Happy 100th birthday!

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Southend City has a rich history of promoting cycling events along the seafront and Southend Wheelers have been there from the start, organising, volunteering, and participating at these prestigious events over the years.

 

Chris Smith  had curated an exhibition that appeared at Cafe TwentyOne in May and Southend Forum Library in June. For it's final exhibition of the year, it was on display at the Ironworks 90 High Street, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1JN. 

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In June there was also a video show of the history of Southend Wheelers kit which was within the community videos time between 10:00 - 11:00hrs and 17:00 - 18:00hrs. This was outside the Southend Forum, on the big screen.

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 You would have seen  boards displaying the longest stage of the 1961 Tour of Britain Milk Race, which after 153 miles, finished in a dramatic sprint along Western Esplanade (and won by an Essex lad, Allan Perkins), the  seafront Kermesse’s of 1964 and 1965; the 1989 Anglia TV Trophy races, the 2009 Tour Series finale, which some former Wheelers were racing, and more recently  the 2021 Women’s Tour of Britain and in 2023 the Tour of Britain Stage 6 started in Southend.

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100 years on Cycling on Sea Timeline

1924 > Club runs start at Calcutts Restaurant (later the Esplanade public house and now Clifftown Shore)

5/6/61 Milk Race Stage 2 Nottingham to Southend Alan Perkins (GB) 6:46:45 - 152.9 miles

9/5/64 Southend Jubilee Criteriums Event A Trevor Maddern (Glade CC) 55:29.5 - 20 miles

9/5/64 Southend Jubilee Criteriums Event B Harry Willison (Condor Mackeson) 50:09.6 - 20 miles

24/4/65 Southend Kermesse Alan Sturgess (Norwood Paragon) 1:55:34 - 44 miles

29/5/77 Milk Race Prologue Janusz Bieniek (Poland) - 2.9 miles

30/5/77 Milk Race Stage 1 Southend to Norwich Ryszard Szurkowski (Poland) - 152 miles

11/8/78 Tour of Britain Stage 4 Corby to Southend Johan Van Der Velde (TI Raleigh) - 122 miles

26/5/80 Milk Race stage 1 Southend to Norwich Bengt Apslund (Sweden) 3:27:01 - 152.5 kms

13/5/89 Anglia Trophy Professional Criterium 1 Steve Joughin (Percy Bilton-Condor) - 90 minutes

15/5/89 Anglia Trophy Professional Criterium 2 Steve Joughin (Percy Bilton-Condor) - 90 minutes

25/6/09 Tour Series Round 10 finale Rob Hayles (Halfords Bikehut) - 1 hr + 5 laps

14/12/11 Cycle Southend Pier pressure hill climb TT Pier Hill George Pearl

7/10/21 Women’s Tour of Britain Stage 4 Shoebury - Southend Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) - 117.5kms

8/9/23 Tour of Britain Stage start Southend - Harlow 146.2 kms Danny van Poppel (Bora Hansgrohe)

Download the exhibition poster here.