 PERSONAL
BESTS
 NEWSPAPER
REPORTS
OLIVER
TWIST CIRCUIT
PHOTOGRAPHS
TIME
TRIAL WINS
TWELVE
HOUR RIDES |
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Here are a few
reports on events from
newspapers. Click here to see the original
articles.
BARNSLEY
RIDERS WON IN RECORD TIME
- 1962
Barnsley Road Club took
top honours among the
South Yorkshire clubs in
time-trials racing
yesterday when Mel. Shaw,
Bill Selby and Bob
Simpson packed into the
first seven places in the
Leeds Wellington
“25” to win the
team race in club-record
time 2 hrs 59 mins 32
secs. Shildon, Durham,
expert Jim Giles was the
race winner in 57 min. 26
secs., followed by Mel
Shaw in personal record
time 58 min. 46 secs.
Bill Selby was 6th in 1
hr. 20 secs., and Bob
Simpson seventh in 1 hr.
26 secs. |
|
MINER
MEL IS TOP 50 MILER -
1962
Another first class win
for Barnsley Road Club
champion Mel. Shaw,
another team victory for
the Road Club, and a
near-miss for Hoyland
road racing expert Phil.
Ward, in Wharfedale, were
the features of last
week-end’s cycling
programme. Rotherham
Wheelers’ annual
“50” was the
chief time-trial and
winning it was Mel. Shaw,
the 24-years-old Royston
man who did a great ride
to keep up the Barnsley
district’s good
record in this event.
Mel., a coal-face worker,
winner of the Road
Club’s title last
month and of his first
open race less than a
fortnight ago, confirmed
his good form by taking
this Rotherham
“50” in 2 hrs.
5 mins. 37 secs. It was
not a record breaking
ride – indeed it was
the slowest Rotherham
“50” for eight
years – but on a
slow course in a high
wind, it was good enough
to give him a lead of 1
and a half minutes over
more than 100 rivals,
drawn from a wide area of
Yorkshire and Lancashire. |
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ROAD
CLUB RIDER SHAW DOES THE
FASTEST ‘25’ -
1962
Melvin Shaw, winning
Barnsley Road Club’s
25-mile club championship
in 1 hr. 1 min. last
Sunday, was not only the
fastest of all the
Barnsley men but the
former Royston R.C. man
was the fastest in the 20
or so South Yorkshire and
North Midlands 25-mile
club championships which
were decided that day.
Shaw had a runaway win in
the Barnsley
“25”, leading
by 1 min. 56 secs. from
Steve Mason who had been
Barnsley’s fastest
rider until the influx of
Royston R.C. men last
winter. |
|
ROAD
CLUB’S
‘25’ RECORD
GOES AGAIN - 1962
Barnsley Road Club’s
25-mile team record,
which stood at 3 hrs. 2
mins. 59 secs., at the
start of the season and
was improved to 3-1-29 in
June and 3.0.57 in July,
was brought inside three
hours for the first time
last Sunday, when Mel.
Shaw, Bill Selby and Bob
Simpson won the team
prize in the Leeds
Wellington C.C.’s
open “25”.
Royston man Mel Shaw led
the team, filling second
place in a personal
record time of 58 mins.
46 secs., beaten only by
Durham expert Jim Giles,
the former Army 25-mile
champion. Prior to this
summer the record had
stood for four years at
3-2-59. |
|
SHAW
SHOWS HIS WORTH - 1962
Mel. Shaw, the
24-years-old Royston man
who won Barnsley Road
Club’s 25-mile
championship last May,
hit top form to record
his open-race win in the
Sheffield Sports
C.C.’s annual
25-mile time-trial last
Sunday. Riding the
25-miles in 59 minutes 3
seconds, Shaw snatched
the lead in a close race,
by a mere five seconds
and led Barnsley Road
Club to win the team race
with an aggregate of
three hours 57 seconds,
clipping another 32
seconds off the record
they set up in the Dearne
Wheelers “25”
last month. The Sheffield
“25” drew the
best local entry this
season, totalling 193, of
whom the best 120 were
selected to compete,
among them a
thirty-strong
“invasion” from
Lancashire and Cheshire.
