SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Grass track cycle racing in the park.

Not as popular as it used to be.

SUMMER MONDAY EVENING

A nice photo in this blog of it in the 50s. Seemed a bit mean to just link to the photo without the context of the article:

https://betterlivesleeds.wordpress.com/ ... ting-life/

Thanks for the link, a good read...the photo was taken on the road that leads to Eccup Treatment works....

They used to hold this on Tuesday evenings, due to riders needing rest after the weekend racing. There seems to be more evening road race series during the week, maybe the grass track racing is being squeezed.

It has always been a very cheap form of racing, you would use an old machine kitted out on fixed wheel, good introduction for young riders.

I've had a go at it myself, was never very clever strategically or fast, but it was fun

Brunel wrote:Grass track cycle racing in the park.

Not as popular as it used to be.

SUMMER MONDAY EVENING

Hi Brunel .

If I've got the bearings right the photo was taken from Hill 60. When I walk by the sports field I rarely ever walk on Hill 60 so being low down I don't recall seeing the building to the rear right. Looking at maps it may be to do with Leeds Golf Club but I'm unsure. Does anyone please know what it is?

Leeds Golf Club, Elmete Lane.

Chappers wrote:Leeds Golf Club, Elmete Lane.

Thanks for that Chappers .

https://goo.gl/maps/Q89x3 shows the golf club to the far right and the arena far left

Better view on Bing of the two structures

http://binged.it/1MpygP5

Hi Brunel,

I tried to reply to your post on 21st July 2015, but was unable to do so because of the problems with the website.

I used to race on the grass track at Roundhay Park as a 14 to 17 year old in 1960 – 63. I rode as a schoolboy for the Yorkshire Century RC along with Willie Hendry and George Brian Todd, who were much older than me. In those days, the racing was on Tuesday nights. The meetings were very popular and consisted of sprint races, pursuit races and ‘devil take the hindmost’ (the last person, at the end of each lap, drops out until you have a winner). I think that the meetings were called the ‘West Riding Track League’. I rode a JRJ track bike with a permanent fixed wheel, as there were no facilities for a rear brake or gears. When we raced on the track, we had to remove the front brake and we raced on about 81” fixed. (In those days, nobody had cars and we had to ride to all of the events whether at the track, time trials, or massed start road racing). The last bend before the finishing straight was quite tight and there were often crashes or people going off the track, as the banking was quite shallow.

On Wednesday nights, I often used to ride the ‘Evening 10’, a 10 mile time trial which started outside Wetherby Borstal and on towards Acomb for 5 miles before a ‘U turn’ in the road, around a marshall, to finish back outside the Borstal.

If I wasn’t taking part in these events, then I used to ride with the Leeds Chain Gang who met at Otley Road/Shaw Lane at 7pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. As many as a hundred riders would do ‘bit and bit’ and sprint for various road signs, all the way to Skipton or Gargrave and then back to Otley for tea at Tommy’s Café. All of the local top cyclists from the Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield areas trained with the Leeds Chain Gang. The traffic was very much lighter in those days and the bunch did not cause too many problems. They would never get away with it these days – they would be a massive traffic hazard and the Police would stop them.

They were very happy days and I have fond memories of racing at the Roundhay Park grass track.

Ian