With the help of yours truly, British Cycling has unveiled its inaugural Hall of Fame.

They're a shrewd lot, those people in Manchester - make the editor part of the judging panel and you instantly validate the selection. Joking aside, getting six bike riders to agree on anything is tricky and I was amazed we were able to whittle the list down to just 50 in little more than four hours.

There are so many deserving cases, nobody should be excluded, but it really wouldn't be practical to induct 500 people in one rush.

So here's phase one, a list that includes plenty of predicatble names, but to be truly representaive of British Cycling it also includes those volunteers, officials and organisers, without whom it wouldn't be possible to run our sport.

Our task became considerably easier once we decided to exclude current international riders who'll only become eligible once they retire.

My apologies to all those who didn't make it this time; if you're not on the list that's obviously the fault of somebody else on the panel. And before anyone asks, neither Peter King nor Hugh Porter nominated themselves.

Robert Garbutt is editor of Cycling Weekly

The British Cycling Hall of Fame>>