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Colin Smythe, a long time member of Eastern Vets, unfortunately has passed away. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends. Attached is the story by Colin Smythe about his days of racing during the 40's and 50's. This was kindly provided by Keith Bowen.
Colin Smythe passed away on Monday 14 May after a long illness.
Colin's funeral will be held on Tuesday 22 May, 1:00 pm at Yarra Glen Memorial Hall, corner of ANZAC Ave and Bell St Yarra Glen.
COLIN SMYTHE REMEMBERS THE GOLDEN YEARS OF TRACK
CYCLING 1948-1956
THE NORTH ESSENDON BOARD TRACK
I commenced racing with the Brunswick Amateur Cycling Club in 1948 at the age of 17.
Brunswick raced in those days at Allard Park, the site of their present track, but then it
was a loose but very fast and dirt track. If you could handle Allard Park, you could handle
any track in country Victoria.
Cycling was incredibly strong in those days with 14 cycling clubs north of the Yarra including Brunswick, Preston, Coburg, Kensington, Footscray, Glenroy, Fitzroy, Northcote and Carlton. On any Saturday in summer there would be approximately 140 starters at
Brunswick. On a Saturday we would race with Brunswick in the afternoon and then of a night time at the Essendon Board Track, which was located near the intersection of Bell Street and what is now the Tullamarine Freeway.
The track was wooden, steeply banked with 7 laps to the mile (250 yards a lap, or 230 metres, or 4.3 laps to the kilometre, for anyone who doesn’t understand miles and yards). The boards were laid across the track and tied down somehow with wire. In summer the
boards dried out and shrunk leaving the wires slightly loose. Consequently the boards rattled and the rumble of rattling boards went round the velodrome like a Mexican wave and could be heard half a mile away.
The atmosphere of the place was great and my good friend Sid Patterson who won 4 world titles and raced all over the world for 20 years, told me that no other track in the world had more atmosphere than ‘the Boards’. This was before the days of the TAB and 14 registered bookmakers operated every night of racing (fancy trying to run a book on
cyclists and make money). A tunnel underneath the track led to the rubbing down room which was chock a block with 40 odd rubbing down tables, bikes, riders, trainers and masseurs. It was all tremendously exciting. Racing was on a Tuesday and Thursday nights with crowds of up to 8000! I remember my first night with 300 cyclists, amateurs and professionals all warming up. I was very nervous, but soon got the hang of it and rode off
scratch along with Sid Patterson, Hec Sutherland and Russell Mockridge, all champions.
I missed selection to the Helsinki Olympics in the very controversial selection of Lionel Cox from NSW taking my place, notwithstanding that I won the selection race in straight heats
(no appeal boards or courts of appeal in those days). He won gold on the tandem
with Mockridge and silver in the 1000m sprint. So I was not far off the pace.
In 1953 I turned professional under contract to the promoter Ted Waterford.
The contract was for £20 a week over the track season for 4 years. I also received £10 for match races and could keep all the prize money I won. Wages were about £18 so it wasn’t too bad.
Other riders on contract were Hec Sutherland and Keith Reynolds. Sid Patterson would be paid £100 for racing in Tasmania.
In those days training consisted of racing, riding to work at Millers Rope Works in Brunswick where I was rope maker and riding to Frankston of a Sunday morning.
They were busy days as we raced Saturday and Tuesday at the ‘Boards’, Friday at Geelong West, or sometimes Norwood South Australia, or Tasmania.
Some of the Champions I raced against included, Hec Sutherland an all round champion, Keith Reynolds a great bike rider, Billy Guyatt King of Cycling for15 years and
Sid Patterson with 4 world titles, without doubt the best track cyclist I ever saw.
My specialty was the sprint and nearly every year Ted Waterford would bring
out an Italian champion as a drawcard, including Fernando Terruzzi, champion6 day rider; Mario Morrettini, world champion in the sprint; Tony Maspes world sprint champion;
Enzo Sachi Olympic gold (1952 sprint) and world sprint; Oscar Plattner world champion in the sprint and Reg Harris 5 times world sprint champion I raced them all in match races including matches going to 5 hotly contested heats with Enzo Sachi in Melbourne on three
occasions, in Tassie once and Adelaide once. Overall honours finished even.
All very competitive. I also raced in the 1958 ‘six day’ race partnering Hec Sutherland. We were 2 laps up by the Wednesday, but I was injured in a fall and we had to pull out a
couple of days later.I think maybe the years and beers have caught up with me. But I still enjoy riding, not many wins, but that doesn’t matter.
Eastern vets reminds me of Brunswick Amateurs, well run and friendly
Keep pedalling
Colin Smythe.
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