The Scottish Cycling Badge of Honour was awarded two extremely worthy recipients at the 2021 Scottish Cycling Annual General Meeting on Saturday 27th November, the late Sandy Wallace and Philippa York.
The Badge of Honour recognises the contribution and achievement of individuals who have given their all to the sport of cycling, whether this be medal success as an athlete or coach, or loyal commitment throughout the years as a volunteer, and both of this year’s recipients have certainly fulfilled those criteria.
The nomination panel also noted that Katie Archibald MBE and Neil Fachie MBE would have been rewarded for their gold medal winning exploits at Tokyo 2020, but they have already received this once in a lifetime accolade for the Olympic and Paralympic gold medals they secured at the 2016 and 2012 Games respectively.
Sandy Wallace
The late Sandy Wallace, who passed away earlier this year, has been a stalwart of the Scottish Cycling community for more than 50 years, taking on many different roles, from racer to bike shop owner, event organiser to mentor, team owner to benefactor.
In the words of friend Kyle Gordon, who was present at the AGM to collect the award alongside Sandy’s son, John, and another friend Silas Goldsworthy:
“Sandy lived and breathed cycling. It started from a young age; as a junior he would think nothing of cycling through to Glasgow from Fife, competing in a road race, then cycling back home to Kirkcaldy!
“Sandy opened his first bike shop in 1983 - Sandy Wallace Cycles in Inverkeithing. A few years later, in addition to the shop, he established an agency representing top bike industry brands and covered much of the UK and Ireland visiting many of the top bike shops and making life-long friends. The shop became the epicenter, where Sandy would spend many years helping Scottish cyclists reach their full potential.
“Sandy was also a regular event organiser. I am unsure of the official number of events he would have organised and helped organise in his time, but I would imagine in the hundreds. He would often put on club and Scottish Championship events, which was never an issue to someone so experienced. He just loved to see people of all ages racing their bikes and being happy.
“On a personal note, I would not be where I am today in the sport of cycling if it wasn’t for Sandy. Just four years ago Sandy gave me the confidence to give up my job and pursue the mammoth task of qualifying for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He gave me a key to his house and told me to make myself at home. This allowed me to stay nearer the Velodrome and not have make the 4 hours commute each way twice a week. He helped me with the much-needed equipment upgrades to compete at the top level, along with loads of advice and mentoring keeping me on track to achieve my goals. I achieved the qualification standard and represented Scotland at the Gold Coast.
“Sandy believed in me years before I believed in myself - it took him many years of nagging me to chase my dreams and reach my full potential as a cyclist. This was the thing with him, he had an incredible ability to identify people’s true potential long before they knew themselves. I have so much to thank Sandy for; he was one of a kind.”
It is probably an understatement to say that Sandy influenced hundreds of people within the Scottish Cycling community over the years; his positive energy and drive to champion causes close to his heart will be sorely missed. The panel were unanimous in their decision.
Philippa York
The panel were unanimous in their decision, noting that Philippa should have received the honour a long time ago for her unrivalled achievements as a racing cyclist. She famously won the 1984 King of the Mountains Jersey at the Tour de France – becoming the first Briton – and to this day the only Scot – to win a classification at the world’s most prestigious bike race.
More recently, despite the panels understanding that she isn’t someone who craves being in the spotlight, Phillipa has used her media platform to shine a light on the trans community and acts as role model and champion for said community. She can be seen regularly as an analyst for ITV4’s coverage of the Tour of Britain (a race which she won in 1989) and occasionally as a commentator during ITV’s coverage of the Tour de France and Vuelta á Espana.
The unveiling of a mural at Lennoxtown this year, in her honour, means it feels timely to recognise her significant contribution to Scottish Cycling in 2021.
Phillipa will be presented with the Badge of Honour early in the New Year.
