History of Cycling in South Africa
No history of cycling in South Africa would be complete without tribute being paid to probably our greatest cyclist, Laurens S. Meintjes, who became champion of the world on 15th August 1893 in Chicago, and won numerous races in Britain. Meintjes was an outstanding rider in the Transvaal in 1891, and, in the following two years he rightly qualified for the honour of being undisputed champion of South Africa. Most of the cycling clubs in South Africa organised meetings during 1893 to defray the expense of sending Meintjes to Britain and America, where he was to meet the best riders in the world. The young Springbok, unheralded and unsung, rode brilliantly in America and established world’s, records for distances from three to 50 miles. He returned to South Africa, where he again dominated the scene in 1894, but this was his last competitive season. He was in business on his own and found that he could not find time to ride and keep his business going, and South Africa lost the services of a great rider in his prime.
Laurens Meintjies was born in Aberdeen on 9th June 1868 and married in Graaff-Reinet on 14th August 1894 to Rowena Augusta Watermeyer. He married again in 1927 to Reid Smith. Meintjies was in the Cape Town Highlanders during the Anglo Boer War and died on 30th March 1941 in Potgietersust.
Cycling was a popular pastime before the South African War, and excellent tracks were laid down at Cape Town, Kimberley, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, Maritzburg, Durban and Johannesburg, the Cape Town track and ground costing £10,000, which was provided out of Corporation funds. A track was subsequently laid down at Pretoria, and it is no wonder that cycling occupied a prominent place in the sporting calendar. In fact the sport became almost too popular, and malpractices crept in which resulted in many unseemly scenes. In an effort to cleanse the sport the South African Cyclists’ Union was formed in 1892 – two years before the national athletic association was founded – and in 1897 the Transvaal Cyclists’ Union came into being to control cycling in the Province. The work of these two controlling bodies played a big part in furthering cycling throughout the country, and it was largely due to their efforts that it prospered.
The first national cycling championships were held at Johannesburg on 9 September, 1893, when, although L. S. Meintjes and another magnificent rider, H. Papenfus, were absentees, the riding reached a high standard. It was at this meeting that Mr. S. Lavine, the chief timekeeper, used a special stop chronometer endorsed “specially good” by the Kew authorities, and marked “Kew A.”
After the historic tour of Britain and America by L. S. Meintjes, the next South African cyclist to go overseas was J. M. Griebenow, who rode in the big meetings in Britain in 1898. Although he did not succeed in recapturing his best form, he rode well without winning a major race.
Four cyclists, F. Shore, F. T. Venter, P. T. Freylinck and T. H. E. Passmore accompanied the Springbok team to the 1908 Olympic Games in London, but we had to wait until the following Games, at Stockholm, in 1912, before a Springbok won an Olympic title. Randolph Lewis, our lone cycling representative, rode a grand race in the 200 kilometres road race to beat the best men in the world.
In the following year W. R. Smith, riding in the 100 miles tandem-paced cycling championship in Britain, won the event and also broke the world’s record for four hours, during which he covered 108 miles, 1,000 yards.
By this time the Springboks had established, a reputation for road cycling and distance events, and cyclists have been included in most Springbok teams competing overseas. Among the outstanding men who have worn the green and gold colours are H. Kaltenbrun, who was second in the road race at the 1920 Olympiad, George Thursfield, a wonderful sprinter, J. L. Walker, H. W. Goosen, F. Short, E. Clayton, H. Binneman, who competed at the 1936 Games at Berlin and won the British Empire road race at Sydney in 1938, and Sid Rose, who was third in the 10 miles event at Sydney. Undoubtedly the greatest incentive given to cycling was the tour in February and March, 1948, of the British cycling team. The visitors were all outstanding cyclists and, when they were not actually riding, passed on valuable tips to our own men. Lectures were given, improvements to machines were suggested, tactics were explained, and it is evident that our own men will show considerable improvement as a direct result of this pleasant and instructive visit. In the only test match of the tour, at Kimberley, the visitors did not lose a’ single event, but the improvement shown by our own riders was remarkable.
There is a feeling among cyclists that they should have their own union, and it is quite possible that in the near future the South African Cyclists’ Union will be resuscitated. The breakaway from the South African Amateur Athletic and Cycling Association will be on amicable lines and should be in the best interests of both athletics and cycling.
