Page 15 - PBCOctober2016

Pickwick Bicycle Club Magazine Volume 13 No.2 October 2016 15

In 1882 they affected a cash reward to the best attendees, but this had no effect on attendance and
meant that Custance as Hon Sec, & Treasurer, and the most regular attendee simply pocketed the
prizes. He was obliged to keep a tally of attendees and his statistics showed that there were about
1780 attendances over the 30 years: Custance with 593 accounted for nearly one third of them, with
the next highest 168 by Tredway Clarke, the Captain from 1881- 1888. In total there were about 90
members over the years; the 10 most active accounted for three quarters of all attendances.

The Club Championship Gold Medal

The Gold Medal story featured prominently in the minute
books, and the bronze replica included in the hoard is one of
those given to the annual holder. In 1874 it was agreed to
“expend a sum not exceeding £15 in the purchase of a 10 mile
Champion Cup or Medal to be run for by bicyclists” in the hope
of making bicycling more popular with the general public. The
somewhat complicated rules for the contest were drawn up,
and published in Bells Life. The famous professional John Keen
proposed some rule alterations, which the ABC accepted, and
he duly won the race in November. It was hoped that the
following year the event would generate a larger meeting, but
this failed to happen. In 1875 there were no challengers, and
although Keen was entitled to a walk over, but since it was
snowing he declined and handed the medal back.

The ABC recycled their medal and it became the Members
Gold Challenge Medal, which was raced for twice a year,
between the Lion Hotel, Barnet to Market Place, St Neots. Once again poor support of only 5
members contested the Hirst race in April 1876, and this continued to affect the event over the next
25years. In a biographical article about Custance the June 1877 Bicycling News reported that “he has
done little racing, and contested the Challenge Medal three times, holding it from August 1873 until
April 1877, when he was beaten by Mr. Crofton, who was also a member of the Dark Blue Bicycle
Club.” The all- important minute books expose this little pork pie, since we have seen that the Hirst
race was in 1876 not 1873, and Custance only won it once when he was unopposed. It’s true that
Crofton, who was a fair rider, did beat him in 1877, but so did Compton, the only other starter.

So we leave the ABC story until the March issue of our magazine, when we will learn about the bicycles
they rode, their club meetings and the demise of the Club.