According to the
handicapper’s
assessment, Mel Shaw was
only the 13th best rider
on the card, but on that
cold, damp morning there
was no doubt that he was
the best. |
|
MEL
SHAW PUTS BIRDWELL IN
PRIZELISTS - 1963
Mel. Shaw, the Royston
miner who was Barnsley
Road Club’s 25-mile
champion last year, has
put his new club Birdwell
Wheelers in the
prizelists for the first
time this season.
Competing in the Spen
Valley Wheelers
‘25’ on a
course north of Wetherby,
Mel. earned a creditable
second place, easily the
best of all the Yorkshire
competitors, in 1 hr. 2
mins. 23 secs. |
|
ROYSTON’S
MEL SHAW PUT UP FASTEST
TIME - 1963
Royston miner Mel. Shaw
was the fastest of nearly
300 racing cyclists who
were in action when the
South Yorkshire and
district clubs decided
their 25-miles
championships on three
local courses. Shaw did
the 25 miles in a strong
wind in 1 hr. 41 secs. to
win the Birdwell
Wheelers’ title from
the holder Russ Foster.
Second fastest was Peter
Hill, the 17-year old
Askern clerk, likewise
beating the holder Allan
Robson to win the Askern
C.C. title in 1 hr. 1
min. 23 secs. |
|
SHAW
IMPROVES PERSONAL BEST -
1963
Mel. Shaw, Birdwell
Wheelers, improved his
personal record by
34-sec. to 58-12 to score
his fifth open win of the
season in the Dearne Wh.
Oper “25” on a
morning that was wet but
“fast” |
|
MEL
SHAW’S THIRD - 1963
Mel. Shaw, the
25-year-old Birdwell
Wheelers champion gave
South Yorkshire racing a
miss at the weekend to
try his luck in the
Huddersfield Star
Wheelers’
“25” on a
course near York. Scoring
his third win of the
season, he walked away
with first place half a
minute ahead of Alan
Creaser (Hull Thursday
R.C.) and 58 seconds
ahead of Alan Shackleton
(North Lancashire R.C.)
the former British record
holder at 25 miles. |
|
MEL
SHAW TRIUMPHS AGAIN -
1963
Mel Shaw, of Birdwell
Wheelers hit top form to
score his fourth open win
of the season in the
25-miles timetrial held
in connection with the
Richmond Meet in North
Yorkshire on Monday. Mel.
Won the race outright
and, in addition, took
the first handicap prize
with a ride in 1 hr. 18
secs., leading the field
by half a minute.
Runner-up was Pete Hill,
the young Askern rider
who had scored a
sensational win in the
“50” at
Richmond in a record 1
hr. 56 mins. 44 secs. the
day before. |
|
MEL
FASTEST OF 200 RIDERS -
1963
Mel. Shaw, the
25-years-old Royston
miner, was not only the
fastest Birdwell
Wheelers’ rider in
the North Midlands
Cycling Federation’s
pooled clubs
“25” on Sunday,
but fastest of more than
200 South Yorkshire
riders contesting club
championships on three
local courses. Riding on
the Great North Road
course between Blyth and
Markham Moor, North
Nottinghamshire, Shaw
returned a 1 hr. 41 secs.
performance to win the
combined event and snatch
the Birdwell Championship
“25” title from
second Wheelers’ man
Russ Foster, the
24-year-old Hoyland
Common electrician. |
|
SHAW
TRIUMPHS IN
“25” DESPITE
FLAT TYRE - 1963
Birdwell Wheelers made a
big success of their
Easter Sunday time-trial,
not only staging South
Yorkshire’s chief
holiday “25”,
but winning it too. Mel
Shaw, their recent
“signing” from
Barnsley Road Club won
the race with a first
class ride in 1 hour 17
seconds, and young member
Mike Coney from
Chapeltown, won the first
handicap prize. In a
field of 188 – the
riders were from as far
as Liverpool, Oxford,
Middlesborough, Hull and
Harlow – Shaw rode
his fastest race this
year to win despite a
puncture half a mile from
the finish. He kept going
with a flat back tyre and
held to win by a clear
half minute from Mike
McNamara (Rockingham
C.C.), with Barry Breedon
(Conisborough Ivanhoe) a
further nine seconds
down, and John Blacker
(Rockingham C.C.) fourth
on 1-1-13. |
|
SHAW
IN ROLE OF TEAM LEADER -
1963
Mel Shaw, the former
Royston Road Club man now
with Barnsley Road Club,
stepped into the role of
team leader in the
Conisborough Ivanhoe
CC’s open 25 miles
time-trial last Sunday,
filling fourth place
among the 120 competitors
in 1 hour. 2 minutes 53
seconds. It was the
slowest Ivanhoe
“25” since the
annual event was started
in 1954, but the bitterly
cold win was responsible
for that. |
|
SHAW
SHOWS CLASS IN GOOLE
WHEELERS’
‘25’ - 1965
In torrential rain, which
made conditions really
hard and cold, Mel Shaw,
Birdwell Wheelers, showed
real class in winning
Goole Wheelers’
25-mile time-trial by
over a minute from R.
