S4 Ep35: Brother UK Cycling Podcast - Deb John interview

Brother UK Cycling Podcast

Deb John is the co-founder of Cold Dark North and a race organiser with many cherished events on her palmares, including the Proper Northern Road Race Series and the national masters championships for men and women. This year, Cold Dark North will also support the National Hill Climb Championships.
In this in-depth interview, Deb discusses her motivations for becoming a race organiser and, later, for co-founding Cold Dark North with Toby Cummins. She reveals how experiences as a florist and a caterer equipped her with an eye for detail and a determination to deliver events to the highest standard.
Deb provides fascinating detail on the planning, logistics and satisfactions of staging a National B race. She describes Cold Dark North’s relationship with commissaires, medics, and a host of people without whom staging a race would be impossible: an eclectic mix of signage experts, motorcycle outriders, non-cycling helpers and more.
The additional costs and challenges encountered in hosting a national championship event or in elevating a National B race to a National A event are among the many other topics on which Deb speaks with authority. She describes her preference for a view from the “margins”, where the most interesting developments occur.
Enjoy Deb’s insights and observations and gain a detailed insight into the race organiser’s challenges and rewards. From marshals to mileage, prizes to signage, field sizes to total metres of ascent, Deb describes the myriad details an organiser must consider and the satisfaction gained from a job that permits “no excuses”.