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| You Are Here: Walkers Cycling > About Us | |||
| About Us
Walkers Cycling is a Trading Name of Walkers Cycling Services Limited. Walkers Cycling Services Ltd is a family owned and managed business. Our retail outlet in Kilmaurs, East Ayrshire was established in 2003 trading as 'Walkers Cycling'. We are a member of the Association of Cycle Traders. Company Directors Our Staff Sponsorships |
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| John Walker | Susan Walker | ||
Husband of co-director Susan, John Walker has done most things that can be done on a bike - commuting, touring, bike holidays, racing. In cycle sport John competed in cycling events in Scotland for over 12 years including track, time trialling, road and off-road racing winning several Scottish Championship medals, mainly in mountain biking. He also competed in the Western Isles Challenge, an adventure race involving cycling, running, canoeing and swimming. Off the bike, John's experience extends to event organisation, race management and cycle tution, maintenance & repairs. John's commercial background lies in the area of economic development. After graduating from Aberdeen University with an MA Honours in Economic Science he went on to pursue a successful career in property development - in both the public and private sectors.
Twelve years with Scottish Enterprise saw John lead a variety of major projects including the refurbishment of Kilmarnock Town Centre and the upgrading of Prestwick Airport. Latterly, John was Project Manager on the £78m Millennium Link engineering project to restore the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals in central Scotland.
John also headed the team responsible for attracting several prestige inward investors to the West of Scotland including Egger, Polar Air Cargo and Direct Holidays. John's leisure activities include cycling, cycling, cycling, badminton and er... cycling. Given that Bicycle Polo is popular in some parts of the world, it can only be matter of time before John invents Bicycle Badminton!
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Susan rides bikes too - though somewhat more sedately than husband John - and has partnered him on their extensive tandem tours of Scotland and beyond. She has extensive experience in event organisation including the cycling events at the World Medical Games and World Island Games. For many years Susan and John coordinated the timing and results service which Walkers Cycling provided to the Scottish Cross Country Mountainbike Race Series. Susan served on the Executive Committee of the Scottish Cyclists' Union, including a period as National Track Racing Coordinator, and was Vice Chair on the British Cycling Board of Management. In the office Susan is the company's "computer whiz" possessing in-depth knowledge of a wide variety of software packages. Susan is also a skilled computer and network constructor and maintains the company's IT network. |
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| Neil Walker: Business Manager | Anna Walker: Shop Manager | ||
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Neil can be credited with getting the rest of the family into cycling when he got an MTB back in the 1980s. He went on to win Scottish Championships on road, time trial, track and MTB, and several British Championship track medals. Neil represented Scotland on road and track at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. After graduating from Edinburgh University with an Honours Degree in Applied Sports Sciences, Neil worked for a year as a coach with the Scotland Team and private clients, before spending 5 years as a coach and manager with the Great Britain Cycling Team, including 2 years as National Cross Country MTB Coach. Neil then came back home to Ayrshire and spent 2 years managing the Scottish Cycling Performance Programme, helping to put in place the programme which delivered an unprecedented 6 medals in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia. As Business Manager for Walkers Cycling, Neil is driving Walkers forward and, being closer to home, spending more time with wife Anna and son Finlay. He is also enjoying a modest amount of success racing across several disciplines in Walkers Cycling Club colours! Neil also offers professional training and skills coaching to cyclists at all levels from beginners to elite racers. See the Realworldcoaching web site for more information. Neil is also heavily involved in the SXC MTB Series and the course design for the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow in 2014.
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Amongst her many talents and skills Anna is a qualified veterinary nurse - which comes in handy when the 'grease monkeys' in the workshop come off worst in an altercation with some of the sharper tools. Anna works part-time in the business and successfully combines her job as Shop Manager with her role as Mum to Finlay and Grace - the most recent addition to the Walker dynasty. Anna is a regular competitor in cross country mountain bike races and helps run Walkers Cycling Club. With Anna's wealth of expertise and knowledge in women's cycling requirements, a growing number of our women customers are coming to appreciate her advice when choosing women's bikes, clothing and accessories. Indeed, Anna is our 'clothing consultant' and is largely responsible for the superb range of ladies, gents and children's cycle clothing we carry. Anna was the instigator of our popular women's evening ride which leaves from the shop every week in the spring and summer months. Routes vary each week with a start time around 7.30pm. Phone the shop for full details of the meeting time and place. NB: Sorry, no ladies rides in 2009 as Anna has been busy with the arrival of baby Grace! In her rare periods of free time Anna enjoys photography and likes nothing better than relaxing with a good book or by listening to good music. |
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| Steve Lockhart: Workshop Manager | |||
Steve hails from the north east of England - but he's such an amiable character that we've made him an honorary Scotsman!