Robinson (Grimsby RC),
who in turn led third man
S. Whalley (Scunthorpe
Polytechnic) by 37
seconds. Shaw thus holds
the Coronation Shield for
a year, as well as the
usual first prize. |
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MEL
ON TOP WITHOUT ROCKINGHAM
- 1965
Mel Shaw, the dour
Barnsley miner, has
finished very close
behind the Rockingham CC
stars in recent South
Yorkshire
“opens,” but
came right into his own
when Bas Breedon and Co.
skipped the N. Midlands
BCF “50.” The
27-year-old Birdwell
Wheeler romped to a
comfortable first win of
the season in 2-1-5
– a good ride on a
revised course in the
Blyth-Retford district. |
|
SHAW
FOILS ROCKINGHAM - 1966
Rockingham Cycling Club,
the national 25-mile team
champions from South
Yorkshire, who defend
their title in a
fortnight, came near to
sweeping the board in the
Hull University
C.C.’s open 25 with
five men in the first six
of the 80-strong field.
One man foiled them of
triumph – Mel Shaw,
a 28 year-old Barnsley
miner who won the
individual race in
58mins. 16secs. |
|
SHAW
BEATS NO-HOPERS STACEY,
BREEDON IN NORTHERN 25
CHAMPIONSHIP TRY-OUT -
1966
Anyone who saw 25-mile
champion Bas Breedon,
Rockingham CC, and BBAR
Keith Stacey, Seamons CC,
commiserating with each
other after being beat by
Mel Shaw, Birdwell
Wheelers into equal
second place in the
Drighlington BC
“25” would have
though that they were two
no-hopers instead of
serious candidates for
the championship next
month, writes Colin
Willcock. However, this
season, neither has shown
the speed expected of a
potential champion, and
both agree that
“something will have
to be done”. With
warm sunshine gracing
Sunday’s event,
pre-race feeling was that
this was to be one of the
Boro’s better days,
but a nagging west wind
blowing across the course
made things hard to the
turn, and even harder on
the return trip. Quiet
South Yorkshireman Shaw
continued what had
started to look like his
best-season-ever, a fair
reward for years of
hovering near the top
class. All the men used
gears and Shaw, naturally
enough, was happy.
Breedon, however, is
somewhat concerned about
the lack of super-edge to
his speed, and wonders if
he has trained hard
enough. |
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ROYSTON’S
SHAW PICK OF THE
25-MILERS - 1966
Royston miner Mel Shaw,
28, winning the Birdwell
Wheelers 25-mile club
championship in just one
hour eight seconds, was
the fastest of nearly 200
riders contesting similar
events on local roads. |
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MEL
SHAW STARS ON BORROWED
BIKE
Birdwell Wheelers Open
Hill Climb Championship
on Winnats Pass at
Castleton on Sunday was
more of an endurance test
than a tough hill climb.
