|
“Yesterday morning a six days’ bicycle race for the long-distance championship of the world, and £150 in prizes, was commenced at the Agricultural Hall, London. The race, which is under the Wolverhapton rules, is promoted by Messrs. Fox and Etherington, of the Temple Bicycle Club. The Sporting Life, who are the prize-holders, also appoint the referees - Messrs. T. Griffith of Bell’s Life, and G. W. Atkinson of the Sporting Life. The starters were as follow:- J. Keen (champion of the world), London; D. Stanton (long distance champion), of Hornsey; W. Cann (champion of the north), of Sheffield; C. Terront, champion of France; A. Evans, of Hampshire; C. E. Edlin, of Leicester; H. Highham, of Nottingham; W. Phillips (champion of Wales), of Wolverhampton; T. Andrews, of Birmingham; F. White, of Wolverhampton; A. Markham, of Paddington; F. J. Lees, of Sheffield. The riding is restricted to 18 hours a day - viz., from six a.m. to twelve p.m. - and the winner, providing he covers 1000 miles during the week, receives £100; the second prize is £25, the third £15, and the fourth £10. The course is on boards, seven and a half laps to the mile. The distances at eight o’clock last evening were - Cann 182 miles, Stanton 173. Edlin 170, White 164, Higham 156, Andrews 152, Lees 146, Evans 144, Keen 136 and Markham and Terront 124. Markham retired owing to an accident.”
Seven and half laps to the mile equates to 234.7 yards or 214.6 metres but the track was probably not measured to that degree of accuracy.
As a rough guide, the devaluation of the UK Pound has changed the £100 prize of 1878 into a prize worth somewhere between £7,500 and £10,500 in 2010 terms - using inflation and GDP changes.
|
|
“At eight o’clock last evening the position of the competitors was - Cann, 928 miles; Edlin 896; Lees, 816; Andrews, 790; Terront, 720; Higham, 616; Evans, 572; White (Wolverhampton), 460; and Stanton, 400.”
|
|
“On Saturday night the match was concluded in favour of Cann, who since the retirement of Stanton from the contest, had held the lead. Nothing of importance occurred during the day, the most noteworthy event being the completion of 1000 miles by Cann at 42 minutes past eleven in the morning, Edlin completing the same distance at 31 minutes past 3 in the afternoon. At seven minutes to eleven the competition was concluded, the several distances being as follows:- ...“
|
THE SIX DAYS’ BICYCLE COMPETITION
