William Peden

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William John "Torchy" Peden (born April 19, 1906 in Victoria , † January 30, 1980 in Northbrook ) was a Canadian track cyclist . He is considered one of the best Canadian cyclists of all time.

As a teenager, William Peden was a sporty all-rounder and successfully played ice hockey, baseball and swimming. At the age of 20, he concentrated on cycling and started at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928 in three disciplines: road racing, team time trial and team pursuit , albeit without taking up front positions. He also won five Canadian championship titles as an amateur.

Shortly after the Olympics, Peden switched to the pros, from then on mainly drove six-day races and became one of the highest-paid sports stars in his country. He was an impressive figure: 1.90 meters tall, 100 kg heavy, with flaming red hair, which is why he was called "Torchy" (English torch = torch). As the successor to Piet van Kempen, he was the “boss” on the track, more respected than loved by his colleagues, but popular with the public because of his charisma and small shows.

Peden started in a total of 123 six-day races until 1942, of which he won 38. This puts him in 12th place in the six-day ranking. To this day he holds the record of ten races won in one year (1932). In 1929 he set a speed record on the bike (130.3 km / h) that lasted for twelve years, and in 1931 another one behind pacemaker over the mile of 73.5 mph. In 1932 and 1936 he also oversaw the Canadian Olympic Cycling team.

William Peden was a brother of the ten-year-old cyclist and basketball player Douglas Peden , with whom he also won six six-day races.

After retiring from cycling, Peden opened a sports shop in Chicago . He was considered an expert in ice skates and worked as such for the NHL team from Chicago.

In 1955 Torchy Peden was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, and in 1966 into the BC Sports Hall of Fame. In an election for "Canadian Cyclist of the Century" by Canadian Cyclist magazine in 1999, he finished third behind Alison Sydor and Steve Bauer . He has the same family roots in Scotland as the Australian-New Zealand track cyclist Anthony Peden .

literature

  • Roger De Maertelaere: De Mannen van de Nacht , Eeklo 2000, p. 232f
  • Jacq van Reijendam: 6-daagsen Statistics 2009

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Peden, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Peden, William John (full name); Peden, Torchy (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Victoria (British Columbia)
DATE OF DEATH January 30, 1980
Place of death Northbrook, Illinois