Six-day racing

Six-day cycling is a track cycling event that competes over six days. Six-day races started in Britain, spread to many regions of the world, were brought to their modern style in the United States and are now mainly a European event. Initially, individuals competed alone, the winner being the individual who completed the most laps. However, the format was changed to allow teams (usually of two riders each), one rider racing while the other rested. The 24-hours a day regime has also been relaxed, so that most six-day races involve six nights of racing, typically from 6pm to 2am, on indoor tracks (velodromes). Six-day events are annually hosted in London, Berlin, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Manchester, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Racing at the 2007 Six Days of Dortmund

The overall winner is the team which completes most laps. In the event of teams completing the same number of laps, the winner is the team with most points won in intermediate competitions (see points race). As well as the 'chase' to gain laps over competitors, a typical six-day programme will include time trials, motor-paced, intermediate sprint and elimination races. In the main 'chase' or madison events (so-called after Madison Square Garden in New York City, where the two-man format was devised), both riders may be on the track at the same time, taking it in turns to race, hand-slinging each other back into action.

Origins

The first six-day event was an individual time trial at the Agricultural Hall in Islington, London, in 1878, when a professional called David Stanton sought a bet that he could ride 1,000 miles in six successive days, riding 18 hours a day. A Mr Davis put up £100 and the stake was held by the Sporting Life newspaper. Stanton started at 6am on 25 February and won the bet in 73 hours, riding on a high-wheeled machine at an average speed of 13.5 mph.[1]

Six-day cycle races involving more than one rider grew out of the 19th-century enthusiasm for endurance and other novelty competitions. A promoter at the Agricultural Hall held a six-day walking contest in April 1877. It was enough of a success for another to be held the following year. That inspired another organiser, name no longer known, to organise a six-day race in the same hall but for cyclists, also in 1878. He hoped to attract the crowd of 20,000 a day that had turned out for the walkers.

The Islington Gazette reported:

"A bicycle contest was commenced at the Agricultural Hall, on Monday last, for which £150 is offered in prizes for a six days' competition, the money to be allocated thus: £100 for the first man, £25 for the second, £15 for the third, and £10 for the fourth."[2]

The race started at 6am with only four of the 12 entrants on the track. Although it is often said that the first six-day was a non-stop, no-sleeping event that ran without pause for six days, in fact riders joined in when they chose and slept as they wished.

The winner was Bill Cann, of Sheffield, who led from the start and finished after 1,060 miles.[3]

The first American six-days

A six-day race at Madison Square Garden II in December 1908

However, the event did not become popular until 1891, when the first Six Days of New York were held in New York's Madison Square Garden. Initially, these races were contests of raw endurance, with a single rider completing as many laps as possible. At first, races were less than 24 hours a day. Riders slept at night and were free to join in the morning when they chose. Faster riders would start later than the slower ones, who would sacrifice sleep to make up for lack of pace. Quickly, riders began competing 24 hours a day, limited only by their ability to stay awake. Many employed seconds, as in boxing, to keep them going. The seconds, known by their French name, soigneurs, were said to have used doping to keep their riders circling the track. Riders became desperately tired. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle said:

The wear and tear upon their nerves and their muscles, and the loss of sleep make them [peevish and fretful]. If their desires are not met with on the moment, they break forth with a stream of abuse. Nothing pleases them. These outbreaks do not trouble the trainers with experience, for they understand the condition the men are in.

The condition included delusions and hallucinations. Riders wobbled and fell. But they were often well paid, especially since more people came to watch as their condition worsened. Promoters in New York paid Teddy Hale $5,000 when he won in 1896 and he won "like a ghost, his face as white as a corpse, his eyes no longer visible because they'd retreated into his skull," according to one report. The New York Times said in 1897:

It is a fine thing that a man astride two wheels can, in a six-day race, distance a hound, horse, or a locomotive. It confirms the assumption, no longer much contested, that the human animal is superior to the other animals. But this undisputed thing is being said in too solemn and painful way at Madison Square Garden. An athletic contest in which participants 'go queer' in their heads, and strain their powers until their faces become hideous with the tortures that rack them, is not sport. It is brutality. Days and weeks of recuperation will be needed to put the Garden racers in condition, and it is likely that some of them will never recover from the strain.[4]

Introduction of the two-man team events

Six-day racing remained popular in the US, even though the states of New York and Illinois led in 1898 in limiting races to 12 of 24 hours.[5] The intention was to allow riders to rest half the day, but promoters realised that teams of two, with only one rider on the track at a time, would give each the 12 hours' rest the law intended while still allowing the race to go around the clock.[6] Races lasted six days rather than a week to avoid racing on Sunday.[5] Speeds rose, distances grew, crowds increased, money poured in. Where Charlie Miller rode 2,088 miles alone, Alf Goullet and a decent partner could ride 2,790. The first such race was at Madison Square Garden and two-man tag racing has become known in English as a madison and to the French as l'américaine.

