“FLYING ARAB”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 924, 18 March 1930, Page 11

“FLYING ARAB”

MARATHON CYCLIST IN AUCKLAND HE WILL PAINT SIGNS j ‘ Flying Arab” has arrived in Auck- ’ ! land. j ot a horse, nor a railway engine. A man. A rather small but exceedinglv ! wiry man. j j With a push-bike. I AVhen he was just an ordinary human ; being, the man was Mr. E. Wadsworth, of Victoria, but his prowess i With, his sturdy push-bike has lifted j him above the common herd. Today he is the “Flying Arab”—flyI i n to round the world a-wheel.. Of J J course he has rests in between times. ' IHe had just concluded one of four ' | days when lie stepped off the Ulimaroa I this morning. j He was all pepped up to go again, ! attired in a remarkable little suit of j blue knickerbockers topped with a \ somewhat faded sun-lielmet, he fairly hopped about on deck as his machine rose out of the hold. A little later he was working off surplus energy in Queen Street, pedalling t hrough the traffic like a wasp : among birds. His machine, was loaded from front to rear with 1301 b of gear and souvenirs. A total of 34,000 miles in three years. That’s Mr. Wads pardon, the “Flying Arab’s” programme. He asserts that he has already done 11,000 miles % in 14 months by cycling around Australia and Tasmania. H© left Perth on January 27 of last year carrying a marked £1 note as his only capital. He even undertook not to spend that. When he wants money he produces from his pack some paint and a few brushes, paints you a sign and makes a moderate charge. It’s awfully simple, really. Two weeks ago at Latrobe in Tasmania he defeated J. Kelly, a cycling champion, in a half-mile match race as a sort of preliminary to the round-the-world jaunt. That’s the “Flying Arab.”