Addiscombe Cycling Club

An Historical Background to the Road Record Associations

The national Road Records Association was founded in 1888 following a decision by the National Cyclists’ Union to confine their jurisdiction to track competitions, it being imperative that a body was required to continue the work of certifying claims to records on the road by male cyclists. This was at a time when bicycles were the fastest vehicles on the road and even though roads were frequently little more than unmade tracks cyclists were keen to see how fast they could travel from A to B. Early record attempts were usually paced but by 1898 the RRA decided to recognise unpaced records as a separate category and in due course the paced records were no longer recognised, the performances being maintained purely for historic reference. All ‘ROAD RECORDS’ must now be attempted entirely alone and unassisted with strict rules concerning feeding arrangements and following vehicles. (‘Competition Records’ are entirely separate and governed by the RTTC/Cycling Time Trials, reference page 4.)

Because the RRA were staunchly all-male, their rules confined their membership to male private members and delegates of affiliated clubs and continued to adjudicate solely on record attempts by male cyclists. Places on the committee of the RRA were keenly fought for a discipline that was seeing a revival after wartime restrictions and Percy Huggett at last achieved a place at the AGM of 1952. The women, encouraged by George Herbert Stancer, formed their own RRA (Women’s Road Record Association) in 1934 and recognised attempts over much the same routes as the men’s records. In an attempt to bring the two Associations together in 1976 Christine Watts (President of the WRRA), aided and abetted by the RRA President, Will Townsend, attended an RRA AGM, in company with Eddie Mundy, as ‘a delegate of the Addiscombe CC’. The meeting had to admit the rules left this opening by not stipulating ‘male delegates’ and by 1978 Chris Watts was a member of the men’s RRA committee and remained in office until 2000. Eddie Mundy was their President from 1994-2001.

In 1987 the RRA opened their rules to mixed tandem records, i.e. when crewed by male and female cyclists. It followed that the two Associations should merge and this occurred on 1st January 1989. Eddie Mundy, a Past-President of the RRA, continued to do stirling work for them in the capacity of Records Secretary until his death in 2008.

REGIONAL RRA’s

In 1890 northern cyclists decided to form the Northern RRA to recognise attempts over local roads not covered by the national RRA. Other regions followed and the Southern Road Riding Association was formed in 1893. Subsequently their work was taken over by the Southern Road Records Association in 1899. Charlie Davey, himself a record breaker of the 1914-22 period, and manager of various professional riders prior to World War II, did much to encourage Addiscombe members to attack these road records, all this at a time when traffic on the roads was very light by comparison with the later years of the 20th century. With the volume of traffic now using the roads at all hours of the day and night, traffic-controlled junctions and crossings, the introduction of one-way systems and pedestrian-only streets in city centres, place-to-place record breaking is now proving extremely difficult, or even hazardous, and many established routes have by necessity fallen out of favour.

Charlie Davey, Percy Huggett, Eddie Mundy and Chris Watts have all given multiple years of service to the Southern Road Records Association.