Gig Cooke

It is with great sadness that the Club reports the passing away of Gig Cooke, a longstanding member of the Cycling section.
Gig, who died of cancer on 17th March, had been a member of the club since 1997 and was aged just 47 years.

He was a relatively late starter to cycling, Leamington C&AC being Gigs only club, but soon found he had a real passion and ability for the sport. He often commented he wished he had discovered cycling sooner in his life, for the enjoyment, challenge and friendship it had given him.

Gig joined in all aspects of the cycling sections activities, the sunday rides, Club time trials, evening training sessions, road racing and many a social event. He soon established himself as a liked and respected clubman. He had also actively served on the section committee.

Gig rode many club time trials and achieved some very respectable results, especially so when it came to events that were based on the harder, hillier courses.
His real passion though, was for the 'cut and thrust' interaction of the massed start cycle race. After a couple of seasons of  'learning the ropes', Gig soon managed to excel and collected numerous top ten places in road racing events. He also learnt where his strengths lay and he had his few favourite races throughout each season. These were always based on courses having tough and strength sapping terrain. Gigs tenacity and determination would see him driving on, with the lesser riders falling away, and with a bit left in the tank at the end of the race, Gig would push himself in the final mile, to gain one of the many top 3 places he achieved.

Gigs efforts were rewarded within the club by winning the 'Bennett' Road Race Champion Trophy three times in 2004, 2006 and 2008; as well as winning the Veterans Road Race Trophy in 2009.

There was always a 'buzz' about Gig, he was full of energy and drive, often we'd discover he'd been out early on a Sunday morning and got his 50 miles in, whilst the rest of us were just getting our heads off the pillow. Gig would then be home and typically undertaking some major DIY task, or one of his other pursuits.

Gig was a family man and was fortunate to have had a wonderful wife, Janice and two daughters, Natalia and Hannah.

He will be sorely missed by all our members and his many cycling friends, who had the privilege of knowing and riding with him.

25th March 2010

(Picture with courtesy of http://micksdad.jalbum.net  )