Mingling with the Great Names by Graham Thompson

MINGLING WITH THE GREAT NAMES IN TIME TRIALS AND THE ONLY TIME I WAS FASTER THAN RAY BOOTY

By Graham Thompson 

 I have been clearing out an accumulation of old start and result sheets, and, whilst most do not mean much to me 40 and 50 years on, some bring back memories although much of the detail has gone. Names from the past stare out at me from the pages. Many are just names, but some bring back recollections of acquaintances and competitors, and I suspect most of them have since disappeared from the cycling scene and some have certainly gone to new pastures in the great scheme of things! This bout of nostalgia has been brought about by two books by Peter Whitfield: one of which I have read and the second of which will be read when the evenings draw in. I have filed a review for the pages of the Gazette with the editor. I have also purchased a CD of photographs by the late Bernard Thompson, who was fortunately persuaded to make these available in the months before his recent death. Bernard’s articles and photographs frequently graced the pages of “Cycling”.

One good aspect of time trialling is that you can enter national championships provided you had the qualifying times and were fast enough in the days of oversubscribed events and full fields – you may have no chance of finishing in the top few, but you will have at least measured yourself against the best and probably come home with a personal best. 1962 was such a year for me. Some cycling reports in recent years have made out that the “25” is the blue riband of time trialling, but for the cognescenti the “100” is the true blue riband event as this is a real test of speed and stamina.

In 1962 I rode the Hounslow “100” at Whitsun, which is very early in the season for this distance. The premier venue for “100s” was the Bath Road course and it was on this course that Ray Booty became the first man to get inside the magical four hours in 1956. I managed to improve by a few seconds to 4:31:00 compared to Jeff Marshall in 4:19:53 from the Hounslow – a Hounslow man and still riding to this day. I rounded off the day by riding through to Wallingford and back before driving home to Leicester. A few weeks later I spent the night with the Sewell family at Blossom Waye in Ruislip before the South Ruislip “100” on the Bath Road getting down to 4:23:07 compared to fastest time of  4:14:14 by Mick Bowen. On the return from Abingdon I faced disqualification as apparently I went the wrong side of a traffic island, but Jack Sewell pleaded my case and my time stood. This week produced the best part of 500 miles as I had a few days training by riding to Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast.

I had entered the Bath Road “100” which was the National Championship held on the Bank Holiday Monday then at the beginning of August. I was told by Jack Sewell that I was the slowest acceptance so that I had better be there on the day as he had had a word on my behalf with the promoter, Jack Aston. This was the day of Frank Colden’s winning ride of  3:54:23, only the second man inside four hours. It was not an easy day and on the return to the half way point I had taken two hours eight minutes and it was to take another two hours 12 minutes to get back to the Pangbourne Lane to finish with 4:20:40. The conditions from the far turn in the Savernake Forest produced a head wind and some drizzle, but on the road through Hungerford, Newbury, Thatcham and Woolhampton I had the satisfaction of overtaking many riders who had passed me earlier. This was the only occasion which I can recall when I was faster than Ray Booty who clocked 4:29:12, admittedly winding down after a long and illustrious career about which most cyclists can only dream. He also had to contend with a puncture.

Also riding that day were George Wingfield and Ron Hayden and we formed the third fastest team. We were nearly one hour slower than the winning Camberley Wheelers team Very few people remember who was second! This was Chris Holloway who was ten minutes adrift of Frank Colden – Chris became a good friend in later years as we both served on the RTTC National Committee. We later involved ourselves in hillwalking. Chris became a leader of outings and expeditions at home and overseas for Holiday Fellowship and I began to tick off Munros. I can also recall Mick Brown from Nottingham who finished sixth well ahead of my lowly 39th placing. We drove back to Leicester together, but he had to ride onto Nottingham. We met several times in later events, but I do not know what became of him.

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