Cyril Cartwright (28 January 1924 – 29 September 2015) was a British cyclist who held national records on the track and on the road and came second in the world amateur pursuit championship in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1949. He held the British five-mile and 30-mile records. Cyril Cartwright was a

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting ...

in the

Dukinfield Dukinfield is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, on the south bank of the River Tame opposite Ashton-under-Lyne, east of Manchester. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 19,306. Within the boundaries of the historic co ...

area of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He won the national 25-mile

time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

championship in 1948, one of the first riders in the country to beat one hour for the distance. He set a national record at 59m 18s. He won the

British Empire Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

(Now called the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 British Empire Game ...

) 4,000m pursuit in

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, in 1950, beating the future

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rider,

Russell Mockridge Edward Russell Mockridge (18 July 1928 – 13 September 1958) was a racing cyclist from Geelong, Victoria, Australia. He died during a race, in collision with a bus. Family The son of Robert Glover Mockridge and Aileen Claire Mockridge, né ...

. The ship journey to New Zealand took five weeks. Cartwright got in as many miles as he could before the ship left in January, including riding from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

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and back over a weekend. He took 13 hours on the southbound journey, 11 hours going north.

Cycling Weekly ''Cycling Weekly'' is a British cycling magazine. It is published by Future and is devoted to the sport and pastime of cycling. It used to be affectionately referred to by British club cyclists as "The Comic".

, UK, 18 January 1990 He said: Of his ride against Mockridge, he said: By three-quarter distance, Mockridge was struggling so badly that he gave up when he was 50 yards behind. As well as the gold medal, Cartwright received a certificate for the fastest time ridden in New Zealand. Cartwright remembered: "As we boarded his ship or the journey home the captain didn't say 'Congratulations, nice work.' His words were: 'I've locked those rollers of yours in the hold for the voyage home. You were nothing but a nuisance on the way here but we don't want to have to put up with it on the way back.". He stopped racing after not being selected for the

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in 1952.

, 23 January 1993

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright, Cyril English male cyclists Cyclists at the 1950 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England People from Dukinfield 1924 births 2015 deaths Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games