London’s Calling Report, Full Results and Thanks..

 

Alright, Alright! London’s Calling 2008 was the shizzle! Kicking races, huge, marauding gangs of contenders, beautiful art, beers, bike bling, burgers, parties, roller racing and prizes bleedin’ everywhere. Almost goes without saying but without doubt the weekend would never have been the success it was if wasn’t for all those people who took time out to make this weekend come together so well over the last few months.

With well over 80 registrants signing up in advance and on the night, the tone for London’s Calling weekend was set for it to be a complete and utter blinder. With the atmosphere outside the Foundry building up to epic, electric proportions, Friday night saw somewhere over 65 people take part in the unique Space Invaders Aleigh Hat, a huge number equalled only in size by last years Dublin pre-event races. Surprise winner of note on the night for the ladies was Stojanka, whose detailed attention to turning in a neatly completed and readable manifest won her the coveted top prize of a complete wheeleset. Go girl!

The Foundry Art Show was without a shadow of a doubt an unprecendented critical success. With works being sold on the night by both Simone and Selim, raising between them a very healthy and respectable sum, the LCEF benefitted to superb effect as all proceeds from sales were very generously pledged straight back to the fund. Very well done to the curators and all those that showed. Thanks indeed guys.

Starting from London Fields on Saturday, Tour de Ville’s Great Adventure Race again saw a massive turnout of approximately 50 riders. A gruelling slap-fest, this hotly anticipated point-to-point race saw all the big guns come out to play and with two quality bikes on offer for the winners, you could actually smell the will to win from the armpits of all that entered. Both showing out in big-style for one of London’s most ‘talked about’ courier companies, two very worthy winners eventually came to the fore at the finish line, Ricky for the guys and Chandra for the gals. Jos and Keith’s blinger bike went to a very deserved home in the form of Ricky (who leaps to the top of the overall standings in Overdrive’s 2008 points series) and last we heard Chandra was to be seen sleeping with one eye open in a bivvy bag on the steps to Condor waiting for them to deliver on her shiny new Pista frame.

Burgess Park provided the backdrop on Sunday afternoon to the very eagerly awaited Messenger Olympics. All the kids came out to play (not least the very talented 11 year old Keanu on his uber-futuristic fixie) and much carnage was to be witnessed as round after round of qualification heat was played out in the sprints, skids, footdown, backwards circles and trackstands. Full details of standings below but a truly varied field of messengers, hipsters and exengers showed what they were made of to the point of leaving numerous pieces of themselves on the tarmac as hopeful proof that ’skin grows back’. For info work is currently in progress to lobby the 2012 Olympic Committee to recognise ‘footdown’ as a stand-alone sport in its own right. Watch this space..

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Onwards to Imbibe for the final crowning event of the weekend, the Rollapaluza. A classy venue set the scene for some super-competative and classy racing performances. Check here for a report, results and pics from the Rolla themselves but well done to Janky James for finally sorting the men out from the boys and of course to Agata for yet another decisive victory to retain her crown. A brilliant nights racing, slick tunes, a most welcome selection of grub and top fun had by all.

So then. What else is left to say other than the organisers would very much like to thank, in no particular order, all those people who came along to participate in all the events; all of our generous sponsors who supported us so enthusiastically from the word go; all those people, of which there were many, who selflessly offered a helping hand or two or three along the way and on the day, whether it was marshalling the races or simply offering moral support. You know who you are!

Extra special thanks and *colossal* big-ups for you know what to Jed, Wingnut, the Rollapaluza crew, Eggpie, Sara K, Ranka, Crazy Dave, MC Stevie Russell, Nhatt Attack, Hackney Nick, James Brown, Sleepy Jesus, Maciek, Kamil, Laura, the brilliant staff at Imbibe Bar, Jonathon and all the staff at The Foundry, Buffalo Bill, Beatrice, Tom Crow, Selim, Simone, Moleman, Icaro, Jono, Gertie, Rene, Ross, Max and Xander McPistard.

Oh, by the way, did we mention that we coined in about £1000 or thereabouts for the LCEF? No, well we did Long live the LCEF and see you next year!

