Cecil Walker (cyclist)

Cecil Walker

To person
Nickname	Chevalier of Cycling
Date of birth	1900
date of death	1969
nation	Australia, United States
discipline	train
Most important successes
National championships 1930–1932 American sprint champion Six days race 1924 Sydney (with Frank Corry )

Cecil Walker (* 1900 in Sydney , Massachusetts , † 1969 in Melbourne ) was an Australian cyclist .

Cecil Walker grew up in Sydney, where his parents ran a greengrocer. At first he was interested in horses and wanted to be a jockey . But at the age of 14 he started cycling. As an adult he was around 1.80 meters tall, so that he would not have been suitable for the profession of jockey anyway.

In 1918 and 1919 he was road champion of New South Wales and also in 1919 Australian champion over ten miles . He has been to participate in the Olympic Games in Antwerp considered, but preferred, professional to become.

In 1920 Walker traveled to the USA and successfully competed in cycling. For nine consecutive years he became the US All Round Cycling Champion . He started in 27 six-day races , several of them in Madison Square Garden in New York . He won a six day race in Sydney in 1924 with Frank Corry . Walker also raced in Europe, but the pay wasn't so good. Walker was nicknamed the Chevalier of Cycling because he had fine manners and was always elegantly dressed. During his time in the United States, he met his future wife Dorothy, who was a successful ice skater.

In the early 1930s, Cecil Walker injured his back while lifting a heavy ash bin. He had to take a break from cycling for a period of time to have an operation, but realized that he was no longer in his best physical condition and withdrew from cycling.

Walker successfully campaigned for the construction of a cycle track in Melbourne , which opened in 1937 with the Austral Wheel Race . He finally settled in Melbourne and opened the Cecil Walker Cycles bicycle shop there in 1938 , which continues under this name to this day (2013). In 1969 he suffered a fatal stroke.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cecilwalker.com.au

Web links

• Cecil Walker in the database of Radsportseiten.net
• Graham Bradshaw: "Cecil Walker - an Elizabeth Street Icon". In: Friends of the Canberra Bicycle Museum . Issue No. 57 July 2005. pp. 11–12 (PDF; 2.6 MB)
• Cecil Walker on cyclecollection.wordpress.com