A Random Assortment

Old bike race programmes are not a common collectors choice so finding sources is difficult. Very few are on the market but this is hardly surprising given how few were printed for each event. Considering the short life span of all such items the numbers that survive must be tiny and there will be many races where none remain.

Race programmes vary greatly in content and ambition - some are little more that a start sheet, others don’t even identify all the competitors but some are professionally produced gems. And in my opinion the Tour of Britain productions by the Daily Express in the 1950’s fall into the latter category.

They were small - around 14x21 cm - to fit in a pocket yet contained detailed descriptions of each stage, riders, prizes, officials, previous years results and a novice’s guide. Running to around 50 pages they also had plenty of room for the all important advertising. They only ran for four years before the civil war between the BLRC and NCU caused the Express to turn to other sports - such as Formula 1. Cycle sport had lost its big chance.

The modern, glossy Tour programmes seem to have twice as many pages, each twice as big, but still manage to contain less in the way of useful, factual content!

Looking at the broader range of events - here are a few other programmes that I remembered to keep. Do they stir up any of your memories?

Australian Amateur Road Cycling Championships, Centennial Park, Sydney, Saturday 28 August 1971 more.. Manchester Wheelers Race Meet, Fallowfield Saturday 13 July 1963. more .. Ostend Velodrome Grand International Reunion Tour de France, Friday 30 July 1965. more.. British National Track Championships held 24 to 31 July 1993 at Saffron Lane Sports Centre, Leicester - more soon

These are some recent discoveries; more from the archives soon ... and please contact me via e-mail if you have contributions.

Girlington Kermesse Road Races between Wetherby and York, UK Sunday 7 March 1965 World Cycling Championships Ronse / Renaix, Belgium 1988 World Road Race Championship, Nurburgring, Germany 28 August 1966 << Isle of Man Cycling Week 1959 A year that saw a legendary field in the Manx Premier Professional Road Race