Bradford - Cricket Club
Horton Road : WF17 0EJ
On 24th July 1869, Bradford Cricket Club held a sports day in front of a large crowd of about 3,000. For the first time a velocipede race was included in which there were eight competitors and the event was recorded by the Bradford Daily Telegraph of 26th July. The race distance was one mile which required eight laps of the track. The start seems to have been chaotic as the track was not wide enough for the riders to line up abreast. Riders ran and fell with their machines, usually impeding other competitors. The spectators found difficulty in working out the leaders as some riders were laps behind. The winner, Mr Smith, had "a coolness and elegant deportment" and his winning time was 5 min 31 sec.
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