and holds the Level 1 BC ride leader qualification. He cycles several times a week on the Road, Track or CX. Phil is an active member of the Stockton Wheelers cycling club where he is currently Vice Chair. He is married to Nikki with 2 daughters. 
Outside of cycling Phil is a Full Time Reserve Army Officer which entitles him to be a member of the Royal Logistic Corp Cycling Association & the Army Cycling Union.

Sara Bateman

Joined in late 2021.

John Byrne, member

John has been a member of the board since 2018. He is a keen road club cyclist  He has a mountain bike but which mostly only gets a runout when the NE has enough snow to make road cycling difficult.  John always tries to contribute in some way the running of sports  club he's in and has been a regular marshal or driver in the Beaumont, Curlew and Sloan trophies.
John is a keen social cyclist, getting out once a week for the craic and cafe stops around Northumberland.In real life John is a Clinical Scientist at the Freeman Hospital and has been riding a bike for more than 50 years both as a means of transport and to explore his local area and meet new people.

Ben Dobson, member

Ben joined the board in 2021.  He is a keen cyclist and enjoys all elements of cycling from competition, recreational, touring and commuting.  He is a regional road commissaire and supports officials at national road events, such as the Klondike, Stockton Grand Prix and Tour Series. He is also a level 2 coach, MTB Level 2 ride leader and a qualified NSI (Bikeability).
Ben recognises that cycling covers a broad spectrum of interests and population and that people cycle for different reasons and that the focus must be to include all groups; formal and informal, in the discussion to allow participation to be fully inclusive and allow the sport and activity to grow.Off the bike, Ben manages some roads in the North East that tends to keep him busy during the week

Audrey Christie, member

Audrey joined the regional board in 2020 but has been a central figure in NE cycling for many years. She is the Breeze Area Co-ordinator for the North East, having been a Breeze champion since 2012 and led over 200 rides. She is based in Durham and has been a utility and recreational cyclist for her adult life including progression through a varied fleet of family friendly bikes when she had a young family. 
Audrey has cycle-toured and camped extensively including an 18 month tandem expedition from the UK to Cape Town after which she spent 20 years as Senior Rights of Way Officer for Durham County Council.  By being a BCNE board member she wants to celebrate and support the BC volunteers who are at the heart of its activities and the BC journey to help create a cycling nation.

Andy Cosgrove, member

Andy recently retired from employment  with British Cycling and brings over 30 year of experience in cycling administration as a board member. His knowledge of volunteer supporting and mentoring , growing cycle sport participation, coordinating the competition calendar and education of officials, running  sportives & National Series events is second to none.

Phil Jack, Regional Competition Administrator (RCA)

Phil joined the board in 2014 as RCA, a former road racer and keen cyclist. He liaises with event organisers, the police, local councils and volunteer officials to ensure that road and circuit events meet legal requirements.

Jack Rees, BC Club & Group Developer 

Jack is a permanent employee of British Cycling. His role is the Club and Group developer for the North East region. Jacks primary roles are to develop, diversify and grow the club and group network and workforce across the region. Enhancing the accessibility and opportunites for people to cycle. On a personal level, Jack has competed globally at an elite level, participating in cycling and triathlon events across the world from invitational races in Hong Kong to UCI competions across the deserts of Saudi Arabia.
Vacancy

Rob Pickering, Regional Manager

Rob is the Regional Manager for the NE / NW Region and has worked for British Cycling since 2017 after a long career in the public and private sectors. His role is to lead on the preparation and delivery of the Regional Delivery Plan working with the wide range of volunteers, partners and stakeholders to develop the sport and engage and inspire communities to make cycling a part of their lives. Rob rides recreationally, particularly road, mountain bike and his favourite, the Brompton!

Kevin Fox - Vice Chair


Kev has been road cycling for around 10 years and before that he mountain biked from being a kid.He has been an event organiser for British Cycling since 2013, running sportives for charity. Kev has been on the BCNE board since 2020 and became Vice Chair in 2021.
Kev is still racing but also enjoys being a social cyclist, riding with family and friends  & completing sportives. At 6 foot 4 inches, it's hard to miss Kev and he's always happy to be stopped for a chat or questions so don't be shy.

Teri Baylis, member

Teri joined the committee in 2022. Having predominantly seen cycling as the best mode of transport since winning a Raleigh Burner in a ‘guess the number of jelly beans in the jar’ in a shoe shop at age 10, Teri has been more active in competitive cycling for the last few years, starting with track and moving onto road.Given the day job of running Newcastle Hospitals Charity, Teri is a keen advocate for the health benefits of active travel. With her professional background in strategic marketing and fundraising, much of it aimed at alleviating social inequality and injustice, Teri believes that all forms of cycling should be accessible, inclusive and valued, with much to be gained from nurturing grass-roots and community led activity.

Richie Smith, member

Richie joined the board in late 2021. He started cycling on a Raleigh single speed in the street and progressed to a regular after school ride with mates to the cyclists' cafe in Ponteland and back. Go-Ride didn’t exist back in the day so he never joined a club, but he did become a cycle marshal on time trials, road races and charity rides and an occasional tourer in Europe with his trailer.
He rediscovered the joys of single speed many years later through Cycle Speedway: 4 laps of fun on an oval track, no brakes required. It turns out that it was one of the disciplines in his vintage Usborne book of cycling, but he never realised there was a local club. He helped fundraise for Northumbria Vikings’ track at Cramlington Learning Village and became a level 2 cycle speedway coach. He is keen to promote participation by all ages, abilities and backgrounds and greater diversity in coaching too.

Caroline Reynolds, treasurer

Living in a rural environment as a child Caroline has always ridden a bike as a means of getting from A to B.  She currently spends much of her time taking school children on guided rides or onsite coaching for Bike4Health.  She is a member of Tyneside Vagabonds as part of their Go Ride coaching team.  Caroline is a level 1, 2 and Challenge Ride Leader and also a Level 1, 2 and cyclo-cross coach. She is also a Breeze leader and  an Accredited Marshal.  Caroline is herself a recreational cyclist believes that  the more people on bikes the better in whichever discipline or form of cycling works for them.  Caroline joined the board in late 2021 and is the current honorary treasurer.