Bicycle races were held in South Africa some years before Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre (patented 1888). The first cycling club in Southern Africa – the Port Elizabeth Bicycle Club – was founded in October 1881, while the South African Amateur Cycling Union was founded in 1892 in Johannesburg. On 9 September 1893 the first South African championships were decided in Johannesburg, and in the same year the first world championships.
Cycling prospered particularly on the Witwatersrand. Men like L. S. Meintjes, J. D. Celliers, L. C. Papenfus, C. H. Kincaid, F. G. Connock, H. Newby-Fraser, C. E. Brink and J. M. Griebenow were the pioneers of a sound cycling tradition. Lourens Meintjes, who used the first racing bicycle fitted with pneumatic tyres in Johannesburg, achieved high honours in 1893 in Europe and the U.S.A. Between 12 August and 11 September at Chicago and Springfield, Mass., respectively, he won five world titles and established sixteen world records over distances from 3 to 50 miles (4.8 to 80.5 km). His victories acted as a spur to cycling throughout South Africa. Many types of races were held, one the ‘Wacht-eenBeetje’.
In 1897 the S.A. Cycling Union consisted of 39 affiliated clubs. Every city and even small towns like Paarl had or were constructing a cycling track. In the same year the Cape Town firm of Donald Menzies & Co. manufactured the Springbuck cycle.
This is the first reference to the springbok in South African sport. In 1905 the S.A. Cycling Union and the S.A. Athletic Union merged and the S.A. Amateur Athletic and Cycling Association was formed. This singular ‘marriage’ was dissolved in 1958 after 53 years of fruitful co-operation. Since then cycling has been controlled by the S.A. Amateur Cycling Federation.
Two important clubs are the City Cycling Club of Cape Town (1891) and the Paarl Amateur Athletic and Cycling Club (1894). In 1897 the former had 260 members and in the same year the Paarl Club staged its first Boxing Day meeting. No cycling race in South Africa has a more colourful tradition than the race over 2,5 miles (40.2 km) held annually at this meeting. Dirk Binneman, member of South Africa’s best-known cycling family, is the only cyclist who has won this race four years consecutively (1942-1945).
In 1908 in London four cyclists (F. Shore, F. T. Venter, P. T. Freylinck and T. H. E. Passmore) represented South Africa at the Olympic Games for the first time. Four years later at the Olympic Games in Stockholm a mine-worker from Johannesburg, Rudolph Lewis, scored the first Olympic cycling victory for South Africa. He won the gold medal in the road race over 320 kilometres (198 miles 1,478 yd), beating 134 opponents in 10 hrs. 42 min. 39 sec.
In the years before and after the First World War South African cycling was dominated by five men: H. W. Goosen, W. R. Smith, G. E. Thursfield, H. J. Kaltenbrun and J. R. Walker. At the Olympic Games in 1920 the last four each won a silver medal. Touring Australia and New Zealand in 1921-22, Kaltenbrun and Thursfield won a total of 34 races. From 1920 to 1930 most major honours were shared by the Paarl riders A. J. Basson, F. W. Short, A. J. Louw and I. Roux. At the South African championships in 1928 Short won all the titles except the 10 miles (16 km), won by his clubmate Louw. In the next ten years H. Binneman, T. Clayton and S. Rose of Cape Town were the top riders. At the Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1938 at Sydney, Binneman won the gold medal in the road race over loo kilometres (2 hrs. 53 min. 29.6 sec.). The first visit from overseas was in 1948, by a British team captained by L. Pond. This gave an added incentive to the sport in South Africa, and the standard of track cycling was raised considerably. The visitors won the only test, at Kimberley, by 33-8. The tables were turned when a second British team, under T. Godwin, visited South Africa in 1952; South Africa won both tests. In the same year at the Olympic Games in Helsinki two silver medals were won by T. Shardelow, a silver and a bronze medal by R. Robinson, and a silver medal each by J. Swift, R. Fowler and G. Estman. This gave South Africa the third place in world ranking on the basis of the unofficial Olympic cycling scoreboard.
In Rhodesia cycling was established early in the century, and in Mozambique after the First World War. D. H. B. McKenzie of Salisbury won 43 Rhodesian and 4 South African titles (1931- 1948).
Non-White cyclists, particularly Coloured men in the Cape, took up the sport in growing numbers after the First World War. In 1949 the S.A. Amateur Athletic and Cycling Association (Non-European) was founded, and in 1958 it became affiliated to the governing bodies of athletics and cycling in South Africa. The first South African cycling championships for non-Whites were decided in Durban in 1957.
ARRIE JOUBERT BIBL. G. A. Parker: South African sports (1897).