The Organisers

Friday Race

Male

1-Moses
2-Merrele
3-Asen

Female

1-Stojanka
2-Chandra
3-Cynthia

Saturday race

1-Ricky
2-Janky
3-John
4-Marrele
5-Jo(germany)
6-Vojtech
7-Mike
8-Dan (Chewy)
9-Matthew
10-Asen
11-SAS
12-P?
13-Csaba
14-Moses
15-Maciek
16- 1st girl – Chandra
17-Jon
18-Selim
19-Alex
20-Mike
21-Jason (Manchester)
22-Rob
23- 2nd girl – Ali
24-Keith
25-Mike
26-Tas
27-Nick
28-Ique 49
29- 3rd girl – Stojanka
30- 4th girl -Nhatt
31- Ian
32-Chris (best manifest, a porno pic from a phone box and the rest written on his arm!)
33-5th girl – Cynthia
34-Philip
35-Arsene
36-Handy

DFL- Myro (lost manifest at 1st checkpoint)

Sunday Olympics

SKIDS

Male

1-Quackenboss
2-Redrum
3-HillBilly

Female

1-Justa

SPRINTS

Male

1-Hill Billy
2-Redrum
3-Janky

Female

1-Sara
2-Nicki

TRACKSTANDS

Male

1-Jason(Manchester)
2-Tom
3-Redrum

Female

1-Justa
2-Sara
3-Nicki

Footdown

1-Quackenboss
2-Keanu
3-HillBilly/Janky

Backward Circles

Male

1-Tom
2-Keanu
3-Everyone cuz they all sucked!!

Overall

Male

Gold -Quackers
Silver-Redrum
Bronze -HillBilly

Female

Gold-Justa
Silver-Sara
Bronze – Nicki

Rollapaluza Results

Mens

1. Janky
2. Kaspar
3. Illy

Womens

1. Agata
2. Anna (Imbibe Bartender!)
3. Nhatt

Fastest Male Time of the night – Tom
Fastest Female time of the night – Agata

Tour de Ville’s blinger prize bike finally unveiled..

As if the mere promise of simply pledging a fully built up, bespoke track bike as a prize for the Saturday ‘adventure race’ wasn’t enough, those swish boutique designers over at Tour de Ville have decided to offer us a sneaky preview of their work and put their bike firmly where their mouth is.

We could go all gooey and rubber-legged ourselves and give you our opinions on the build but we’ll let you make your own minds up as to whether this is a fitting prize for what’s building up to be the race of the summer..

This particular one is a 56cm version to give you a proper idea of what you’ll be riding for but if you happen to win and you’re only 5′5″ or something then Tour de Ville will happily measure you up for a frame to suit your own individual dimensions. Well done those boys, it’s-a-niiicee..

Stop The Press! London’s Calling Prizelist worth over £3000!!

Outside of the European Messenger Championships that were held in London in 2004, this is absolutely without doubt the biggest haul of prizes offered in a single courier-related event THIS CENTURY. Casting our eyes over the colossal pile of slick prizes that has been steadily growing in the corner of the London’s Calling underground HQ deep below the foundations of Big Ben, we can’t help but be simply staggered by the generosity and support of our many amazing sponsors who are helping us to realise the inherent potential in this years London’s Calling weekend, which has now become immeasurably rich in both culture and SWAG.

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Condor Cycles simply need no introduction. Those wonderful gents over in Grays Inn have only gone and donated a brand new, specd to your measurements Condor Pista frame and fork. We will be confirming soon how you can win this tried and tested and very respected frameset, but whoever wins it will be taking a trip to Condor to get sized up for their very own 2008 Pista frame.

Tour de Ville - 2008 has seen the launch proper of this very special Anglo/Dutch collaboration. These boys have been supplying the ever-growing fixie market with some top quality vintage framesets and are now providing bespoke bike builds from their extensive selection of highly desireable parts sourced from Europe and beyond. For London’s Calling, Tour de Ville are sponsoring the main race on Saturday and will be offering the winner of this race a built to measure, complete, steel, fixed gear bike, dripping with the quality and style that has become synonamous with their super-fresh brand.

Brixton Cycles – An ever-present stalwart and staunch supporter of the messenger scene and all that surrounds it, Brixton have yet again pulled it out of the bag by offering a veritable feast of booty as prizes for this years events. The sack was deep but we managed to spot under the piles of caps and shirts a full Ambrosio wheelset, Goldtec hubs, Dia Compe hubs, Kryptonite locks, the lot. Top respect to the co-op.