The 80 riders had to face
a strong head-wind up the
steep 983 yards, average
gradiant of one in 6.4
and practically all the
time were a minute slower
than last year. All the
leading riders were there
and Paul Wildsmith, of
East Bradford, became a
clear favourite for the
National Hill Climb event
with a time of four
minutes three seconds,
seven seconds ahead of
former champion Granville
Sydney, of Huddersfield,
and the reigning champion
Peter Greenhalgh, of
Nottingham. Birdwell
Wheelers’ surprise
entrant was Mel Shaw with
a time of four minutes 18
seconds, on a borrowed
bike. He won the 1st
handicap award and was
three seconds ahead of
Ralph Wilson, who was
expected to be
Birdwell’s best
rider. |
|
…AND
MEL! - 1968
On his first outing of
the season, Mel Shaw,
Birdwell Wheelers, set a
new course record for the
Featherstone RC hilly
“30” in
1-16-25, giving him a
1-20 margin over rapidly
improving Peter Wilson,
Calder Clarion. |
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A
BRILLIANT RIDE BY MEL
SHAW - 1970
Although conditions were
all against fast times,
Birdwell Wheeler Mel Shaw
showed his fitness with a
brilliant ride of 2-2-40
to win the Bradford Elite
“50” on the
Wetherby course on
Sunday. Alan Goulding was
the only other Birdwell
rider and clocked
2-13-47. |
|
TOP
TWELVE NATIONAL BID BY
MEL - 1973
Mel Shaw, of Birdwell
Wheelers, is right in the
middle of a brilliant
spell of riding. It has
now been confirmed that
his final mileage in the
Leicester Forest 12-hour
event a fortnight ago was
more than 255 miles,
giving him third place.
Until the official result
comes through it will not
be known if a new club
record as been created.
Mel is the current holder
of this record, a feat
accomplished in the
National Championship
three years ago.
Following that superb
12-hour ride, he went
north to Boroughbridge
for the Clifton
“50” on Sunday
and again excelled,
repeating his third
position with a 1-53-03
ride. In this event he
was facing sterner
opposition and in many
cases they were riders
contending for the first
12 at National level.
These two rides have
given him the chance of
making that first dozen,
providing he can churn
out a good 100-mile ride.
Should he succeed he will
become the first Birdwell
rider to earn that
distinction. |
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SHAW
POUNDS OUT ANOTHER CLUB
RECORD - 1973
Mel Shaw, of Birdwell
Wheelers, created a new
club record when
competing in the Otley
C.C. 12-hour event held
on roads north of
Wetherby on Sunday, his
total of 264.9 miles
beating his own previous
best by nine miles. Shaw
was just three miles less
than East Bradford winner
Stuart Ackroyd, and he
should now be almost
certain of becoming the
first Birdwell rider to
gain a place in the top
12 of the British Best
All-rounder competition. |
|
BOGEY-BEATER
– MEL SHAW - 1973
In the top twelve at last
– after twelve
seasons of racing.
That’s the
achievement of Birdwell
Wheeler Mel Shaw, who at
the age of 35 has made
the magic dozen. To his
surprise – “in
fact of my qualifying
rides only one – the
twelve – was a
personal best.” That
“12” was the
beating of a bogey, he
says. “Strangely
enough, although
I’ve done better as
a short-distance rider,
it’s always the
longer distances that I
have preferred.”
Preferred maybe, but not
until the Otley event
this year could he top
260 miles. Then, taking
second place behind
Stuart Ackroyd, he added
nine miles to his
“personal” with
264 miles. “In
previous 12-hour events I
seemed to be too timid,
always holding something
back. For that one I did
it the Nim Carline way,
you might say, and just
hoped I wouldn’t
blow up. I
didn’t.” Just
under twelve stones and
just under six feet, Mel
is well proportioned, and
a dyed-in-the-wool time
triallist.
“I’ve never
ridden anything else;
although I have wanted to
try road racing I’ve
never really got around
to it.” One final
touch: Mel’s local
courses are the
Boro’ and Blyth
– and all but a
couple of events last
year he’s ridden to,
and back, adding at least
50 miles to his total
each time. |
|
| Highlight
of last weekend for
Birdwell Wheelers was the
presentation of Mel
Shaw’s award for
sixth place in the
British Best All-Rounder
competition. Shaw
travelled to the Road
Time Trials
Council’s annual
dinner and prize
presentation in London to
receive his award for the
competition, which is
based on the best average
speed at 50 miles, 100
miles and 12 hours. It is
the first such award in
the club’s history,
and Shaw, like many
others, must have thought
that, at 35, his chance
had gone. But he has
proved that he is still a
force to be feared.
Giving him moral support
at the presentation were
his wife Brenda, brother
Trevor and his wife, Mrs.
Christine Minto, Mel
Fisher, Alan Goulding,
Helen Robinson and Jim
Carr. |
|
TOP
12 QUALIFYING TIMES -
1973
1.53.03 Clifton CC
“50”, August 26
1973
4.03.36 Yokshire Century
“100”,
September 9th 1973
264.66 Otley CC
“12”, September
16th 1973 |
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