Charles Holland (cyclist)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's Track Cycling | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 1932 Los Angeles | Team pursuit | |
Charles Holland (born 20 September 1908, died December 1989) was a champion English road bicycle racer. He was the first Englishman to ride the Tour de France.
Contents |
[edit] The early years
Holland, one of four brothers, was born in Aldridge, Staffordshire in 1908. As a child he was a natural athlete and an outstanding all-round sportsman with the ambition to play football for Aston Villa and cricket for Warwickshire. However (although he had a trial for Aston Villa), encouraged by his father and elder brother, it was cycling which captured his imagination – he was destined to become a most distinguished cyclist.
In 1928 Holland joined the Midland Cycling and Athletic Club and began to enter individual time trials and other cycling events. He hit the headlines by winning the Anfield BC 100 mile time trial in 1932. In the same year he also won the BSA Gold Vase, worth 100 guineas – the most valuable athletic trophy competed for at this time – in front of a crowd of 6,000 people.
[edit] Olympic Games: Los Angeles 1932
The 1932 Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles, prompting one of the longest journeys ever undertaken by a British cycling team. The journey began at London's Waterloo Station where the team took a train to Southampton Docks to board the luxury liner, Empress of Britain. They docked in Quebec before continuing their journey to Chicago and then on to Hollywood. The journey was not only memorable but also worthwhile as Holland was successful (in the eyes of others) in winning a bronze medal in the team pursuit - for him, though, success meant winning gold.
[edit] Between the Games
In 1933, Holland achieved further success: one week winning the Midland one mile sprint, the next taking the British 12-hour record. In the World’s Amateur Road Championship in 1934 in Leipzig, Germany, he finished third, the best position for an Englishman in this event for many a year, despite riding 12 six-mile laps with a buckled wheel.
[edit] Olympic Games: Berlin 1936
Holland's next major event was the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. He won no medals, but he believed, along with many others, that it would have been a different story if his two younger brothers, Alf and Jack, had been chosen to ride with him (Alf was a reserve; Jack was the reigning 25-mile National Champion). Nevertheless, Holland regarded 1936 as the peak of his career. As well as being a member of the Olympic road team, he travelled to the Isle of Man to ride - and win - the first massed-start road-race contested over the island's 37.75-mile Snaefell mountain course, on 18 June 1936. In a sprint finish to what was effectively the first Manx International road race, Holland beat Bill Messer (Marlboro AC) by a length with Scot Jackie Bone third, the lap being covered in 1 hour 42 minutes and 59 seconds, a speed of 22mph.[1]
[edit] The Best all-rounder
1936 also culminated in Holland winning the British Best All-Rounder (BBAR) time trial award. Previously, he had been third in 1933, and second in both 1934 and 1935 (beaten by a thousandth of a second). For many, the 1936 BBAR win established Holland as a genuine all-rounder - not only in individual road time trials, but across all types of cycling – including mass start road-racing and track racing.
[edit] Tour de France
In April 1937 (10 years after he had competed in his first cycle race), Holland turned professional, and as July approached, pre-Tour rumours spread that he was to ride. The rumours proved correct, and as a member of the British Empire team, Holland was invited to ride in the world's most telling cycle race, the Tour de France.
Holland and his team mates (Scot Bill Burl and a French Canadian Pierre Gachon) left Paris wearing the Union Jack, but after two days' racing only Holland remained in the race - Gachon dropped out during the first stage, while Burl retired after crashing into a car. Holland's tenacity and riding ability gaining him the praise of French sportsmen and spectators, as well as those at home. He persevered, overcame language barriers and lack of team support, as well as a sneaky feeling that the organisers did not want a lone Englishman to do well in 'their' race. He felt confident that he could finish the race as each day he gained more knowledge and greater strength.
'A glorious failure' was how one magazine reported his first attempt at this event. After 1,858 miles and with only 890 to go, and when feeling fitter than at the start of the race (he started with a broken collarbone), Holland was forced to retire through punctures and mechanical failure during stage 14C, from Perpignan to Luchon, after being dropped on the Col de Port mountain climb in the Pyrenees. A beer from a priest and an offer of tyres from a tourist did little to help and with no possibility of finishing within the time limit, Holland accepted a lift to the stage finish. It was to be another 18 years before another Englishman (Brian Robinson) tackled the Tour.
[edit] The professional years
1938 was the year of professional records. In June, riding for Raleigh/Sturmey-Archer, Holland broke his first Road Records Association record, knocking 12 minutes off his greatest rival, Frank Southall's time for Liverpool to Edinburgh, completing the 210 miles in just 10 hours.
In August he narrowly beat the record for Land's End to London but it was not officially accepted as a new RRA record, since it did not improve on the old one by more than a full minute. However, two months later, he completed the 287 miles from Land's End to London again, racing at 21 miles per hour through hours of rain and suffering four punctures, but, crucially, knocking 25 minutes off the previous record.
Donington Hall was Holland's home in 1939 - the new training quarters for the Raleigh/Sturmey-Archer team of himself, Bert James and Sid Ferris. The team used the Donington race circuit for fast work, and neighbouring roads for long distance training.
However, on 3 September 1923, Britain entered World War II and Holland was called up to join the Royal Corps of Signals. After the war, Holland was too old to race professionally and could not return to cycling as an amateur. Instead, he concentrated on work, took up golf (even playing in pro-am tournaments), and ran two newsagents and a grocery shop in Birmingham, living in Great Barr.
[edit] Veteran Victories
However, his competitive instincts remained strong and when the rules about professionals returning to amateur status were changed in the early 1960s, Holland made a comeback despite being overweight and a heavy smoker. He won the Veterans Time Trial Association Best All-Rounder title in 1974. In 1975, aged 67, he returned to the Isle of Man to win the Veteran's Road Race, riding roads he first raced over 39 years earlier. He repeated his British Veterans Best All-Rounder victory, breaking age records at 25, 50 and 100 miles and for 12 hours. His 100 mile time beat the age standard by one-and-a-half hours - despite competition from over 1,000 other veteran racing cyclists.
He died in December 1989 and was buried in the family grave at Aldridge.
[edit] References
- Woodland, L. (2005), This Island Race, Mousehold Press, ISBN 1-874739-36-6
