Reg harris autobiography of benjamin

Robert Dineen. The sensational story of the rise and fall of Reg Harris, Britain's first cycling hero. Thanks to exhaustive new research and investigation Robert Dineen has unearthed a truly cinematic story. This epic account of Reg Harris's meteoric success takes you from his humble beginnings to his spectacular highs and his dramatic lows.

Born into a poor, working-class family during the Great Depression, Reg Harris left school early to help support his widowed mother working in a bicycle shop. But after winning a local cycling competition, Harris realised his natural abilities and began to train seriously. Working in a paper mill to fund his ambitions, Harris soon started winning enough races to leave the mill and went on to break the rules of amateurism and become the favourite for three titles in the Olympics.

But Harris's dreams of gold were shattered when he was involved in a high-speed car accident that reg harris autobiography of benjamin left him paralysed. However, Harris's determination and drive meant he defied the odds and he went on not only to compete in the Olympics but to win two silver medals. From there, Harris's career went stellar and he became one of the most famous sporting figures in the land, eclipsing even footballers.

Winning five World Championships between andfame, money and adulation followed, and with it an insatiable appetite for beautiful women, fine wine and fast cars that all threatened to destroy him. After blowing all his money, two failed marriages and a disastrous business venture, Harris made a shock come-back winning the British Championship at age He was a professional cyclist between and and made a one year comeback in winning the British National Sprint Championship.

A brief biography from Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, is reproduced below. Reg won five track world championships in his illustrious career:. He owned the Fallowfield Outdoor Cycle Track in Manchester and raced there often at international meetings. His greatest rivals were Oscar Plattner and Arie van Vliet. It is the work of James Butler RA and was unveiled when the velodrome opened in Bury Section celebrated its 50th Anniversary in and a major social event took place on the 7 th November of that year at the Lord Raglan, Nangreaves on the hills above Bury.

When Reg died insome older members of the Section who could remember riding with him attended his memorial service at Bury Parish Church. Go to the 'Photo Gallery' page to see images of Reg. Reg Harris. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Reginald - 'Reg' - Hargreaves Harris March 1, - June 22, was a reg harris autobiography of benjamin British track racing cyclist in the s and s.

He won the world amateur sprint title intwo Olympic silver medals inand the professional title in,and His ferocious will to win made him a household name in thes, but he also surprised many with a comeback more than 20 years later, winning a British title in at the age of Early life. Reginald Hargreaves was born in the tiny hamlet of Birtle, near Bury, Greater Manchester, the son of a musician who died when he was six.

His mother subsequently remarried and Reginald took the name of his step-father, a textile worker called Harris. Set-back: defeat in '52 and ' Success: Harris's fourth and final professional title. To expand the story add in his first visit to a Worlds, Milan in on the eve of war, when the British squad beat a tactical retreat on the eve of competition fearing the world was on the edge of a new world war.

Then add in the fade to grey of Harris's professional career and the story of what happens when a champion cyclist hangs up his wheels. The first comes from the prologue:. You learn for example, that he found the circumstances of his childhood so shameful that he kept them secret all his life. You find that the most powerful people in the sport conspired against him, yet still he prevailed.

You are told also that he was as ruthless away from the track as he was on it, and made more enemies than he did friends. Gradually you learn that he was defined as much by his pursuit of women as that of success. In short, pick away at the surface of his life, and you discover that much about it was not quite as it seemed. Let's now jump to another quote, this from toward the end of the book.

An important source for some of the story Dineen tells is Harris's daughter from his first marriage, Marilyn Harris:. Should those close to him read the book, I expect they might finds aspects of it difficult. I hope that they do not judge it to be opportunist, inspired by its conflicts and criticisms. I set out hoping to write the life of a hero whose story had not been properly told.

Only researching it did I discover him to be more intriguing than I could have imagined. I promised Marilyn that I would try. How well does Dineen pull of the task of telling Harris's story? Well, he strives for balance. For just about every negative thing that can be said about Harris, Dinnen strives to find something positive to say. Sometimes this involves Dineen over stretching himself such as when he imbues Harris with a false prescience in predicting bike lanes and the future of British Cycling.

Other times it involves taking a bucket of whitewash to problematic issues. Especially the doping issue. Harris - like many of his generation - is generally considered to have doped. In Harris's day, it's important to point out, there were no rules telling you not to dope, they didn't arrive until the 'sixties. But doping was still a moral issue.

An issue that riders, fans and the media were increasingly conscious of. Dineen acknowledges that Harris employed the services of a soigneur who was well known for the contents of his little black bag, Louis Guerlach. There are also Harris's admissions that he had tried doping but, finding it didn't work, gave up on it:. But I found that my nerve control was harmed by it.

It was a failure, although I am not ashamed to admit that, had I found it a success, I would have used it in world-title events. According to Dineen's version of the story, Harris doped twice for competition and then never again. He may have used amphetamines when driving to and from races lots of people did in those days, in all walks of life but those two competitive occasions apart, Harris raced clean.

So what was he doing working with Louis Guerlach? That was the deal: Guerlach had to stay with Reg. Archive maintained by 'The Pedal Club'. Limburgs Dagblad in Dutch. Cycling Archives. Retrieved 19 October Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original PDF on 5 June The F. Bidlake Memorial Trust. Sports Journalists' Association.

Reg harris autobiography of benjamin

Bibliography [ edit ]. Further reading [ edit ]. External links [ edit ]. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Reg Harris. Authority control databases. United States. Hidden categories: CS1 Dutch-language sources nl Webarchive template archiveis links Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Use British English from April Use dmy dates from August Commons category link from Wikidata Sports-Reference template missing archive parameter.

Toggle the table of contents. Reg Harris. Reginald Hargreaves Harris [ 1 ]. Cyclists' Touring Club. Manchester Wheelers' Club. Raleigh Cycles -Dunlop.