Rapha – Yet another unwaveringly conscientious supporter of the scene, Rapha have been stealthily building up their profile as an innovator in uber-stylish clothing for the modern cyclist. Even though one Rapha top costs only £680 we were happily handed an overflowing pile of sleek goodies in both mens and ladies sizes. Some lucky riders are gonna be cutting a pretty dash on a street near you soon…

Brick Lane Bikes – From tiny acorns mighty oak trees grow. Have you seen their selection of frames?? No concrete info on prizes as we went to press but with their solid attitude towards hard work and ambition, they’ll be sure to make us put some hard work and effort into getting their prizes back to the LC bunker.

Bagaboo – Our Hungarian brothers have been working very, very hard indeed hand-stitching the trio of bespoke London’s Calling Bagaboo courier bags they have pledged to us. You know it’d be worth winning one of these just take home the rest of your prizes? Bagabooyakasha!

Bikefix -Track pumps. Big, super-high quality ones. You won’t be able to carry these round we’re afraid, these wicked pumps are strictly for home and track use only. Either that or stick one in yer front basket. We tried to get them to let us borrow a couple of their wicked recumbents to carry the stuff back to base and practice on but when they overheard us mentioning skids and footdown we got a swift Sidi up our arse.  We love Bikefix!

Two Wheels Good – Crouch End is up the hill, but when you get there you won’t be far from knowing what’s going on and what’s worth getting involved in if your into cycling in London. These guys are in the know. Amongst a nice selection, their swag bag is full of the most highly rated hand pumps on Moving Target. Zefal. I’ll say no more.

Into You Tattoo – Very nice people. Artists. Got tats and want more? Ready to take the plunge with your own, carefully pored-over design of Mickey Mouse dancing with a pineapple? Into you have given us a £100 voucher for someone to scrap over. Queensbury rules.

Roberto Bicicletas – Mr Stealth. Roberto has been quietly supplying sweet bike bits from his secret compound in Vauxhall for quite a little while now. If you listen carefully you can hear his name being quietly whispered outside bike shops across the capital. Beautiful Nitto NJS bars and Rolls Saddles . Yum. 

Moving Target – Where would we be without MT? Down the drain or up a tree? *Collosal* props to Bill for his financial support and eternal encouragement. The blogging bard of Bethnal boasts a brilliantly bushy beard. Or so they say. We say ‘with sidies to match’.

Bicycle Film Festival – Bikes rule and these guys want to show it. On the silver screen. Showing over October 1st-5th you can expect as always a wonder-filled and neo-eclectic mix of films and shorts culled from directors all over the globe. And we’ve got 10 pairs of tickets to give away for it! Be sure to get a babysitter for that weekend..

House of Pistard – Not strictly a sponsor but in their own words ‘WE FANNY ABOUT. WE PRINT T-SHIRTS’. That’s fine by us and they can fanny about as much as they like because they’re printing our t-shirts. And if you’ve seen Jed’s amazing London’s Calling crest design then you will surely know that these are gonna be niiiiiccccceeee..

 

 So what do points make?? Get on yer bike and find out..

 

 

 

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Londons only 3-day courier-led bicycle and racing extravaganza!

If you remember London’s Calling ‘07 then let’s face it, you probably weren’t there. Held over three days as a pre-event for the messenger world championships in Dublin the following weekend, it was a ridiculously frenetic and brilliantly exciting celebration of all things ‘courier-culture’ related. For all those who managed to get out of bed, get on their bikes and roll up to the many events that took place across London it was without doubt the defining weekend of summer 2007.

This years London’s Calling will very much be an ‘open event’ and the organisers extend a warm and welcoming invitation to both messengers and non-messengers alike. With literally thousands of pounds worth of superb prizes from our many sponsors and events to cater for all tastes it’s shaping up to be the hottest weekend in the summer calendar. Get on it!!

Incidentally, click the picture above for a closer look..

Yes, yes, you can register now using paypal with the link on the right. For a levy of only 20 British Sterlings you too can grab a piece of the London’s Calling action. Included for your dollars will be a superbly designed limited edition London’s Calling t-shirt brought to you from the now infamous gaggle of child loom slaves over at the compound D’House of Pistard. Please do Register early  to secure entry into all the events and also to reserve your size of shirt (when paying with paypal, add your name and state which m/f/ size you need to the notes section). Remember too that all proceeds from the event go directly to the LCEF. What better way to contribute the fund!!? I ask you..