Tommy Godwin (cyclist born 1912)

Infobox Cyclist
ridername = Tommy Godwin


fullname =
nickname =
dateofbirth = 1912
dateofdeath = 1975
height =
weight =
country = UK
currentteam = Retired
discipline = Road - Endurance rider
role = Rider
ridertype = All-rounder
amateuryears = 1926–1929
amateurteams = Potteries CC
proyears = 1929–1940
proteams = Rickmansworth CC
Raleigh Bicycles
majorwins = More than 200 Amateur and Professional Road and Time Trial Events
World Endurance record for a single year - 75,065 miles in 1939
World Endurance record for 100,000 miles in 500 days (May 1940)
updated = May 20, 2008

Tommy Godwin, (1912–1975) was an English cyclist who holds the world cycling endurance records for the most miles covered in a single year (convert|75065|mi|lk=on|disp=/) and the fastest ever completion of convert|100000|mi|abbr=on.

In 1939, Godwin entered the Golden Book of Cycling as the greatest long distance rider in the world. [ [http://www.phased.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11&Itemid=7 Tommy Godwin] , biography, Dave Barter, June 2005 issue of "Cycle", accessed 24 September 2008] He rode convert|75065|mi|abbr=on miles in a single year to set an endurance riding record that will never be beaten.

Early life

Godwin was born in 1912 in the Potteries area of Stoke on Trent. To help support his family, he took the position of delivery boy for a greengrocer's shop. With the job came a heavy iron bike, complete with metal basket. Godwin loved that bike and rode it like a demon on his daily round. The basket was hacked off and at the tender age of fourteen Godwin entered his first twenty-five mile time trial. He flew round in 65 minutes winning the race and setting a standard that would define the rest of his cycling career.

Godwin grew quickly as a cyclist and was soon spotted. He left his amateur status at Potteries CC to join Rickmansworth Cycling Club as a professional rider. After more than two hundred road and time trial wins Godwin sought a new challenge and the year mileage record beckoned.

Professional career

In 1937 the Australian Ossie Nicholson had regained his year record from Briton Walter Greaves by covering a verified annual mileage of convert|62657.6|mi|abbr=on. At 5am on January 1 1939 Godwin set out to bring the record back home. He wasn't alone in his attempt; two other British riders started that day, Edward Swann and Bernard Bennett. Swann crashed out after convert|939.6|mi|abbr=on, but Bennett fought it out with Godwin for the rest of the year. In a gesture of sportsmanship their support teams, which included pace-makers, agreed to stop at convert|50000|mi|abbr=on and let the riders complete the attempt on personal merit alone. Godwin was sponsored in his record attempt by the Raleigh Bicycle Company and Sturmey-Archer. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/making_history_20080520.shtml BBC Radio 4 - Making History. Site includes Information, Pictures and Audio] ]

The details that surround Godwin's record belittle the modern cyclist. His bike weighed well over convert|30|lb|lk=on. As war came he rode through blackouts, his lights taped to the merest of glows. He had none of the modern cycling comforts. Silk knickers were substituted for chamois inserts and Godwin maintained his strict vegetarian diet throughout. For the first two months Godwin's mileage lagged convert|922|mi|abbr=on behind Nicholson's record-breaking schedule. Fighting back Godwin increased his daily average beyond convert|200|mi|abbr=on per day, and on June 21 1939 he completed a staggering convert|361|mi|abbr=on in eighteen hours, his longest ride of the record.

On October 26 1939 Godwin rode into Trafalgar Square having completed convert|62658|mi|abbr=on, gaining the record with two months to spare. That wasn’t enough. He rode on through the winter to complete an astounding convert|75065|mi|abbr=on in the year. Still that was not enough; in May 1940 after five hundred days of riding he secured the convert|100000|mi|adj=on record as well. Godwin dismounted his bike and spent weeks learning how to walk again before going off to war in the RAF.

Later career

Godwin returned in 1945, keen to race again as an amateur. However, despite a huge petition signed by hundreds of fellow cyclists, the cycling governing bodies ruled that having ridden as a professional he was forever barred from amateur status. Undeterred, Godwin focused his efforts on others. He became team trainer and mentor to the Stone Wheelers, instilling his own steely brand of enthusiasm and determination to riders old and young alike.

Godwin died aged 63, returning from a ride to Tutbury Castle with friends.

Commemoration

Godwin is commemorated by a plaque at Fenton Manor Sports Centre in Stoke on Trent that was unveiled during a civic ceremony on March 2005 by Edie Hemmings, the culmination of a 30 year campaign by her late husband, George. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2005/09/20/sport_news_archive_2005_1_feature.shtml BBC Stoke - Sports News Archive - 2005] ]

Godwin's records will stand in perpetuity as the Guinness Book of Records have deemed any further attempts to be too dangerous.

References

External links

* [http://www.phased.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11&Itemid=7 Tommy Godwin section of Dave Barter's Cycling site.]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/making_history_20080520.shtml BBC - Information, Pictures and Audio]