Boakes Three Cities Shield

In 1891 when it all started, the club was known as The Tyndale Cycling Club, which is remembered today in the Club’s Tyndale Section. Initially, it was mainly a social group but as the membership grew and a few more small local clubs came into the fold some of the members started to introduce a few challenges into their season.

The first of these challenges appeared to be the Three Cities Standard Ride, introduced in 1905. At first, this was primarily a map reading competition with the competitors trying to find the shortest or easiest route passing St. John’s Bridge in Worcester, the Shire Hall in Hereford and Westgate Bridge in Gloucester (the shortest route satisfying the criteria is approximately 84 miles). A time allowance of 6 hours and 30 minutes was given. This was not that generous considering that bicycles of the time typically weighed something in the region of 56lbs with a single gear of around 60 inches (44 x 20) and some were still using solid tyres!

In 1922, Mr. John Boakes provided the challenge shield for the fastest rider in this event. The first recipient of this shield was V.Wedburg with a time of 5 hours 13 minutes and 15 seconds.

Mr Boakes had been a cyclist for some years when his father owned a cycle business before coming to Cheltenham in 1910 and it was at about that time that he joined the Gloucester City.C.C. He became a vice-president in 1926 and he appeared to be quite an active member of the club; officiating at events, marshalling and such like He carried the letters M.I.A.E. and C.Eng., F.I.Mech.E. after his name, so he was a Member of the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers, a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Mechanical Engineers, a hugely qualified man. He remained a vice president until his death in May 1971.