Contacting Corallian CC

For all information regarding the club please email info@corallian.cc.

John Talbot

John Talbot - Chair

Although a keen cyclist as a teenager it wasn't until 2008 that John discovered his true passion for cycling. This was during the training for an unsupported Land's End to John O'Groats ride to mark his 40th birthday. The LEJOG was completed in 2009 and it was around this time that he also discovered the joy of club and group riding.

An experienced ride leader John has led group rides in many areas, he enjoys creating routes and discovering new places. He still tries to include some cycle touring in his repertoire and has cycled the circumference of Wales in a series of shorter tours.

John is a member of Audax UK and has completed two consecutive RRtYs, he is an audax organiser and is involved in the annual Harlequin Hack and Blowingstone audaxes from Uffington. He rode and completed the 1400km London-Edinburgh-London (LEL) audax in 2017.

Outside of cycling John is an experienced organiser and volunteer, he has been chairman of a local astronomical society for over 10 years and vice-chairman and league secretary of a local table tennis league for approaching 20 years. He is also involved as a volunteer in several other organisations.

When he isn't riding his bike John is a keen runner and ran the London Marathon in 2017 and is training for his 8th and 9th marathons in 2024. John has played league table tennis since he was a teenager and currently plays in two local leagues at the highest level. He is an amateur astronomer and runs his own backyard observatory.

John is a physics and astronomy teacher at a large secondary school in Berkshire and lives in South Oxfordshire with his wife and two children.

Louis Hall - Secretary

Louis became a regular cyclist in his 20s as a commuter. He then set himself a goal of riding solo to and from the South of France and continued to commute by bike.

The pressures of demanding long distance work subsequently restricted his exercise to running. However, his knees complained. Next up was the gym, but that eventually got boring.

Moving to Wantage some 15 years ago he found the perfect environment to rekindle his interest in cycling. Initially this was solo riding and family rides with his, now adult, children. This interest has been further animated and encouraged through interaction with fellow local cyclists, John and Chris in particular.

Louis is happy taking on the responsibilities of ride leadership and supports the ethos of the club - safe and enjoyable riding.

Phil Stubbings - Treasurer

Phil has been a keen armchair sportsman for many years mainly following motor racing and the Tour de France.

He hadn’t cycled much until he bumped into a friend who was training for a Help for Heroes bike ride back in 2010 and decided that he should do something similar. After completing two week long rides with H4H he started riding with John and Chris whose knowledge of bikes, rides and routes was just what he needed as motivation to do more regular riding.

Phil has had a gundog or two over the last 15 years which have kept him busy during the winter months and he also helps out on a local shoot in North Hampshire where he lives with his wife. Phil has three grown up children who do not share his passion for cycling.

Nick Stokell - Rides Secretary

After many years of mountain biking in the Wantage area and commuting by bike Nick belatedly decided to have a go at road cycling in 2014. This has now become his main sporting activity and he has since amassed around 10,000 km per year on club and audax rides. After several years as a ride leader with Corallian, Nick has taken on the role of Rides Secretary.

Apart from cycling Nick particularly enjoys alpine ski touring and hill walking - hills and mountains are his favourite terrain!

Pete Wrench - Ordinary Member

Pete has been an enthusiastic cyclist for all of his adult life, although never riding competitively but rather for transport and fun. During his working life he commuted daily by bike all year round for thirty years and also rode evenings and weekends both on and off-road. The majority of his vacations in the last two decades have been cycling holidays.

When he recently retired from a Manufacturing Technology job in the chemical industry he joined Corallian and enjoys the social aspect of the club. He quickly became an active ride leader and likes to plan routes to new and interesting places, especially if there is a good cafe or pub lunch involved.