I have seen the name of Bob Mansell mentioned a few times on here as he had a Cycle shop on Oldbury road and was founder and coach to the local Velo Club Central cycling club,does anyone recall in 1964 or 65 when Bob organised a big street race (called a Kermessse in Belgium)which took place on the closed roads around Holly Lane,Hugh Road and possibly Devonshire Road,the top semi pro-teams of Falcon Cycles,Viking Cycles,and Wilson cycles plus the top local amateur teams took part in the race which took place on a midweek evening,does anyone recall this at all. I joined Bobs club round about this time and saw a few National Championship medals come into the club from young riders Bob had helped on their way,Michael OConnor & my brother Colin Browning both won Medals in cyclo cross and on the banked track as young schoolboys,Garry Edwards won the National Schoolboys circuit championship at Alton Towers,Martin Baker was a Big name in national cyclo cross series,on the road senior riders had a 1-2-3 in the local division Senior road race championships 1966 on the hilly Romsley circuit,1st/John Varley 2nd/Grant Thomas,3rd/ John Turner,John Varley later rode the Tour of Britain Milk Race,Grant Thomas & Colin Browning joined the Birmingham RCC club run by Olympic Medallist Tommy Godwin and went on to win national Championships for the new club, Colin Browning went onto represent the country at schoolboy,junior and senior levels. A lot of good riders came through the ranks of Bobs VC Central and future Olympians like Phil Bayton ,Neil Martin a future pro champion rode his Holly Lodge training races and the West Smethwick park races,Neil Martins son Dan Martin is now a Top Professional on continent riding the big our de France Giro ditalia races!. An unsung hero was Bob Mansell. Here is a pic of the late Bob Mansell
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 19:08:22 +0000
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