Alf Engers
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Alfred Robert Engers |
| Nickname | The King |
| Date of birth | c. April-June 1940 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Time Triallist |
| Major wins | |
| 6 times National 25 mi TT 1969 National 1 km TT |
|
| Infobox last updated on: | |
| April 23, 2007 | |
Alfred 'Alf' Robert Engers (born about April-June 1940) was an English racing cyclist who set national records and won national championships in the individual time trial discipline from 1959 to the late 1970s. He established a British 25-mile record of 49 minutes and 24 seconds in 1978, averaging 30.364 mph (or 49.190 km/h). He was the first rider to beat 50 minutes and thus the first to average more than 30 mph.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Engers is from Southgate in north London. He worked night shifts as a pastry cook in Whitechapel while pursuing his cycling career.
He seems to have been a rebel from early on: he was expelled from school for 'misbehaving on every level' and received his first Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) official written warning at the age of 16[1].
He started club cycling, joining the Barnet CC, in 1952. In 1961 he was offered, and took up, an independent contract by Ted Gerrard Cycles for the 1962 season - independent status was a half-way stage between amateur and professional. Work and family commitments meant he rode only two races that season. He applied to be reinstated as an amateur in 1963 but was refused. He applied and was rejected every year, hampering his cycling career[2], until being reinstated as an amateur for 1968.
Engers' career included track racing - he raced against Tom Simpson and Barry Hoban at Herne Hill Velodrome in the 1960s and he won medals in the national Pursuit championship. In July 1969 he won the national kilometre time trial on the track. His 1959 25-mile time-trial record of 55:11, set when he was 19, was ridden on an 84-inch fixed wheel.
[edit] 25-mile specialist
From 1968 he specialised in 25-mile time trials, dominating the scene for ten years. He frequently clashed with the sport's governing body, the Road Time Trials Council (RTTC) over interpretations of the rules and the laws of the road. His technique of riding near the centre of the road was particularly controversial.
Engers' reputation in the British time-trial community rose through the 1970s. He gained the nickname of The King because of his dominance. He won the national championship in 1969 (at 29, then the oldest winner) and every year from 1972 to 1976. Between 1959 and 1978 he broke the 25-mile record four times and captured the 30-mile in 1975.
In July 1976 he was heading for a 48-minute ride when he was stopped by a police patrol while doing 50mph on a descent of the A2 near Swanscombe. He was banned from racing for two years, reduced to 12 months on appeal. This suspension might have ended of his career, but he came back in 1978 to achieve his best result.
His August 5, 1978 25-mile record of 49:24 was ridden on a course based on the A12 road near Chelmsford (the course is no longer used because of increasing traffic). Conditions were slightly damp and windy. Engers' old record of 51:00 was beaten by an earlier starter, Eddie Adkins, with 50:50 (the only person, apart from Engers, to hold the record between 1969 and 1990). He held the record for only a few minutes until Engers finished. Engers said that he had been in a state of grace that day, and that he had an out-of-body experience during the last part of the ride[3]. The record stood until 1990 when a new era of cyclists (and cycling technology) came along.
[edit] Equipment
The bikes Engers rode pioneered lightweight techniques, frequently featuring drilled out brakes, chainwheels and other components. The bikes were often designed and built by his friend and mentor Alan Shorter. It was not uncommon for Engers to arrive at the start of a morning event with his newly-built Shorter bicycle frame having only been built the previous night and thus remaining unpainted
Engers also used large gears, creating a fashion that led to increasingly higher gears being used by many competitors, often inappropriately.
For all this technical innovation, Engers' records were set in the days before low profile bikes, tri-bars, disc wheels and skin suits.
[edit] Golden Book of Cycling
Engers was added to the Golden Book of Cycling, established by the magazine Cycling on 23 November 1991. His entry reads:
- "For twenty years the name of Alf Engers was synonymous with 25 miles time-trials. He dominated the short-distance scene in such a fashion that he was known as King Alf. Engers' name on a start card was sure to guarantee a big crowd at the finish in a shower of nervous anticipation of what he would achieve. Engers could have been a first-class road or trackman. Indeed, he dabbled with success at both, but it was his talent, dedication and showmanship that saw him take 25-miling into unknown territory.
- "He first broke competition record in 1959, recording 55 minutes 11 seconds. In 1969 he took the first of his six national championships, winning in 54 minutes 42 seconds, and later breaking competition record first with a time of 51 minutes 59 seconds and then improving his own figures to 51 minutes to raise speculation about an inside 50 minutes time for the distance.
- "Engers claimed his second national title in 1972 and then followed an unbeaten sequence to 1976. Yet the best was still to come.
- "In the first week in August 1978, a startled clubworld heard the news that on E72..." - cycling courses in Britain are referred to by code numbers - "...first Eddie Adkins, then Engers, had broken competition record in the Unity CC 25. Adkins recorded 50 minutes 50 seconds and then eight minutes later, Engers finished with an incredible 49 minutes 24 seconds. The seemingly unattainable had been achieved.
- "The record stood for 13 years, such was the measure of the man and his ride."
[edit] Later career
In later years Engers spent more time on fishing. He also competed in triathlons.
[edit] UK time trial competition records
- 1959 - 25 miles - riding for Barnet CC - 55m 11s
- 1969 - 25 miles - Polytechnic CC - 51:59
- 1969 - 25 miles - Polytechnic CC - 51:00
- 1975 - 30 miles - Woolwich CC - 1:02:27
- 1978 - 25 miles - Unity CC - 49:24
[edit] UK 25 mile time trial national championships
- 1969 - riding for Polytechnic CC - 54:42
- 1972 - Luton Wheelers - 53:40
- 1973 - Luton Wheelers - 54:58
- 1974 - Archer Road Club - 54:50
- 1975 - Woolwich CC - 54:01
- 1976 - Woolwich CC - 54:37
[edit] Bibliography
- Whitfield, P. (2005), The Condor Years: A Panorama of British Cycling, Wychwood, ISBN 0-9514838-9-7
