By Eddie Mitchell

Every sport has a Mecca, cycling has Herne Hill. The track itself is a shallow bowl 450meters around with banking at the steepest point, 30 degrees. Compare this to the new Olympic Velodrome in London where the track is 250 meters, the banking 45 degrees.

Herne Hill is one of the oldest cycling tracks in the world, built in 1891, it hosted the summer Olympics track meet in 1948. Many famous riders have circled its banks including probably the greatest Italian of them all Fausto Coppi.

Coppi rode on Sunday September 14, 1958, a day before his 38th birthday in a meet that attracted a full house, 10,000 people. The meet was organized by London-based Italian Italo Berigliano. who owned a cycle shop in Fulham and was connected to Velo Club Sacchi.

A Sunday admission could not be charged so Berligiano sold memberships to Velo Club Sacchi, which then allowed entrance to the track. The basis of the meet was an Omnium between an Italian team lead by Coppi and supported by Nino Defilippis, Enzo Sacchi and Guglielmo Pesenti. The opponents were a British/Australian four-some of Brian Robinson, Shay Elliott, Roger Arnold and John Tresidder.

The event was designed as an exhibition, with Coppi looking his age. Ill Campionissimo (Champion of Champions) had been in decline since the mid-fifties but the British public and the huge Italian following that day showed that this incredible rider was still loved by the fans.

Giro di Lombardia winner earlier in 1958 Nino Defilippis showed good form at the “Hill” that day. Nino had been Italian national road race champion in 1956 and 1958, through his career he had won nine stages of the Giro d’Italia, seven stages of the Tour de France and two stages of the Vuelta a Espana.

The other two spots on the Italian team were taken by sprinter Enzo Sacchi, winner of the men’s gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, and Guglielmo Pesenti. Pesenti, the son of the 1932 Giro d’Italia winner Antonio Pesenti, had won the silver medal in the men’s sprint at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

One of the truly great British riders, Brian Robinson, led the opposition. Robinson had laid the groundwork for many British riders in the Tour de France, including Tom Simpson who was in the amateur field that Sunday in 1958. Robinson won two stages of the Tour de France, he also won the Dauphine Libere in 1961.

Shay Elliott, was the first Irish rider to break into the continental racing scene. He won stages in all the major tours and took the silver medal in the 1962 World Road Race Championship in Salo, Italy. Elliott also wore the yellow jersey in the Tour de France in 1963 for three days and finished third overall in the Vuelta a Espana.

Two Australians made up the Robinson team with John Tresidder from Newcastle down-under and Roger Arnold also from New South Wales. Both these riders were experienced six-day specialists, amazing because Arnold had only one eye, in a sport where you have to be aware of your surroundings at all times.

The amateur field that Sunday in September included some of the best track riders that Britain produced. Robin Buchan (Norwood Paragon), Dennis Tarr and Johnny Pound (De Laune), Mick Gambrill (Clarence Wheelers) and as mention before, the great Tom Simpson then billed in the program as riding for Hudderfield.

Italo Berigliano must have been very proud of himself that day, in a time when publicity and the media were not as prolific as they are today He put on a great show. The crowd delighted in the racing. Whether the Champion of Champions won or lost, did not matter, the people at Herne Hill had seen one of the true greats of the sport of cycling. We cannot forget the pleasure the rest of the amateur and professional riders gave fans over the years.

Herne Hill has hosted some of the best track meets seen in the UK; beginning with the Good Friday Meet in 1903. The White Hope Sprint was introduced in 1948 by promoter Jim Wallace, which still exists today. National and World records have been established at the old lady of cycling. Sadly the grandstand is now closed, it has stood on the site since 1891, but the track is still used and operated by Velo Club Londres.

Herne Hill may not be the #1 cycle-racing track in the UK now, but its memory will linger on. To me it will always be the Mecca of track racing.