In the main 'chase' or madison sessions, both riders may be on the track at the same time, taking it in turns to race, hand-slinging each other back into action. The non-racing rider will circle the track slowly at the top of the banking until 'slung' back into the race. The hand-sling is an advanced skill that, in some countries, is only allowed for professional riders. The racing rider may also propel a teammate into the race by pushing the seat of the rider's racing shorts.

The historian Raymond Dickow said of riders in the post-1898 races:

The highest paid was Alfred Goullet of Australia. He earned $1,000 a day in addition to cash prizes won during sprints. Top riders like Bobby Walthour, US; Franco Giorgetti, Italy; Gérard Debaets, Belgium; and Alfred Letourneur, France, were making from $500 to $750 a day. Amateurs who had just turned pro, and still had to prove their worth, were paid the beginners' rate of $100 a day.[6]

Sixes attracted enthusiasts and celebrities. Knute Rockne, George Raft, Barbara Stanwyck, and Otto Kruger were fans. Kruger used to invite riders home.[6] Bing Crosby – whose presence at a track guaranteed he would be met by song-publishers' touts offering him music – was said to pay the hospital bills of riders who fell.[7][8] The actress Peggy Joyce – her wealth was such that Cole Porter wrote a lyric that said My string of Rolls-Royces, is longer than Peggy Joyce's – gave regular $200 bonus prizes, or primes. She was so delighted when a band in the track centre played Pretty Peggy with eyes of Blue that she put up $1,000.[8]

Racing was at its hardest when the stands were full. Riders took it easy when they were empty and circled the track reading newspapers, talking, even writing letters as they pedalled with one foot, the other steering the handlebars. But sometimes a team would attack when things were quiet. Jimmy Walthour remembered one such night in 1933:

[At 4am], Tino Reboli and his partner were 12 laps behind the leaders. In desperation, they decided that no one would sleep that night. They knew that they had to close the gap up to stay in the race. One shift of riders had gone to the dormitory in another part of the building. Reboli and his partner, however, remained on the track. The team made its bid and gained three laps before trainers of the other teams could shake the sleeping cyclists out of bed. The jam[9] turned into one of the wildest ever experienced in the history of the Garden. It necessitated turning on the huge lights over the track, costing the Garden thousands of dollars in lighting.[6]

The only spectators were a handful of puzzled floor sweepers, garbage collectors, and sleepy reporters. At first the riders were mad at Reboli and his partner for starting the ruckus. They pedalled furiously to grind them down. But in frustration and irritation over loss of sleep, the riders became angry at one another ... As for Reboli and his partner, the session of jamming set them 12 laps behind again. The referee withdrew them from the race.[6]

Six-day racing was popular in the United States until the Second World War. Then the rise of the automobile and the Great Depression brought a decline. Dickow said: "Attempts were made to revive the sport by several different promoters but none of them managed to restore bike racing to its former popularity."[6] A further problem was that the more promoters brought in European opposition to spice up races for a potential crowd, the more the Europeans dominated and lessened the appeal for spectators. Jerry Rodman, one of the American riders, said: "In previous years, six-day bicycle racing faded only as a result of war or depression. Under the promotion of Harry Mendel, however, the sport, for the first time began to decline due to lack of spectator interest."[6]

Jimmy Walthour said: "Six-day races began to fade in 1938. It was about that time when the skater Sonja Henie was given preference to appearance dates in Madison Square Garden. December was a traditional Garden date for the races but her show replaced the races for that month."[6]

Annual sixes in Boston were discontinued in 1933, Detroit in 1936, and Chicago in 1948. The Six Days of New York hung on until 1950. There were some revivals but none succeeded. Sporting Cyclist published a picture of the last night of the Chicago six in 1957 being ridden with seven people in the quarter of the stands that the camera caught.

European popularity

Riders rest in small cabins beside the track when the race is in progress

The success of madisons in America led to their introduction in Europe. The first was at Toulouse in 1906, although it was abandoned after three days because of lack of interest.[10] Berlin tried, three years later, with success. Five races were held in Germany in 1911-12.[5] Brussels followed in 1912 and Paris in 1913.

