The Dave Rayner Fund
Five things you need to know about… A trust set up to support young British amateurs as they start to race abroad turns 20 this year
In memory of a young man
It’s named after the British pro whose career in Europe began with an Italian amateur team, across an eight-year period from 1987 up until 1994. Rayner died, aged 27, after an altercation with a bouncer outside a nightclub in Bradford, England. The fund was started two months later on 12 January 1995 with the intention of helping riders follow their dreams. David Millar, one of its most notable beneficiaries, was the very first rider to receive funding in 1996 prior to his time with VC St-Quentin in France and turning pro with Cofidis.
David Millar’s first step
In his biography, Racing Through the Dark, Millar said he found out about the fund so late, his application missed the deadline. He’d been told about it by two former British pros, Sid Barras and Keith Lambert, who still comprise the sub-committee that decides who gets an award. “Fortunately,” he wrote, “they were not of the rigid British cycling school of thought and still invited me to the interview weekend in Yorkshire. I was lucky enough to be the rider they chose to back – their financial help was an incredible help and hugely motivating.”
Tailored to each rider
Hundreds of riders have been assisted by DRF funding, including Dan Martin (2005-07), Orica-Green-Edge neo-pro Adam Yates (2011-13) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (2014). It funds riders from three to six months per season and the level depends on the rider’s circumstances, their level of need, and how long they’re abroad. For example, Geoghegan Hart, riding for the well-funded Bissell Development team in the US, receives less than most because of his salary from the team and the equipment they supply him. While it’s hardly a blank cheque, the financial help soothes some of the burden put on the riders and their families. “It’s certainly made my life a hell of a lot easier,” says current DRF rider Douglas Dewey, who’s riding for French team Nantes Atlantique in 2014. “It’s taken away the worry of financial difficulties, which, on top of everything else involved with racing abroad, is something you really don’t need. Without it I’d still be racing abroad but I’d have been more reliant on winter jobs, which in turn would have affected my training for sure.”
Easing the burden Quietly helping riders
British Cycling has changed out of sight since the DRF emerged in 1995. Lottery money has aided a programme that’s the envy of the world yet the fund continues to go about its business quietly. Joscelin Ryan, rider liaison on the DRF, says they ask for little in return from the riders. “We just insist that they go abroad and experience life on a foreign team. We don’t want them going backwards and forwards during the season – we want them to make a life abroad, to use it as an apprenticeship and to learn how to become a cyclist.”