Cor Blekemolen

Cor Blekemolen

Cor Blekemolen (1932)
To person
Date of birth	February 7, 1894
date of death	November 28, 1972
nation	Netherlands
discipline	Road / train
End of career	1935
Most important successes
UCI track amateur world championships 1914 - Standing race
Last updated: April 14, 2018

Cornelius "Cor" Blekemolen (born February 7, 1894 in Amsterdam , † November 28, 1972 in Hilversum ) was a Dutch cyclist .

Athletic career

Cor Blekemolen was born in the Jordaan district of Amsterdam, the son of a butcher. After school he worked as a messenger and in a bicycle shop. He got into cycling through a neighbor who was friends with Jaap Eden . In 1909 he became a member of the De Germaan club and was club champion over 50 kilometers the following year.

In 1912 Blekemolen was third in the Dutch road championship in Nijmwegen. On August 2, 1914, a few days after the outbreak of the First World War , he won the amateur standing title at the World Railroad Championships in Copenhagen , having finished third the year before. After this competition, the world championships were canceled.

Cor Blekemolen was a professional from 1914 to 1934. During this time he drove races in Europe and in the USA; he was called "The Flying Dutchman". He became the Dutch stand-up master three times and was second and third many times.

After the end of his active career, Blekemolen, who was already known for his heavy consumption of cigars during his sports career, became an honorary trainer at the standing school of the Dutch cycling association Koninklijke Nederlandsche Wielren Unie (KNWU) and a member of the sports commission. One of his protégés, Arie van Houwelingen , followed in Blekemolen's footsteps as the amateur world champion of the stayers in 1959. Blekemolen was very popular because of his pleasant manners; he spoke six languages. Even before the World War he came into professional contact with the theater and film world; he was also married to an operetta singer. Between the world wars, he organized "home trainer shows" in which cyclists "races" against each other in theaters on home trainers, framed by dancers and acrobats. After 1945 he was director of the Churchill Theater in Hilversum for many years.

successes

1914

• Amateur World Champion - Standing Race
• Dutch champion - standing race

1920

• Dutch champion - standing race

1932

• Dutch champion - standing race

Web links

Commons : Cor Blekemolen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Cor Blekemolen in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Biography of Cor Blekemolen

Individual evidence

1. ↑ GW Overdijkink: Blekemolen, Cornelis (1894-1972). In: resources.huygens.knaw.nl. August 1, 2013, accessed April 14, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Flickr.com: "Home trainer - Cor Blekemolen - HIMA" accessed on April 8, 2010 (English)