Riders compete not only in madisons but in subsidiary competitions behind pacers

The six-day race continued to do well in Europe. Its heart was in Germany – although races were curtailed in Germany by the Nazis, a six-day event was held in 1938 and was attended by a number of international representatives. These events were strong too, in Belgium and France. In 1923 the journalist Egon Erwin Kisch attended the tenth staging of the Berlin Six Day Race and wrote a celebrated piece "Elliptische Tretmuehle" (Elliptical Treadmill). London saw one race at Olympia in July 1923,[11] and then a series of races at Wembley starting in 1936. The local man, Frank Southall, crashed and left for hospital. So did another British hope, Syd Cozens. Only nine of the 15 teams lasted the race.[10] The series continued, with more success, until the start of the second world war in 1939.

Racing began hesitantly after 1945. The first in Germany for 17 years were in 1950;[5] two further races were held at Wembley in 1951 and 1952. Eventually, though, European races began to decline. Races continued through the night, as they had in the US, but the costs of keeping open stadiums for partygoers who'd missed the bus and a small number of dedicated fans was too great. London dropped night racing when it revived six-day racing in 1967 at Earls Court and the following year at Wembley a new organiser, former rider Ron Webb, scheduled just the afternoon and evening, with a break between sessions. Other organisers were not impressed and insisted Webb call his race a "six" and not a "six-day". One by one, however, they followed Webb's pattern and there are now no old-style 24-hour races left. The last was Madrid. There the riders trundled round all night or, if they could get away with it, slipped off for bed. Tom Simpson remembered:

Our mechanic and general runner was David Nice, an Englishman from Colchester, who was not unlike me in a way, for his nose appeared to be, profile view anyway, very similar to mine (poor lad!) and I hit on the splendid idea of putting him out on the track in my place during the neutralised period. Tracksuited, a scarf over the lower part of his face and a Russian hat that I had bought completed the disguise. He was me to anyone giving a cursory glance at the figures plodding round the track. The get-up was quite in order for it became very cold there at night as they used to turn off all the heating. Everything went well for the first night of the wheeze and I congratulated myself on the plan. It could not go on for ever, though, worse luck, for on the very next night the game was up. Dave was trundling round wrapped up to the eyebrows as before when, horrors upon horrors, the track manager, who often rode a bike round himself during the quiet time, started to talk to him.[12]

He thought it was me at first and chatted away quite happily to Dave, whose French was near enough non-existent. Well, it was not long before he sensed something was wrong and whipped the scarf off the poor lad's face. He stormed over to my cabin and dragged me out, half asleep, on to the track. That was that! He and the other officials kept their eyes on us after that and we had little chance of getting away with any more larks like that.[12]

The London Six at Wembley continued annually until 1980.[13]

Reinventing six day cycling

Founded in 2013, Madison Sports Group, a promoter of cycling events, decided in 2015 to reinvigorate the competition through the introduction of new Six day cycling events in six major cities across the globe, which together form the Six Day Series.[14] The series starts in London travelling across the world, where it touches down in Berlin, Copenhagen, Melbourne and Manchester, before concluding in Brisbane. Although the Six Day Series is their flagship concept, MSG have previously promoted the Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Mallorca Six Day events and are unveiling as Hong Kong the first host in Asia in March 2019.[15]

In 2015, not long after the London 2012 Olympic Games, Madison Sports Group brought Six day Cycling back to London, the event being held at the Lee Valley Velodrome, which had been built as part of the Olympic legacy. Sir Bradley Wiggins chose the 2016 London event as his last UK track appearance and riders like the Australian Olympic gold medallists Cameron Meyer and Callum Scotson have also featured.[16]

The women’s event has also grown with the opportunity to compete in the Madison, an added attraction for some of the world’s best exponents of track racing. Two-time world champion Kirsten Wild has attended in previous years, whilst Six Day Manchester 2019 will see Britain’s joint most-decorated female Olympic track cyclist, Laura Kenny, compete. Kenny will also be joined by Six Day London 2017 and Olympic team Pursuit champion Katie Archibald, and fellow British Cycling teammate Elinor Barker, an Olympic, two-time world and four-time European champion.

Most six-day victories

Names in bold are riders still racing.

