When True Blue Lodge No.8 held a sports day at Sandy Gallop on 9 November 1885 it was to celebrate the Prince of Wales’ birthday. 3 bicycle races were part of the program. These were contested over 1 mile, 1.5 mile, and 2 miles. Ipswich’s close association with cycling was already well under way.
At this time, more people were riding horses than riding bicycles. Bikes were very rudimentary and there were no dedicated cycling tracks – even the roads were dirt and often little more than goat tracks. Still, their popularity grew and the sport of cycling with it.
The Ipswich Bicycle Club was formed in the 1880s. The Ipswich Cycling Club was formed in August 1892 and appears to have taken over from the by then defunct Ipswich Bicycle Club. Road races were immediately planned. At this early stage a few cyclists started riding between Brisbane and Ipswich – a distance of 26 miles and 200 yards from Post Office to Post Office.
In the first decade of the 20th century there were at least 3 businesses in Ipswich that were selling bicycles, parts and accessories, or repairing them. These were: George Jackes in East Street; Joe McCarthy – Bicycle Builder; and, W. Dowd agent for Canada Cycle & Motor Agency.
Short & longer road races were a regular local occurrence. For instance, in March 1905 some 50 cyclists participated in a run to Rosewood starting from Cribb & Foote’s. In August 1910 West Moreton Cycling Club held a 2 mile road race on Brisbane–Ipswich Road commencing from St Helens Hill and finishing in Booval at Wood’s Hotel. Around this time Ipswich Amateur Wheelers had weekly road races. Ipswich residents must have become accustomed to viewing the peloton cycling around the local area on Saturdays and public holidays. In mid April 1912, 21 cyclists entered a 10 mile handicap race from Redbank to the water trough on Warwick Road with E. Parcell winning. Only the month before a five mile race from Girls Grammar School via Silkstone and ending at the same destination had been run with 22 competitors.
Competitors at the Ipswich Amateur Wheelers competition, 1928 (Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich)
Cycling remained a constant feature of the Ipswich scene for decades to come. When World War II erupted the sport went into recess like many other recreations and leisure pursuits. However the 1930s witnessed a vibrant racing scene in Ipswich with road & track racing, match races & scratch races being common. In 1930 a match race between a roller skater and a cyclist was proposed. There was even an all-day race in 1932. During this decade a new cinders and coal track was constructed at Woodend Park (on the site of the current rugby union ground) for the Ipswich Amateur Wheelers. There was also another course at Newtown-Bundamba.
This was the era of the great Australian champion and 1936 Olympian Hubert Opperman. Women cyclists were also competing in the 1930s. Thelma Duce and Peggy Manson were prominent female riders and in 1925 Mrs Edna Mattingly won Queensland Lady Champion representing Rosewood.
In Ipswich at this time cycling could be enjoyed year-round as the road racing season would go from May to October and the track season would kick-off around November.
Bert Loetzsch was the proprietor of a cycle shop in Brisbane Street, opposite Big White’s during this era and later his brother Vic Loetzsch had the Silver King Cyclery.
The 1940s saw the rise of local cyclist Hilary Pocock who won 40 Ipswich and Queensland championships on road and track in the 15 years from 1944. Schulte’s Brothers Cycle Shop in Bell Street opened its doors in 1940 and for a period of time Hilary worked there. During this decade there were some long and challenging road races including a 1949 road race from Ipswich to Warwick and return, totalling 250 miles (402.3 kms).
From the 19th century in Ipswich, holidays were used to hold sporting events. Athletic events & sports were seen as part of the fun and holiday celebrations. On Labour Day 1948 a sports carnival with track racing was held at the Ipswich Showgrounds. That year Hilary Pocock won the 2 Mile Labour Day Championship.
Hilary Pocock with his brother, Warren, at the Woodend, Ipswich, cycling track, 1945 (Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich)
In 1940, some members of Ipswich Amateur Wheelers left that club and formed Crescent Amateur Cycle Club, building a pear-shaped dirt track at Bundamba (opposite the school where the pool now is) for their home ground. This track was eventually sealed with bitumen but closed in 1968.
Cyclists at the Bundamba bike track, Ipswich, ca. 1940s (Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich)
Just like bicycle wheels, local clubs and members seemed to rotate through club & ground changes. In the 1960s the Crescents and Ipswich Amateur Wheelers amalgamated and a few years after another amalgamation occurred with the West Moreton Cycling Club that by decades’s end had changed its name to Ipswich City Amateur Wheelers . At this point in time the heyday of cycling in Ipswich may have passed although the city was still producing champions. For instance: Russell Clark represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Perth in 1962.
Crescent Cycling Club, Ipswich, 1940s (Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich)
Following all the club changes, closure of the Bundamba track & disrepair of the Woodend Park track, a velodrome was constructed at Limestone Park featuring 2 straights with banking at each end. This was an outdoor facility open to all kinds of weather that started to decline by the end of the seventies, was repaired in 2000, and ultimately demolished in 2010, but not before the facility had hosted national, state & world championship races.
Bike velodrome at Limestone Park, Ipswich, 1971 (Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich)