THE SURREY CUP. (The Hub.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2258, 10 June 1897, Page 37

THE SURREY CUP. (The Hub.)

In the whole world of sport there is no prize more coveted by genuine sportsmen than the Surrey Cup. Long years before cement tracks, pacemakers, pneumatic tyres, and multieyoles were ever thought of, the Surrey Cup was the proudest prize a rider could gain. To-day the reputation of winniDg a race for the " Surrey pot" is at least equal to the holding of a championship. No better proof of the continued popularity of this classic event can be adduced than mention of the fact that, though run on a grass course, marked out on a cricket field and innocent of the slightest attempt at banking, the cup contest invariably attracts an enormous gate. Only a year or so back the record attendance of 38,000 was reached. And, with the number of starters limited to 25, one of the N.C.U. official handicappers has always to select that number from the crowd of entries of front-rank men who are eager to ride. At one time the Surrey meetings, held twice a year,

and usually in April and September, marka'A the opening and close of the cyole racing season ; but the huge number of contests now held has caused a considerable lengthening ot tho racing year. The pressnfc cup is tb« sixth offered forcouipe* tition by the Surrey Bicycle Club, whose headquarters have, by "tho courtesy of tho Surrey County Crickot Club, always been Kenniogton Oval. Tho values of these cups, which are p_re« sented by the' members of the club, have varied considerably ; and while that now waiting .to be won cost something like £70, others have been worth as much as 160gs. In this "connection, however, it is pleasant to chronicle that mere money value iB of minor moment. The race is for amateurs, at the distance of 10 miles ; and the cup becomes the property of any rider winning it three times in all. Any holder of the cup competes again without entrance fee. Gold, silver, and bronzs medals of the S.B.C. go to first, seoond, and third men respectively ; and there are also two' prizes of sgs and 2gs. - The first Surrey Cup was put np in Soptem- . ber, 1879. seven years after the foundation of th< club. And the race was won by that magnifU cent athlete the late Herbert Liddell Cortis, who, on a 60in Invincible bicycle, was the fir«t man in the world to ride 20 miles in the hoar. In this first Surrey race Cortis beat world's record time for grass by doing the' distance in 34-inin 31isec. In April he won again ; and in the following September made the cup his own. Cup No. 2 was won by H. A. Speechley, of the Ranelagh Harriers, after it had stood for no less than sir years. Twelve races were ridden for it, including a dead heat between C. A. Palmer (Speedwell) and' J. F. Griffiths (Surrey), which was' run off on the old circular traok at the Crystal Palace, where riders who swerved off the path sometimes fell into the fountains. Speeohley secured the cup for good in 41tnin 44-Jsec — nearly, the slowest; time on record. On this cup the names of eight different riders appear — J. P. Griffiths, 0. A. Palmer, and H. W. Gaskell 'having each won two races for it. For the third cup P. Furnival — also* a tall, thin rider and a " madico " — repeated the performance of Dr Cortie (ll( ll the long wanderer "), and in three consecutive races olaimed the trophy for his personal property, creating a world's record to finish up with. The redoubtable F. J. Osmond took the next; cup, for which six races were ridden, F. P. Wood, of the Brixton BC, who had also two chances in it. being beaten on the post alter a. terrific struggle — " jolly hard Wood," as a sympathetic official put it. This was the last Surrey Cup mcc ridden on high bicycles (September 1, 1890). Aud it is interesting to note that the safety bicycle first appeared on a race path at a Surrey meeting; as also did the pneumatic tyre — we think in the spring of 1890 — when, coming to the crowd at the Oval and to the public generally as a complete surprise, it caused an immense sensation, especially as the riders of it «imply romped home in their events. Surry Cup No. 5 was pub up in April, 1891, when H. H. S&nsom came iv first, followed in the autumn by H, J. Howard, and after that by U. L. Lambley. Then came A. W. Harris, « "Poly" boy, who, settled the chances cf the previous trio by winning three consecutive r*oes iB 1892-3, " landing the ppot"t t " and creating a world's grass record of 27min 23£aec on the concluding ocoasioa. The presvtufc cup, flr*t offered in April, 1894, when ihe race was won at Herne Hill, has now been ridden for half & dozeo times, each' of these races producing a sensational finish. . It bears six different uainea. One win each is credited to L. Stroud, J. Platt-Betts, W. H. Bardiley (the present 50-mileß champion), D. Dalgleish, H. Reynolds (winner of the Onemilo Amateur Championship of the World at Copenhagen), and H. S. , Large, who won .the lasb n\ca by the width of his tyre on » track i like a quagmire. Ai> the same meeting L»Vge also secured the half-mile dash for tho Sydney trophy. A curious fact abonb the winning of the Surrey Cap is that each of the five riders who has us yet secured the trophy has riddeu one anring and tivo *utumn races to gain it. And no mention of these historic events would be complete without reference to the " Snrrey rush," it being the strange and dangerous.but invariable custom for the spectators in their excitement to swarm>.on to and all over the track directly the winner has passed the line. Bub againtt this one drawback to a few competitors muit bs placed the fact that in all other particular* the meetings of the Surrey Bicycle Club are models of what such events should b«.