Booty and Colden, time trial heroes of the past

 

Two of Britain’s greatest time triallists of 70 years ago come to mind, Ray Booty and Frank Colden. This was prompted by social media chat recalling how Colden smashed the 100-mile record in 1962.

Both Colden and Booty are featured in Whitfield’s fine book “12 Champions” published in 2007.  The book launch turned into a memorable occasion for these elder statesmen of the sport, mingling with other champions also featured in the book.

For when they spotted each other across the crowded room, it was the first time they had met since Colden broke Booty’s record over 40 years before!

It was a like a reunion of two long lost brothers as the pair vigorously shook hands with exclamations of delight, before falling into deep conversation.

Whitfield described Colden’s story as the “most inspiring, enigmatic and puzzling of all the 12 champions”. Colden had, in secret, ridden 400 miles a week during a cold winter. “He came out of this winter block with supreme form and smashed national records and in 1962 swept the floor of the national championships.”

Then “disappeared” from competition, which led to speculation he had overdone it and was ill.

A member of the Farnborough and Camberley Wheelers, Colden won the national championship 100 mile TT on the hallowed Bath Road in what was then the earth shattering time of 3 hours 54 minutes 23 seconds, a national record.

But the measure of that result was in carving 4 minutes 5 seconds off Booty’s time of 3-58-28 set six years before, in 1956 which famously smashed the four hour barrier for the first time with the first 25mph ride for the distance.

In writing about Booty’s famous sub-four hour ride, Whitfield described it as one of the most iconic cycling records. He says that in many ways, Booty’s ride came from the golden era of time trialling before the days of heavy traffic when the great time triallists really were the stars of the domestic season.

I was a mere schoolboy when the “Boot”, as he was affectionately known,

 was at his prime and I wouldn’t take up cycling until the early sixties.  But I well remember Colden’s epic “100” which made the front page of Cycling, a magazine I would join in 1971.

During my time as reporter, I wrote a series featuring legendary UK riders.

One of them was Booty, and it was my great pleasure to meet him and his wife at their home near Derby.  Like many star riders, he had instant recall of his career.  

He rode for Ericcson Wheelers, which was a section of the works sports and social club

formed by Ericcson, the Swedish communications technology company he was employed by as an electrical engineer. The company were very supportive of staff with sporting ambitions.

A modest man, Booty always seemed taken aback by all the attention given his remarkable results, all achieved on 84-inch fixed wheel track bike, a much lower gear than many “testers” preferred.

He also rode the track, but not successfully, he told me.

However, besides his time trialling victories, he enjoyed national and international success in road racing.

He also enjoyed long distance cycle touring holidays abroad and as was the practice back then when not many owned a car, he would ride out to events the day before.

On the day before one his “100” victories, but not the record breaking one, he recalls how he and other  rivals relaxed in the cinema watching Kenneth More in war film “Reach for the Sky”.

When Booty broke the four-hour barrier for 100 miles in the Bath Road Club Classic in 1956, it made the national headlines, for this ranked alongside Roger Bannister's sub-four minute mile.

"Booty the incomparable, the incredible, the indomitable" ran the Daily Herald headline. It was the third competition record for the '100' by the tall, bespectacled 'Boot' as he was affectionately known. 

Booty's time of 3-58-28 gave him victory by over 11 minutes – a huge margin - and won him Cycling's gold medal offered to the first man to beat the magic four hours and average 25mph. And this latest epic was achieved riding a fixed gear of 84 inches.

Those he beat were left open-mouthed and astonished by the margin of his victory. Second was Stan Brittain, who had finished third in the 1955 Peace Race in Eastern Europe, then considered as tough as the Tour de France. Double Milk Race winner Bill Bradley was fifth fastest, while Alan Jackson, the Olympic bronze medallist at Melbourne was sixth; with future Giro d'Italia stage winner Vin Denson fourteenth.

Booty’s career also includes prestigious road race victories, including in1954 the Manx International road race. In 1958 he became Commonwealth Games road race champion at Cardiff.

But it is for his victories against the watch for which Booty will always be remembered. He dominated the sport of time trialling in the 1950s. In 1955 he became '100' champion at York, in 4-04-30, winning by over five minutes and taking two minutes one second of the record.

In 1956, he retained the title with another comp record, in 4-1-52. Then, the very next month, on August Bank Holiday Monday, he became famous for all time when he famously beat four hours.

The following month he broke the Road Records Association straight out 100 in 3 hours 28 minutes 40 seconds. The record stood for 34 years!