Robert Alan Geldard (16 April 1927 – 26 February 2018) was a British cyclist.

Early life

He was born in

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. He left school at 14 and began to train as a commercial artist. As the Second World War was underway, at 17 he was recruited as a Bevin Boy (meaning that he was conscripted to work as a miner) which he continued until the start of 1948, when he returned to work as a commercial artist.

Cycling career

After the War, rationing was still a fact of life, but being a member of the 1948 Olympic squad, he received extra monthly food parcels which had been donated by the British Empire nations. He won a bronze medal in the

team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, together with David Ricketts, Tommy Godwin and

Wilfred Waters Wilfred Waters (4 January 1923 – 2006), or sometimes referred to as Wilfrid Waters, was a British racing cyclist, one of the top British riders in the 1940s. A member of the South London RC, he competed at many national track events including ...

. The team had to provide their own equipment. At the award ceremony, the organisers had forgotten to bring the medals to the track, so the winners were presented with flowers on the podium - Alan receiving his medal through the post a few weeks later. Alan had taken three weeks off his work as a commercial artist to train for the Games, and then got married a couple of weeks later. On his return, his employer sacked him for taking too much time off. “That was my reward for winning a medal for my country,” he said. Alan was selected to represent England in the 1950 Empire Games in New Zealand: he lost the chance of a medal when he punctured in his event. After his racing career, Alan was involved in coaching. He was a club coach to two Manchester cycling clubs, Abbotsford Park RC and Altrincham RC: with the latter, he notably trained a group of non-specialist riders (Ian Donohue, Nigel Redmile, Ian Binder and

John Herety John P Herety (born 8 March 1958) is a former English racing cyclist. He rode for Great Britain in the Olympic Games and won the national road championship as a professional. He is currently manager of the cycling team, and occasionally provid ...

) to gain silver medal in the National Team Pursuit Championships in both 1979 and 1980. He notably worked alongside, and was a good friend of the Senior Coach

Harold "H" Nelson Harold "H" Nelson BEM (30 January 1928 – 2 July 2016) was a cycling coach credited with helping amateur and professional cycle racing champions. Nelson started to coach cyclists in 1953. From the early days, his methods are based on care of ...

, providing Nelson's riders with specialist track coaching when requested. In the buildup to the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

(London), during a relay of the Olympic Torch around the UK, Alan handed the torch to

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...

, chairman of the

London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) was the organisation responsible for overseeing the planning and development of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was jointly established by the UK Gov ...

Personal life

Geldard married Enid in 1948 and together they had three children. He suffered a stroke in 2001. Geldard died in February 2018 at the age of 90.

Palmarès

;1945 :British Junior Massed Start Road Race Champion ;1947 National Team Pursuit title (Manchester Wheelers) ;1948 :Bronze medallist, Olympic Games, Men's Team Pursuit :National 25 mile track Champion ;1949 :National 25 mile track Champion

References

External links

* * 1927 births 2018 deaths English male cyclists Cyclists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic cyclists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in cycling Sportspeople from Rochdale Cyclists at the 1950 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games competitors for England {{UK-Olympic-medalist-stub