1937 – 1962 – History of the Club – St Neots and District Cycling Club

Until we secured the various posters from 1898 this was the earliest record we had and is from 1962 and this captures the history of the club from 1937 to 1962. From this record we gain a glimpse of a club that held its first Time Trial in 1938 and by the end of the 1950’s was featuring in National Championships with members travelling many miles to compete in events. The Club continued throughout the Second World War and in 1943 had 54 members of which 38 were serving in the forces.

Read about the first use of the telephone in 1949 to record the “turn times” in a 50 on the finishing board before each rider had finished.

The first club member to go under the hour was Mick Buck in 1954 in a time of 59.38.

From 1950 to 1955 members would get off the saddle and take part in the St Neots to Bedford Boxing Day Road Running Relay and in two of the years beat the local athletics team. Perhaps they were the early visionaries for dualathons !!

Have a look at the profiles for Gerald Ashley, Myrtle Gander and Dave Jordan and some of the times they were setting. Remember that the bikes they were using are not like the machines of today to help place these performances in context. 100 miles, 12 hour and 24 hour races were certainly the norm especially for Dave Jordan.

We gain a picture of an active club, organising their own “Open” events with members taking their cycling talents outside St Neots and creating many records. The name of the club is also worth noting. It was the St Neots and District Cycling Club with the emphasis on “District” as it drew a large part of its membership from outside the confines of St Neots. We know from the “ Minute Book” of the 1960’s that members joined from Huntingdon , Sandy , Biggleswade , Rushden , Kettering and Dunstable. However when the first sponsorship deal came along with Harry Quinn cycles the “ District” had to be dropped as they wanted exclusivity to St Neots. So even then commercial considerations took precedence !!

 

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