Harold "H" Nelson
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Harold "H" Nelson BEM (born 30 January 1928 in Manchester, England is a notable English cycling coach, credited with helping several amateur and professional cycle racing champions.
Nelson started to coach racing cyclists in 1953 and was the Great Britain team masseur on a wide range of national and international events, including the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, seven World Cycling Championships, 21 Tours of Britain, three Peace Races (Warsaw-Berlin-Prague), two Tour of Bohemia, 41 Manx Weeks and 31 Girvans.
In the 1960s, amongst the riders he coached to glory were individual time trialists Keith Stacey (British Best All-Rounder 1965) and Eric Matthews (24-hour champion 1968). He also coached the successful Seamons CC time trial team during this period.
In the 1970s and 1980s, he coached several successful road racing cyclists, including international Alan Kemp, Ian Binder, Brian Pownall and Mike and Jeff Williams. Probably his most successful riders were Paul Sherwen and John Herety. Sherwen rode the Tour de France seven times (finishing it five times); he and Herety both won the British National Road Race Championship.
His methods, based on care of the body, power training and monitoring the heart rate, also helped Hamish Haynes (British National Road Race Champion 2006) who started as a third category rider. Under Nelson's guidance, he became an elite rider within two years before turning professional for a Belgian team.
He received recognition for his work when he was awarded the British Empire Medal.
