In late July, Trevor Jones (Principal Electrical Engineer) will be heading down to London as a ‘National Commissaire’ at the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics. He will be part of a 20 strong team of officials who will be judging the track cycling and working with LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) in specialist roles at the road cycling events.
It was a family interest in cycling touring that saw Trevor Jones take up the opportunity to become a cycling judge.
Following the opening of the Manchester Velodrome (over 15 years ago) Trevor spotted an advert for a ‘British Cycling Track’ judging course. Despite not cycling at the time (Trevor had lost interest some years earlier when girls and beer came along) he was able to put his Quality Assurance, Auditing and Ofwat Regulatory skills to use when he took on the course. Trevor joined the British Track Cycling course on the Friday and by the following Sunday was the highest qualified ‘Track Official’ in the Merseyside Region.
In the fifteen years that have followed, in addition to officiating at races around the UK, Trevor has been a regular Track Official at the Manchester Velodrome and has judged many events such as:
- National Track Championships
- National Junior Track Championships
- European Master Championships
- 2002 Commonwealth Games
- World Cup
- Paralympic World Cup
- World Championships
- World Masters Championships
- World Para Cycling Track World Championships (see picture)
Speaking about the opportunity to take part in the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, Trevor said ”As for all the competitors, this is the pinnacle of my career as a cycling official. It’s actually quite difficult to decide if I’m more excited about working with the best athletes in the World at the Olympics or the inspiring achievements of the competitors at the Paralympics. It’s certainly a great honour to be selected from the near 200 UK Track Officials to be one of the very small number who will be joining the team in London”.
Trevor will be keeping his colleagues in the U.K. up-to-date with a regular blog during the Olympic events.
Have a fantastic time Trevor – we’re looking forward to seeing your medal when you return!
