THACKLEY TRUMPIT FEBRUARY 2014

The Thackley Trumpit

( Incorporating ‘The Idle Chatterer’ & ‘The Closing Times’ )

Tel. 07944969335   Email: billco@blueyonder.co.uk

2014 And All    That                

By Bill Craven

AHappy New Year to all ‘Trumpit’ readers, sorry about the absence of a January issue, but unfortunately I was not in the best of health during December and January, making it     impossible to produce a January issue and this rather cut down February one. I hope things improve somewhat during the next month or two enabling me to get back on track. The rest of the team have responded to the point of doing everything possible to get all this issue out.

Although this year looks as if it will be a busy one, sports wise, it is doubtful whether this region of Yorkshire will be much part of it. With the start of the Tour de France being in Leeds and taking in part of the Wharfe Valley it will still not be coming into this neck of the woods, however we do have a unique connection with top class cycle racing in having the first and last amateur winner of the Tour of Britain (Milk Race) in former Thackley  cyclist Ken Russell.

As I reported in August Ken Russell won this race in 1952, 62 years ago, on a locally manufactured bike, leading the race for nine of the fourteen days of racing and finishing on a bike loaned to him by Marcel Michaux, the famous Belgian star, when his own cycle got a puncture with only 30 miles to the finish.

Credit: Daily Express 1952 and 1954 Race Programmes, 1952 Results and History of the Tour of Britain by Peter A Clifford (1967)

Ken, a 22-years-old salesman of the cycles he rides, Without team support, up against the combined might of the country's strongest and most highly organised teams, he held grimly to his lead over the final stages. No amount of attacking, no team tactics by others could unsettle him. Alone he met every challenge - and attacked in return.

Not only had he to ride against 'independent' (semi-professional) and amateur teams from this country, but national teams from Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, Belgium and Germany. In addition to these six national teams, there were five ' independent ' British teams and five top-class amateur teams.

Of the Continental teams, the Belgian riders did the best. They finished in fourth place in the team race, and their best man, Marcel Michaux, filled eighth position in the race as a whole. Indeed it was Michaux who  provided the most sporting gesture of the whole race. For Michaux it was who, when only 30 of the 1,470 miles remained, loaned his machine to Russell. Russell's cranks were working lose and a tyre was softening. Michaux, casting aside all chances of a personal win on the last stage (and he had set his heart on that one victory), unhesitatingly switched machines with Russell, dropping back himself to effect repairs.

In this modern age there is little hope of another Ken Russell emerging from the ranks of the highly organised teams which now dominate this wonderful spectacle, a pity after all the drugs and other unsavoury events of the last few years have helped ruin its reputation as the greatest free sporting event in the world. Perhaps a return to the values of 1952 would not go amiss in this mad scramble for fame and fortune.

So, we go on to 2014 with hope in our hearts and a chance for all out teams and individuals to do well in their chosen sports. At least the weather has held up well so far, we missed out on the high winds and floods. Snow and ice has held off with only a couple of months left to worry about now and Spring to look forward to so all is not yet lost.