Speed-Cycling on Road and Track

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 180, 20 October 1927, Page 8

Speed-Cycling on Road and Track

By

“VELOS."

There will be no racing for members of the Manukau Amateur Cycling Club’s riders on Saturday, the two amateur races that were to have been held at Carlaw Park being put off on account of the state of the ground. The professional riders will compete in a 14 mile open handicap event at Mangere. Starting from the bridge sharp at 3 p.m. This will be the second last road race held by the Auckland Athletic and Cycling Club this year. On the following Saturday, October 29, the final race will be run over 7 miles, after which the trophies won by the different riders during the season will be presented. This will close their season. Labour Day sports at the Domain on Monday will usher in the 1927-28 track racing season for amateurs. Three races are set down for decision, and judging by the handicaps, good racing should be witnessed. The fields in all three races are large, there being 28 competitors in one event alone. The Cotter Challenge Cup event, decided at Mangere last Saturday, was responsible for a wonderful finish on the part of the two scratch riders, Byrnes and Wade, for fastest time. Wade was first into his stride when sprinting began, but Byrnes quickly ranged alongside him, and over the last 100yds they were locked together. Fighting every inch of the last 30yds they simply flew over the finishing line. The judges quickly decided there was no way of separating them, and said “dead heat.” It was a magnificent finishing effort on both riders part, and was the fastest seen on Mangere this 3 r ear. The time, 44m, is a record for the 17 miles, the previous best being 44m 21s. A PROMISING RIDER

P. Platt, the winner of the Cotter Challenge Cup for 1927, is a promising young rider. He has been figuring in the prize list a few times this season but principally in seconds (2) and thirds (4). This is his first win, but it won’t be his last. To come through from the 2m 45s mark and strike a bunch of 29 riders all over the road; to do his share of pacing over the last lap and then hold a position that would give him a winning chance among 29 riders; all this proves that he uses his head, and he can be depended on to be heard of again in the near future. A consistent performer is R. Foubister. who was the best of the “chasers,” running second. He is one of the ex-scratch junior riders, and a very speedy customer at that. In Saturday’s big event he was one of those responsible for the fast pace set over the last lap, which effectively blocked any riders getting a jump in and stealing a march on the field. He rode a great finish, —his very best —but he could not beat the winner. His performances during the season have been good. He has scored four seconds, two thirds, and two fastest times, in different distanced races.

C. A. Clarke, who fiinshed third, just managed to catch the judge’s eye. He was not riding in his best form, being unable to get in any training lately. He was one of the back division that got to the front of the big bunch early, and stayed there. Last year he won the 50-mile Auckland Amateur Championship, showing good form, but this season he has been only twice in the prize list, a third on Saturday and a third in the 50-mile Auckland Championship. A rider who put up a good performance in Saturday’s Cotter Cup race was C. J. Gainsborough. He ran through the field in quick time, and was at the back of the bunch of 29 entering the last lap. It looked like him winning half a mile from the fiinish, but the pace told on him over the last hit, and he petered out. “A MATTER OF INCHES”

The dead-heat registered by J. H. Wade and M. P. Byrnes for fastest time in the Cotter Challenge Cup race, has been the talk of the week in amateur cycling circles. One enthusiast worked it out that Byrnes must have

: gained six inches on Wade in the last ! t w o feet. His contention is that Byrnes was four inches behind Wade 18 inches from the finishing line, was dead level on the line, and was two inches in front of him six inches over. Velos will take his word for it, as he left his glasses at home on Saturday. Grammar School old boys are reminded that they can enter on the ground for Friday’s three-mile event. There will also be.a bicycle or two available on the ground for any who would care to compete. The inclusion of M. P. Byrnes, Auckland’s crack amateur, in the field will certainly lend additional interest to the event. A HARVEST OF TROPHIES To win one racing cycle, two gold medals, two silk sashes and two trophies, all for winning one race, is the outcome of T. G. Lukey’s winning ride in the recent Palmerston North to Wellington road race. Lukey won the race and also put up fastest time. This is probably a record in prizes won, by a single individual in any kind of race. Lukey will leave for Melbourne on November 1 to represent New Zealand in the big. Australian Colae-Melbourne event next month.

The Auckland Athletic and Cycling Club’s . season was advanced another stage on Saturday, when the veteran, J. Deans-, pedalling with graceful freedom,. .strolled, home .in., the club’s 14mile event/ This is the second time ' he has done this in two weeks, and if th% handicapper has something to .say to him for next Saturday, he only has himself to blame. He has been a regular attender at Mangere every Saturday .this, season, but has had only one third up tiH a fortnight ago, when he ran an-eawinner in the club’s 14-mile event. Last Saturday he beat Rhodes off the same mark by a length over the same distance. The race itself was a disappointment. With three of Auckland’s best professional riders, White, Henderson and Sutherland, starting off scratch, something sensational was expected. The limit riders, Dean and Rhodes (Bmin.), made every post a winning one from the word go, and as far as the “chasers” were concerned they were only chasing third money. The back-mark-ers took tilings very easily, racing only for time. The two limit riders ran first and second with nearly three minutes to spare, and Pelham (3£min.), filled third place. A good sprint between J. Mathieson (lXmin.), and A. White was won by. the latter, who also won fastest time. WORKERS ALL The little band of officials who attend to the duties of starter, timekeeper and treasurer of the Auckland Cycling Club's races every Saturday. Messrs. Marriott, Oakes and Tonkin, deserve every credit for the consistent manner in which they carry out their duties. A finer lot of sports would be hard to find, and it certainly would be impossible to meet a more enthusiastic one. Riders are loud in their praise of the very thorough manner in which the races as a whole are handled. The road-racing season of 1927 will soon be over. Two or three more Saturdays will see it close. Never probably has Auckland seen such a revival in the sport of cycle racing as has taken place this year. Riders are blessed with a splendid road-racing course at Mangere, and to that course can be attributed the fact that the road-racing season of 1927 has been a huge success. Two rears ago the Manukau Amateur Cycling Club had a membership of some ten riders; to-day it ranks as one of the strongest in Australasia, having on its books more than a hundred. The Auckland Athletic and Cycling Club has just on oO cash riders attached to the club, which is twice as many as it had last year, which brings the total racing strength of Auckland up to 150 riders The racing during the road season has been conducted by both riders and officials in a true sporting spirit. Few if any complaints have been lodged for judicial supervision. Several riders achieved fame, notably among them being the young 16J-year-old 50-mile Zealand amateur champion, J. H. Made, and J. Henderson, w-ho put un such a remarkable ride in the Hamil™n Jo Auckland professional road race. That the public are keen on the sport is proved by the attendances at Mangere every Saturday, and also by the large crowds that witnessed the “passing through" of the riders at different towns in the recent Hamilton to Auckland event. Next season will see a bigger boom, as it is a well-known tact that a large number of those who anticipate buying, intend buying racnig machines. The only fly in the ointment is Blandford Park Stadium track not opening as was supposed in October. This would have carried the already fit road riders right in'o the track-racing season, and the year ' would have been completed when riders tried their skill at winning, first Auckland, and then New Zealand tra k championships.