Frank Southall

Infobox Cyclist
ridername = Frank Keeping


image_caption =
fullname = William Frank Keeping
nickname =
dateofbirth = Birth date|1904|7|2|df=yes
dateofdeath = Death date and age|1964|3|1|1904|7|2|df=yes
country = GBR2
height =
weight =
discipline = Road
role = Rider
ridertype =
amateuryears =
amateurteams = Norwood Paragon CC
proyears = 1934
proteams = Individual
manageyears =
manageteams = Hercules
majorwins =
medaltemplates =
updated = 11 September 2008

William Frank Southall (2 July 1904–1 March 1964) was an English racing cyclist who won silver medals for Great Britain in the individual road race (run as an individual time trial) at the 1928 Summer Olympics and a track cycling medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He also represented Britain in world championships from 1926 to 1933.

Born in Wandsworth, London, Southall, who rode for the south London Norwood Paragon cycling club, broke numerous time trial and Road Records Association place-to-place records in domestic competitions, winning the first four British Best All-Rounder (BBAR) competitions from 1930 to 1933.

Records

He broke his first record on Easter Monday 1925, when he won the Etna 50-mile time trial on the Bath Road course in 2h 8m 31s, beating the record by five minutes. He followed this by breaking the one-hour record at Herne Hill Velodrome on 26 May by almost 1400 yards to record 25 miles 1520 yards. [ [http://www.norwoodparagon.co.uk/content_head/1925.pdf History of Norwood Paragon CC - 1925] ]

He then improved the 50-mile record in the same event the following year and broke the world amateur hour record with 26 miles and 838 yards at Herne Hill in June 1926. Southall was selected by the National Cyclists' Union to represent Britain at the 1926 world road race championship, where he finished eighth. [ [http://www.norwoodparagon.co.uk/content_head/1926.pdf History of Norwood Paragon CC - 1926] ]

In 1927, Southall again broke the 50-mile record in the Etna event, recording 2h 5m 7s. On 24 July, he broke the RRA London-Brighton and back record by 13 minutes, with 4h 53m 20s. [ [http://www.norwoodparagon.co.uk/content_head/1927.pdf History of Norwood Paragon CC - 1927] ]

On 5 August 1928 in Amsterdam, with Harry Wyld, Percy Wyld and Leonard Wyld, he broke the team pursuit Olympic record in 5:01.6, beating the previous record by 9.2 seconds. They were only the third team to hold the record since it began on 10 August 1920. It was broken by 10.2 seconds next day before standing for nearly eight years. [ [http://www.olympic.org/common/asp/download_report.asp?file=en_report_315.pdf&id=315 Olympic.org Records, Cycling - Track] ]

In 1930, Southall finished seventh in the world road race championship (an individual time trial in Denmark) and broke the national 100-mile time trial record with 4h 32m 46s. [ [http://www.norwoodparagon.co.uk/content_head/1930.pdf History of Norwood Paragon CC - 1930] ]

In 1933, Southall and Stan Butler rode the Oak Tandem 100, winning in 4h 1m 3s, beating the record by two minutes. Southall now held six single and tandem competition records (25, 50 and 100 miles single and 30, 50 and 100 miles tandem). [ [http://www.norwoodparagon.co.uk/content_head/1933.pdf History of Norwood Paragon CC - 1933] ]

Olympic controversy

The Olympic road race in Amsterdam in 1928 was run against the clock, as an individual time-trial. It was the last to be disputed that way. Southall was one of the best performers in the world against the clock but in 21 miles he lost seven minutes to Henry Hansen of Denmark.

Hansen won by 7m 48s after 168km. British officials protested that Southall had been 90 seconds behind Hansen at 50km but that 34km later the lead had stretched to eight and a half minutes. They insisted that Hansen had neither gone faster nor Southall slower. Southall had been riding fast enough to take back a minute in the last half of the race. They suggested that the Dane had taken a short cut.

The judges turned down the protest and Hansen received the gold medal.

What happened remains a mystery. Southall and the officials believed they had been cheated. But another member of the team, Jack Lauterwasser did not believe it then and never changed his mind. "I couldn't see where anything like that could have happened. It seemed to me that it would have been impossible to go off-course," he said. [Price, Mike (2000), Days of Gold and Glory, privately published, UK]

Southall finished sixth in the Olympic road race in 1932, with Charles Holland 15th and Stan Butler 16th. The Great Britain team finished fourth overall. In the team pursuit, Britain, with Southall, beat Canada to take bronze.

Golden Book of Cycling

After winning his first BBAR he was invited to sign the "Golden Book of Cycling", kept by the magazine Cycling. His entry says:

"Southall holds the world's unpaced standing start track records at one, five, ten and twenty miles. He also holds 28 national track records. On the road he has won every classic open event, including hill-climbs, making competition records at 25, 50 and 100 miles." [Woodland, L. (2005), "This Island Race", Mousehold Press, ISBN 1-874739-36-6, p.39]

Professional

He turned professional in 1934 to attack place-to-place records, there being no professional road racing in Britain. He broke nine records in two years.

Later he managed the professional careers of Ken Joy and Eileen Sheridan and became manager of the Hercules professional road-race team. He had already worked for Hercules as a salesman. [www.madeinbirmingham.org/hercules.htm, retrieved September 2008] He was elected president of Norwood Paragon in 1953. [ [http://www.norwoodparagon.co.uk/content_head/1953.pdf History of Norwood Paragon CC - 1953] ]

He died aged 59 on 1 March 1964 in Hayling Island, Hampshire.

References