A RECORD-BREAKER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 417, 28 January 1909, Page 6

A RECORD-BREAKER.

'■ * i TO PALMERSTON AND BACK IN A DAY. ,Tho day of tho ordinary safety bicycle as an annihilator of distance is not yet done. Yesterday-morning Francis Birtles, who arrived from Australia • a few weeks ago' with a reputation for long-distance record-break-ing, left The Dominion Office at 3 a.m. to cycle to Palmerston North and back. Ho ■ covered the distance to Palmerston North I—a little over 100 miles—in 6 hours 57 min- ■ utcs. arriving there at Tsui Dominion Office I in that town at 9.57 a.m., none the worse i for .his feat of speed and endurance. He t left there again (according to his certificate) at 10.30 a.m., and arrived at The Dominion 1 Office, Wellington, 'at 6.45 last evening, having taken 15 hours 12 minutes (actual time on the \ journey) to cover over 200 miles. When it is considered that the road followed takes in tho Johwonvillo and Paekakariki hills, tho record must be set down as i remarkable ono, and Birtles as a cyclist of unusual powers. He rode a Rudgc-Whitworth machine, supplied by Messrs. E. Reynolds and Co.

ANOTHER RECORD LOWERED

i {BT ASSOCIATION.) Christchurcli, January 27. A. Humm succeeded in lowering the record for the journey by bicycle between Christchurch and Dunedin by four hours nineteen minutes. He started from Christchuich at 5.15 a.m., and reached Dunodin at 7.16 p.m. The previous record was put up by A. C. Calder on .March 1, 1899, and the journe* was done in 18 hours 20 minutes. Humm was paced by two motor cycles.