This Australian Master Sport track bike belonged to one of my hero's of New Zealand cycle sport, Neil Geraghty. I will do a piece on Neil shortly in a new series of postings on great New Zealand riders. Geraghty rode this bike to victory in the 1958 Austral Star track race, beating Sid Patterson and Russell Mockridge in the process.
The story goes, Patterson (twice World pursuit Champion and more) came up to Geraghty after losing the race and said that as they had already brought the drinks for his (Pattersons) after race winning party, that Geraghty might as well come along to the party as well.
Above; Geraghty beats the "joke"of Sid Patterson and Mockridge in the '58 Austral Star.
Above; A sun Tour cap, from one of four that Geraghty rode in Australia in the 50's
Above; as you will be able to see, the frame has been repainted by Master Sport at some point since winning the Austral Star.
Quite fancy decoration, as is the Australian way.
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A quirky one. Neil Geraghty won a sprint through the town of Longford in Tasmania’s Tour of the North on August 10, 1955. I was born that afternoon and was named Neil.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great story...thanks for sharing it...working on a book about NZ cycling history at the moment with a friend of mine, might have to try and squeeze this one in.
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