Preston Park Brighton

Preston Park Brighton

Velodrome

The second purpose built velodrome in the UK, Holme Pierrepont Velodrome in Nottingham was built in 1926 and was financed by local cycle shop proprietors who would not have to travel to Leeds to race on the track there.  The national championships had been held at Preston Park since 1899. The first match race held at the velodrome in August 1923 pitted English cycling hero Charles Holland against Stan Brittain. The tradition of racing in white continues to the present day for the world famous Six Days of London.

When you hear the word velodrome, you may think about a track made of concrete and also you may think about cycling, Brighton Town Press (brightontownpress.co.uk). But did you know that a velodrome can be made from wood? Well indeed it can, and a velodrome constructed of wood can be found in Preston Park, Brighton. This all-wood construction was accomplished by erecting a scaffold over a rectangular area and then covering it with 6 inches (15 cm) of layers of cinders to prevent moisture rot.

The velodrome was designed to have a cinder running surface and to be used for cycle racing, and was built in 1876 as part of the facilities of the National Rifle Association. The building was topped with a wooden cycling track, which was made of adequate width and length to allow for six races at once. The first race meeting took place on 12 May 1877 and drew a crowd of 4,000 paying spectators.

Some of the famous riders to race at the velodrome include Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny. The track is 333 metres long and made of Siberian pine. In 2014, 18-year-old Owain Doull won Britain's first gold medal in a world championship cycling event for 48 years when he became junior world champion at the track. For the 2012 Summer Olympics, a new 250 m tandom track was constructed to comply with International Cycling Union (UCI) specifications for Olympic velodromes.

This almost doubled the capacity of Preston Park, from 1,200 to 2,500, and also allowed the construction of two BMX racing lines. The original open grassed banks of the velodrome were immediately adjacent to the cycle track. Seating for 2000 spectators was built, but this was removed in 1929 and the north-west straight bank was extended out over the road, to form a tarmac cycling track. Thank you for visiting www. manchester. uk. com.

Statue Theft

How do you make a great statue of a British athlete even better? Do what sculptor Peter Webster did and make it able to run! No, seriously — that’s the story behind the Soap Box Derby statue at the Summerlee Museum in Coatbridge. For those who don’t know, Steve Ovett was a British sprinter who won gold at the 1978 IAAF World Cup as part of Great Britain’s 4 × 400 m relay team. In 1979, he went on to win an Olympic gold medal in the 400-meter and set a world record in his heat at 44.

73 seconds. In 1980, he won Olympic gold on home soil in the 800-meter race. On 19th April, 1982 a bronze statue by Philip Jackson of Sir John Major, unveiled on 16th October, 1982 by the Queen Mother was stolen from its plinth in Victoria Gardens. It was 24-inches high and had been given to the town by Sir John. A man appeared at Hexham Police Station two weeks later claiming the statue was in his back garden after finding it in a bag on Clifton Bridge, he claimed to have no knowledge of how it got there but he was prosecuted for theft and sentenced to six months imprisonment.

The statue was not recovered. The two-foot-high bronze statue, created by the East Sussex sculptor Peter Webster in 2002, stood in the grounds of Dartford Grammar school. It was to be sold at auction in September 2008, with a guide price of £20,000-£30,000. We hope that you have found our site helpful and informative. If there is any way we can help you whilst here on our website please do not hesitate to ask.

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Eva Cloud

Author at Brighton Town Press

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