Nr.NameNationalityRaces wonRaces riddenWin average
1Patrick SercuBelgian882230,3946
2Danny ClarkAustralian742350,3149
3René PijnenDutch722330,3090
4Peter PostDutch651550,4194
5Bruno RisiSwiss611780,3427
6Rik Van SteenbergenBelgian401340,2985
7William PedenCanadian381270,2992
Etienne De WildeBelgian381970,1929
9Kurt BetschartSwiss371420,2606
Klaus BugdahlGerman372290,1616
11Gustav KilianGerman34900,3778
Albert FritzGerman341980,1717
13Fritz PfenningerSwiss331810,1823
14Heinz VopelGerman32740,4324
Piet van KempenDutch321100,2909
Franco MarvulliSwiss321120,3333
17Dietrich ThurauGerman29970,2990
18Silvio MartinelloItalian28970,2887
19Dieter KemperGerman261650,1576
20Emile SevereynsBelgian251510,1656
21Andreas KappesGerman241160,2069
Marco VillaItalian241410,1702
23Iljo KeisseBelgian23720,3194
Rudi AltigGerman23790,2911
Ferdinando TerruzziItalian231210,1901
Tony DoyleBritish231390,1655
Sigi RenzGerman231590,1447
28Alfred LetourneurFrench21840,2500
Robert BartkoGerman21760,2800
Reggie McNamaraAustralian211190,1764
Palle LykkeDanish211220,1721
Urs FreulerSwiss211390,1511
33Gert FrankDanish201430,1399
34Gerrit SchulteDutch19730,2603
35Eddy MerckxBelgian17350,4857
Jan PijnenburgDutch17500,3400
Gerard DebaetsBelgian17900,1889
Donald AllanAustralian171070,1589
Matthew GilmoreBelgian171070,1589
40Cecil YatesAmerican16570,2807
Sid PattersonAustralian16570,2807
Jean RothSwiss16850,1882
Reg ArnoldAustralian161030,1553
Leo DuyndamDutch161430,1119
Danny StamDutch161110,1744
Wilfried PeffgenGerman161880,0851
47Francesco MoserItalian15350,4285
Alfred GoulletAustralian15290,5172
Scott McGroryAustralian15690,2029
Roman HermannLiechtensteiner151820,0824
Adriano BaffiItalian15990,1515
52Kay Werner NielsenDanish14560,2500
53Armin von BürenSwiss13580,2241
Jens VeggerbyDanish13890,1461
Erik ZabelGerman13280,4643
56Rik Van LooyBelgian12430,2791
Graeme GilmoreAustralian121000,1200
58Gregor BraunGerman11440,2500
Günther HaritzGerman11830,1325
Robert SlippensDutch11700,1571
61Rolf AldagGerman10290,3448
Horst OldenburgGerman101000,1000
Lucien GillenLuxembourger101160,0862
Wolfgang SchulzeGerman101350,0741

