Dusseldorf Velodrome
The Düsseldorf cycling track was located in the Düsseldorf district of Lörick on the left bank of the Rhine . It existed from 1907 to 1937.
Cycle races in Düsseldorf
Over the years there have been at least five cycle racing tracks in Düsseldorf , some of which, however, were only made of ashes and only existed for a short time. These included a 400 meter long cinder track at the zoo (since 1892), one at Flinger Broich , where the Paul Janes Stadium is today, and another in Ostpark (1924 to?). From 1926 there was also a cycling track in the Rheinstadion . None of these tracks still exist.
Race in Loerick
The cycling track on the Niederkasseler Lohweg in Lörick was 400 meters long and nine meters wide, its pavement was made of concrete, and it had a curve elevation of 43 degrees , "so that speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour can be achieved". It offered space for 15,000 spectators, of which 12,000 were standing. The construction costs amounted to 155,000 marks . On May 19, 1907, according to the Düsseldorfer Volksblatt , “probably the most beautiful cycling track in all of Germany” was opened. “With the Oberkasseler Radrennbahn, a cycling scene that was glamorous for the time emerged in Düsseldorf. Spring, summer and autumn meetings were held along the lines of equestrian events. ”In 1908, for example, nine days of racing were organized.
Especially in the period before and after the First World War , numerous races were held in which international stars such as Paul Guignard , Victor Linart and Jules Miquel took part. Mainly standing races were organized. These were given names such as the “Grand Prix of Düsseldorf”, “Grand West German Standing Prize”, “Grand Prize from the Rhine”, “Goldenes Rad”, “Grand Prize of Europe” or “Heinrich Heine Prize”. Also sprint races were held, such as a "prize of fine arts" or the "flyer Championship from the Rhine," which in 1924 the later velodrome architect Clemens Schürmann won.
On May 17, 1908, at the same time as the Olympic Games in London, the "Great Olympic Games of Düsseldorf" took place on the Velodrome with competitions such as weightlifting, stone throwing, football throwing, running competitions, discus throwing, 50-kilometer march, relay run, tug of war, football and cycling races.
Three racing drivers were killed on the track: on August 30, 1907, it was the pacemaker Josef Schwarzer who died after a fall and on July 8, 1917, the young Cologne racing driver Jacob Esser. On October 6, 1918, multiple Cologne world champion Peter Günther fell on the cycling track and died a day later at the age of 36.
Talk of Hitler
On April 8, 1932, around three months after his speech to the Industrie-Club Düsseldorf , which was classified as historically significant , Adolf Hitler gave another in front of 20,000 spectators at the Düsseldorf Radrennbahn. At that time, Lörick was a “red” working-class neighborhood whose residents mainly voted for the KPD and SPD . On the way to the event, Hitler was greeted by a large crowd with insults, eggs, horse droppings, rotten fruit and vegetables. The audience at the cycling track is also said to have shown little enthusiasm. There was a rumor that Hitler was supposed to have arranged for the velodrome to be demolished in 1937 “out of revenge”. The real reason for the demolition, however, was that the operator of the railway, "Düsseldorfer Sport und Radrennbahn GmbH", had to file for bankruptcy.
Current condition
In 1909, after Lörick was incorporated into Düsseldorf, the “Stahlstraße” leading to the racecourse was renamed “Sportstraße”. Today she points out the neighboring sports facilities.
The area at today's cherry tree grove became overgrown. In the 1950s, the city left the area to the sports fans Lörick as a training ground until it was built over with residential buildings in the 1980s. On the footpath between Wickrather Straße and Am Kirschbaumwäldchen you can still see the remains of an earth wall that formed the foundation of the former north curve (as of 2017).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sometimes it was incorrectly stated that the railway was in Obercassel ; it was not incorporated into Düsseldorf until 1909.
- ↑ Wolfgang Schoppe / Werner Ruttkus : Step by step. From 13 decades of history of the Association of German Cyclists . P. 219
- ^ Time machine: Rheinstadion. In: History Workshop Düsseldorf. March 3, 2002, accessed March 18, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Ulrich Brzosa: Düsseldorf stories: When Düsseldorf was a stronghold of cyclists. In: rp-online.de. January 28, 2017. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
- ^ A b c Matthias Christiansen: [solved] Düsselquiz 56: Cycle, cycle, cycle on the Königsallee railway ... In: The Düsseldorfer. March 13, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2017 .
- ↑ On the first day of Pentecost (Pentecost Sunday was May 19, 1907) the track was opened with a race, as is well known. , in Rhein and Düssel (No. 22), from June 2, 1907
- ↑ Sport-Album der Rad-Welt 1908. 7th year, Berlin 1909, p. 3.
- ↑ Various editions of the sports album of the world
- ^ Cycling: Historical picture gallery - Clemens Schürmann. In: radsportgalerie.schuermann-muenster.de. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
- ↑ Sport-Album der Rad-Welt 1907. 6th year, Berlin 1908, p. 45.
- ^ Sports album of the cycling world 1918-19. 16./17. Vol., Berlin 1920, p. 80.
- ^ Renate Franz : Peter Günther. In: Portal Rhenish History. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
- ^ Fritz Aurin: Pitter Muggel - A life in Oberkassel. Sutton Verlag GmbH, Erfurt, 2011, ISBN 978-3-86680-941-3 , p. 70 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- ↑ Heide-Ines Willner: Sportstrasse is reminiscent of a cycling track . In: Rheinische Post v. September 22, 2017, p. D6 Düsseldorf.
Coordinates: 51 ° 14 ′ 33.2 " N , 6 ° 43 ′ 55.8" E