He has over 20 years experience of riding, racing and repairing all kinds of cycles from unicycles to downhill mountain bikes. Before Walkers poached him away from his last employer Steve also ran a suspension fork repair business in his spare time. Mr Lockhart's CV reveals a shed load of qualifications, predominantly in techie subjects, and charts a successful career in electronics manufacturing and engineering. Here in the shop we've never had any call for Hot Air Solder Leveling or UV Photo Spectrometry but when we do - Steve's our man. Seriously though, his expertise is such that he's always in his shed working on one project or other - such as a 'superior' rechargeable bicycle lighting system, helmet cameras etc. When not looking after customers' bikes as if they were his own, Steve gets out as often as possible on one of his many bikes. He is one of the driving forces behind the successful Walkers Cycling Club. Other interests include music (his iPod contains a staggering array of tunes from the Beastie Boys to Dolly Parton), watching The Simpsons, walking, photography and socialising. Steve's love of music used to take him to many of the big outdoor summer festivals and he may in fact have been the first person to use a CamelBak to get his 'beverage of choice' successfully past security. Top |
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| Tom Bruce: Part-time Sales Assistant/Webmaster | |||
Tom (or Tommy - he answers to both) is our longest serving employee having been with us on Mondays and Tuesdays since we opened our original shop in Kilmaurs. Tom has been involved with cycle sport since his school days. A brief but unspectacular racing career was followed by involvement in the admin and organisational side of the sport. He's a former member of the Scottish Cyclists' Union's Executive Committee and is currently a member of the team which organises the Girvan 3-Day Cycle Road Race.
As a 'mature student', Tom retrained in computing and web design and became involved with Walkers Cycling when he created our website as a college project. In addition to maintaining our web site Tom helps out with sales and draws on his experience as Dad of two young boys to help our customers choose from the range of good quality children's cycles we have available. When not in the shop Tom enjoys getting out and about with his family, walking, photography, listening to music and riding his Claud Butler trekking bike - but not very far or very fast nowadays! Tom is now old enough to get junk mail from SAGA, so he's no idea how to work an MP3 player. However, he has just about got to grips with those new fangled CD thingies and subjects his long suffering family to his 'eclectic' taste in music which ranges from Abba and Black Sabbath to Tangerine Dream and Mozart. Top |
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| Mike Beith: Part-time Mechanic | |||
Mike is the 'spanner man' you'll see beavering away in the workshop on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Back in 2003 he came in to the shop to have a puncture repaired and ended up working for us!
Mike's professional background lies in engineering and his innovative approach to problem solving often comes in handy whenever there are what we refer to as 'special projects' to be tackled in the shop. Rumour has it that our Mike played in a band in the sixties. Could he be the Beatle that got away? Mike's staying tight lipped on that one - we'll let you know if we manage to get the details out of him. Top |
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| Kelly McNee - Sales Assistant | |||
Kelly is our 'Girl Saturday' when she works as a sales assistant. She has built up a comprehensive knowledge of the product range we stock and can help our customers quickly find the right bike or accessory for their requirements. Kelly took part in the Loudoun Academy Cycling Group's 'Hebridan Challenge' ride in the summer of 2008. The trip saw riders island hopping from Arran northwards with a return down the rugged west coast of Scotland.When not riding a bike Kelly also plays with Loudoun Gowf Club. She is no slouch on the fairways and has a trophy cabinet which is filling up rapidly thanks to her frequent successes. Top |
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| Drew Thomson: Part Time Sales Assistant | |||
Drew is our latest 'Saturday Boy' - although it's a few years since he was at school. He has been one of our regular customers for a while and, having spent so much time in the shop eyeing up the latest kit, he thought he may as well work here! Drew's background in agricultural engineering is often put to good use on some of the more unusual jobs undertaken by our workshop staff.As an experienced road and off-road rider Drew is well placed to advise customers on all aspects of both types of riding. In 2007 Drew and partner Julie successfully completed the Land's End to John o' Groats ride so when we get 'End-to-End' riders in the shop, as we do quite regularly in the summer months, Drew will have first hand knowledge of their requirements. Top |
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| David McNamee - Sponsored by Walkers Cycling | |||
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| Mikey Turnbull - Sponsored by Walkers Cycling | |||
Walkers Cycling is pleased to support local mountain biker Michael 'Mikey' Turnbull. Mikey has been causing a bit of a stir in junior MTB circles with his performances and has even been giving older, more experience riders a run for their money. You can expect to hear a lot more about Mikey in the months to come. He will be sharing his MTB experiences with the world on the Walkers Cycling Blog. |
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What can we do for you? If you don't find what you're looking for here, please contact us to discuss your idea |
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