Six-days

Six atNumber of editionsFirst riddenLast riddenMost wins by
Adelaide (SA)619601967Sid Patterson, Nino Solari (2)
Amsterdam
Six Days of Amsterdam
2219322014Danny Stam (4)
Antwerp
Six Days of Antwerp
5219341994Peter Post (11)
Apeldoorn120092009Leon van Bon, Pim Ligthart and Robert Bartko (1)
Århus919541961Kay Werner Nielsen (4)
Atlantic City
Six Days of Atlantic City
219091932No repeat winners
Bassano del Grappa
Six Days of Bassano del Grappa
819861998Danny Clark (3)
Bendigo (Vic)119601960Bill Lawrie, Vic Brown (1)
Berlin
Six Days of Berlin
10819092019Klaus Bugdahl (9)
Boston
Six Days of Boston
1319011933Alfred Goullet, Alfred Hill, Norman Hill (2)
Bremen
Six Days of Bremen
5119102014René Pijnen (7)
Breslau819211931Piet van Kempen, Willy Rieger (3)
Brisbane (Qld)119321932Richard Lamb, Jack Standen (1)
Brussels
Six Days of Brussels
4619121971Rik Van Steenbergen (8)
Buenos Aires
Six Days of Buenos Aires
2719362000Jorge Batiz (5)
Charleroi319671969Patrick Sercu (2)
Chicago5019151957Gustav Kilian (6)
Cologne
Six Days of Cologne
4619281997Albert Fritz (6)
Copenhagen
Six Days of Copenhagen
5219332014Danny Clark (8)
Cremona120092009Walter Pérez, Sebastian Donadio (1)
Dortmund
Six Days of Dortmund
6719262008Patrick Sercu, Rolf Aldag (8)
Fiorenzuola d'Arda
Six Days of Fiorenzuola
1719982016Franco Marvulli(4)
Frankfurt
Six Days of Frankfurt
3719111983Dietrich Thurau, Patrick Sercu (5)
Ghent
Six Days of Ghent
7919222019Patrick Sercu (11)
Grenoble
Six Days of Grenoble
4419712014Franco Marvulli (6)
Groningen419701979Klaus Bugdahl, Dieter Kemper (2)
Hanover1019131981Emile Carrara (2)
Hasselt
Six Days of Hasselt
420062009Bruno Risi (3)
Herning1419741998Gert Frank (5)
Launceston (Tas)2119611987Keith Oliver (4)
London
Six Day London
2419232017Patrick Sercu (8)
Maastricht1319762006René Pijnen (6)
Madrid
Six Days of Madrid
1419601986Rik Van Steenbergen (3)
Maryborough (Qld)319611967Bruce Clark, Robert Ryan, Jim Luttrel, Ronald Murray, Sid Patterson, Barry Waddell (1)
Melbourne (Vic)2419122017Leandro Faggin, Sid Patterson (3)
Milan2919272008Francesco Moser (6)
Montréal3719291980William Peden (7)
Munich
Six Days of Munich
4619332009Bruno Risi (9)
Münster3419501988Jean Roth (5)
New York
Six Days of New York
7018991961Alfred Goullet, Franco Giorgetti (8)
Newark
Six Days of Newark
419101915No repeat winners
Newcastle (NSW)319611970Sid Patterson (2)
Nouméa1819772003Robert Sasson, Jean-Michel Tessier (4)
Paris
Six Days of Paris
4219131989Piet van Kempen, Schulte, Achiel Bruneel, Albert Billiet, Jean Aerts, Georges Seres (3)
Perth (WA)519611989Peter Panton, Klaus Stiefler, Ronald Murray, Enzo Sacchi, Ian Campbell, Barry Waddell Sid Patterson, John Young, Kim Eriksen, Michael Marcussen (1)
Rio de Janeiro
Six Days of Rio de Janeiro
119561956Severino Rigoni, Bruno Sivilotti (1)
Rotterdam
Six Days of Rotterdam
3219362015René Pijnen (10)
Stuttgart
Six Days of Stuttgart
3119282008Andreas Kappes (6)
São Paulo
Six Days of São Paulo
219571959Severino Rigoni, Bruno Sivilotti, Antonio Alba, Claudio Rosa (1)
Sydney (NSW)1719121974Ken Ross (3)
Tilburg220092011Tristan Marquet, Franco Marvulli, Nick Stöpler, Yoeri Havik (1)
Townsville (Qld)119621962Barry Lowe, Sid Patterson (1)
Turin720012008Marco Villa (4)
Whyalla (SA)319661968Sid Patterson, Robert Ryan, Joe Ciavola, Barry Waddell, Keith Oliver, Charly Walsh (1)
Zuidlaren220072008Bruno Risi, Franco Marvulli, Danny Stam, Robert Slippens (1)
Zürich
Six Days of Zürich
5819542013Bruno Risi (11)

Six-day racing was portrayed in the 1934 movie 6 Day Bike Rider.

Six-day races

References

  1. Sporting Cyclist, UK, October 1967, p. 12
  2. Cited Woodland, Les, This Island Race, Mousehold Press, UK
  3. "The Beginnings - in Victorian England". Six Day Cycle Races. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  4. Cited Cycling, UK, 30 November 1982
  5. Everything 2, Six-day racing by Albert Herring
  6. Silent Sixes of the States, Sporting Cyclist, UK, undated cutting
  7. Chany, Pierre (1988), La Fabuleuse Histoire de Cyclisme, Nathan, France
  8. Procycling, UK, December 1999
  9. A dated term for a hectic chase during a madison race.
  10. Islington 1878-Wembley 1951, Coureur, UK, undated cutting
  11. "1923 - The First of the Modern Era". Six Day Cycle Race. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  12. Simpson, Tom (1966), Cycling is My Life, Stanley Paul, UK
  13. "1980 - Allen & Clark Take The Final Race". Six Day Cycle Race. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  14. "What is Six Day?". Six Day Series. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  15. "Nieuw evenement: ‘Six Day Hong Kong’", Baanwacht, 21 January 2019.
  16. "Six Day London confirms line-up". Cyclingnews. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
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