The British League of Racing Cyclists (B.L.R.C.)

Cycling is enough of minority sport in the UK not to have the additional burdens of internal fragmentation and poor administration to cope with. But hang on! Cycling was one of most successful sports for GB at the 2008 Olympics ... and is very well funded compared to many others.. and it runs under a unified administration. So what’s the problem?

Well .. this is a Retro topic and covers an earlier time. A time that I barely remember - since even though that is my BLRC badge - the national split and resulting civil war had been patched up when I got it. It was just a souvenir of past times.

The split - between the NCU and BLRC - ended in 1959 with the creation of the BCF; now called British Cycling. Yet the differences, and their effects, can still be seen over 50 years later - more of this bit of the story at Wikipedia here

So even though it is history it is still worth covering. And this is where I will provide some snippets from the days of the BLRC. And I will try to make them new items - new to the Internet this is - despite the decades that have passed.

The banner and headline from the March 1958 edition of “The Racing Cyclist and Cyclo-Cross Formerly The Leaguer” - the official journal of the British League of Racing Cyclists proudly proclaiming “The B.L.R.C. Forges Ahead” in much the same style as many in-house magazines or PR hand-outs still do today. more soon

A couple of examples of the many disputes were -

• The off, then on, then off again, situation with the 1955 Tour of Britain - more at Tour-Racing here...

• The infamous telegram hoax announcing the cancellation of the 1955 Tour of Ireland that caused some competitors to miss the start. Most notable being three of Brian Haskell’s Yorkshire team. With typical grit Brian went on to win! more..

But despite much tribal in-fighting cycling did progress after the war. And the efforts of the BLRC supporters were instrumental in making far-reaching changes to the sport. Changes which would have come about much more slowly - if at all - under the old regime. more soon

And then there are the people involved at the time. For some the disputes became too much hassle and they left the sport never to return. For others their experiences gave them the motivation to press on that much harder. Some even recorded their story for the rest of us ... more soon

A copy of the 1944 road race results from the 1945 BLRC Handbook is ... here

A copy of the 1946 National Road Race Championship programme provides a list of the earlier riders; plus part of the results for the Brighton - Glagsow stage race. The field included a P T Stallard; commonly remembered as Percy Stallard .... more

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