North Road Cycling Club
The North Road Cycling Club was founded in 1885 to 'Promote fast and long distance cycling on the Great North and other Roads'
Most of the founding members were already members of other clubs and the intention was to establish a club primarily for racing and record breaking.
From its earliest days the Club, which recruited its members from the comfortably off even wealthy middle classes was in the forefront of the development of cycle sport, particularly road racing.
Four North Roaders were in the van of continental road racing when in May 1891 M. A. Holbein, G. P. Mills, S. F. Edge and P. C. Twentyman travelled to France to compete in the first Bordeaux-Paris race. Mills was first followed at 1 hr 14 mins by Holbein who was in turn 2 hrs 33 mins in front of Edge in third place. Mills time was 26 hrs 34 mins and 57 secs.
The Club was a founding member of the Road Records Association and the Road Time Trials Council (now the C.T.T). When the "Authorities" began to look with a lack of favour on bunched racing on the open roads, "it frightened the horses", it was a member of the NRCC who devised the Time Trial which was the backbone of cycle sport in the UK for more than 50 years.
The Club was responsible for the very first 24 hour race.
After the First World War the Club established the Memorial '50', exactly that and the event is still extant today, albeit a 50 kilometre Time Trial on a circuit in North Hertfordshire.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] NRCC web site