Walter Summers (cyclist)

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Walter "Wally" Summers (born December 12, 1914 in Ryhope , † September 12, 2007 in Albuquerque , New Mexico ) was a British and later American cyclist .

biography

Wally Summers was an exotic exception in international track cycling . From 1946 to 1957 he was active as a professional stayer ; he was several times British master in this discipline. He started three times in the Tour de Suisse , in 1947 and 1949 he gave up, in 1948 he was 40th and last. He is said to have been mainly busy taking photos: “As a rule, he only snapped the mountains from below; upstairs he was too exhausted. "

In the 1950s, Summers lived in South Africa for a few years , then in Canada . In 1951 he went on a 4,000 mile bike tour to Lapland with cyclists Steve Smith and Rick Coburn on Royal Enfield bikes, model Bullet-3 , fitted with John Bull Tires. In the 1960s, he moved to the United States, became a US citizen, and continued to compete in standing races. At the age of 59, he started for the USA as the oldest participant in the UCI Track World Championships in 1974 in Montreal in the professional standing race. The "half-crazy Englishman", according to his own statement, had prepared for his participation in the races in the sweltering heat on the streets of Arizona , where he lived at the time, and had not let himself be deterred by several falls from participating in the World Cup.

At the age of 68, Summers set ten American standing records over distances of five to 50 kilometers on the Nuremberg Velodrome in Reichelsdorfer Keller . Hans Grotegut from Hürth , himself a former racing cyclist, served as his pacemaker for these records as well as in numerous standing races . Until 2003 - he was now 89 - he drove veteran races, then he had a car accident and had to give up cycling for good.

Walter Summers was the father of actor Neil Summers , on whose mediation he took on smaller film roles in the 1990s, such as in the television series Lucky Luke .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sepp Renggli : Swiss cycling. Yesterday - today - tomorrow . Zurich 1998, ISBN 978-3-908487-36-4 , p. 91 .
  2. ↑ See also: When the Tour de Suisse learned to ride on nzz.ch v. 9. June 2011
  3. ↑ a b Cycling , August 7, 1974
  4. ↑ https://www.royalenfield.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/RE-Newsletter-14-Revs-14PDF-W.pdf
  5. ^ Cycling , August 21, 1974
  6. ^ Renggli, p. 83
  7. ↑ Kölner Wochenspiegel: Screwdriver ends cycling career. In: koelner-wochenspiegel.de. March 5, 2014, accessed August 8, 2015 .
  8. ↑ The Veteran Leaguer No. 3/2004 (PDF; 1.6 MB)
  9. ↑ Cycling Weekly , August 16, 1990
personal data
SURNAME Summers, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Summers, Wally (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British and later American cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Ryhope
DATE OF DEATH September 12, 2007
Place of death Albuquerque , New Mexico