It’s safe to say that Justin Reid has given more to our racing scene than he has taken. He has managed a team, provided sponsorship, served on the CRCA board, and most importantly, taken out an ad on NYVC. With a second child on the way, he will return to the UK this August to be closer to family. As George Suter said, “There’s just nothing good about Justin leaving.”

AS Ok, let’s start with your running ‘palmares’, and what made you switch to cycling?

JR I was a pretty good runner from an early age – ran in the World Cross Country Championship and European U.23 Championship on the track, as well as winning the Irish Schools Championships on a few occasions. Success came early but I did train hard for it. My problem was when I turned 16 and started looking old enough to buy cigarettes and getting served in pubs, they are pretty relaxed about the drinking age in Northern Ireland. I didn’t totally fall off the running bandwagon like a lot of good juniors but I didn’t totally commit to the sport either, preferring to find a balance between a (un)healthy social life and enjoying the sport. I’d say there’s no doubt I didn’t fulfill my true potential as a runner but I’ve no regrets. I got to visit a lot of countries for free via the sport – Switzerland, Germany, South Africa, Canada, Spain, Portugal and had a lot of laughs along the way.

When I moved to New York in 1994 I stopped completely but then started again in 1996 and made a pretty decent comeback in 1997 coming second in the Duke Invitational 5000m and winning a Boston Twilight Invitational 3000m against a guy called Reggie Harris who had made the US Olympic Team the year before. In America though it seems you are no-one unless you have run a marathon so I did a few of those – just New York – in around 2 hours 30 mins, but that also led to my downfall. All those miles pounding the pavement meant my Achilles tendons kept giving out.

In 2001 I trained really hard for the New York marathon and was convinced I was in 2.22 shape but pulled my Achilles again about 3 weeks beforehand. Stupidly I ran the race anyway – it was just after 9/11 and the atmosphere in the City was superb for sporting events, great support, it was something you just couldn’t miss. So I ran, hobbled / walked the last 13 miles, finished in 2.51 and have never been able to run a step since. Don’t regret it though, marvelous day. So after that I did bugger all exercise for about 9 months then decided cycling would be a good way to get some non-impact exercise. Bought an $800 Cannondale from SID’S in July 2002, rode round the park a few times and really enjoyed it. It was also around this time I bumped into Ted Neu who I knew from running days. We went out a few times and I did my first C race the Turkey Race in November 2002 – won it and thought I’m a natural for this. That winter I rode the New Year’s Day Century – the one with the freezing rain throughout and “won” that after riding solo for the last 70 miles – and then I really thought I could be quite good at this. False hope as it turned out as I’ve been shit ever since.

AS What got you to start the Visit Britain team, and how did you manage to land that mighty roster?

JR I was immediately hooked on cycling and the whole joining a subteam seemed so cool. Unfortunately no one would want a C rider so I thought if you can’t join them – beat them! I got together with Ted Neu, Paul White, John Kuhn and David Del Vecchio and we joined Setanta and I got VB to take over the sponsorship of the team. That didn’t totally work out due to different goals within the team etc., but we parted amicably after one season. Setanta reformed and VB went it alone. By that stage we had already added Roger Friedman, who Ted had met at Green Mountain. Roger only agreed to join if he could bring his mate along. Semi-reluctantly (not really but it makes for a better story) I agreed. Welcome Ricky Lowe!

Also around this time I’d become friendly with Alex Gulla. He was getting all sorts of offers but thankfully decided VB would be the team for him so that was a huge breakthrough. As for Smilie and co. I was friendly with the good Kiwi since he held a clinic on TT’ing and I think I was one of his first clients. As for joining like all good deals it happened over a few beers at the CRCA Christmas Party. Me and Ted had got pretty loaded beforehand and I got talking to George Suter and Smilie. Somewhere along the line I asked if they would like to ride for VB and after a bit more discussion and 2 more beers for George, somehow, somewhere they agreed, with those guys also came Mike Henson and Leon. The only other main addition that year was Ken Harris, he rode with Roger or Alex in a race in Prospect Park early on and was looking for a team to join so was obviously welcomed with open arms.

AS Your best day on the bike?

JR Let’s be honest there really hasn’t been too many. A few times I’ve thought I’m going really well here but there’s nothing to speak of in terms of results.

AS Why’d you decided to take the plunge and join the CRCA board? Life too free of aggravation?

JR The Board has actually been good fun this year. There’s a good group of people and never much contention. Ken’s a great president and everyone just gets on with their stuff. Craig Cook never fails to crack me up at each meeting either with one of his funny comments, and Wendy brings cake. What more could you want? I would honestly recommend it for anyone wanting to give something back to CRCA and ensure the future of park racing in New York City. It’s easy to forget sometimes but this club of ours doesn’t just run itself. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to make it so successful.

AS Now that you’re leaving, any parting shots? What would you do if you were commissioner of NY racing?

JR Best thing I could do if I was commissioner of Park Racing would be to abdicate and give the job to Ken Harris. He knows what he’s doing, has tremendous commitment to the sport and to CRCA in particular. On top of that he has great ideas about development. I’d also try and find the money to let Mike Green “run” with a few of his seemingly hare-brained ideas about Open Races – I mean come on 2 Harriman Races in one season – who’d want to do that? A successful Harlem Crit?– never happen. A Team Invitational at Maltese?– that’s not the way we do things. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Mike’s got some great ideas, we should encourage him even more. Also I’d try and find a way through the 501C3 proposal to incentivize some of the financial heavy hitters in the Club to help out with Craig Cook’s Junior program. He’s doing great things with the lads but it all costs. As for general parting shots? Just the usual, be nice to other park users, do your marshal duties in a polite but diligent fashion, smile for Andy’s camera and keep enjoying racing in New York City’s, hell, the world’s, most famous park.

Oh and one more thing….”It’s been emotional”. Cue the Stone Roses’ Fool’s Gold exit music.