WHEELING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10147, 6 May 1911, Page 5

WHEELING.

At a meeting of the general committee of the National Cyclists' Union held ou March 10, it was decided to drop the twenty-four hours' race this year. Some idea of the magnitude of the cycle industry in Great Britain can he gathered from the calculations made by a leading English cycle company. In the output of machines for one year the exact quantities of material used are set down as follows:—12,000,000 steel balls, 576 miles of wires for spokes. 140 miles or steel tubing, 106 miles or rubber tubing for tyres. 47 miles of mudguard steel, 34 miles of driving chain.

Walter Rutt won £IOOO in sprint races in Germany last season, and headed the list of sprinters. In company with Stol, he won the German six days' race recently, which added another £250 to his winnings, so that Rutt is doing well. At the Olympic Games'of 1912 the programme for the cycling road race is:—Round the Malar Lake, about 320 kilometres, July 6, 1912. Start one by one in intervals, three to five minutes between each start. Entries close June 6, 1912. Competitor must have obtained license approved by the Union Cycliste Internationale. The race is partly individual, partly a team race. In the individual competition, the maximum number of competitors from each nation is twelve. Prizes: First prize, gold medal; second prize, silver medal; third prize, bronz-e medal. All non-prize-winners whose time does not exceed 25 per cent of that of the winner will receive special diplomas of merit. Simultaneously there is a team competition to which each nation may enter a team of nine, six to start (three as reserves), and four to count. The aggregate time for these four determines the order between the teams. Maximum number of teams from each nation, one. Prizes: First prize, diploma to the winning team and gilt silver medal to every member of the team; second prize, silver medal to every member of the team;,third prize bronze medal to every member of the team.