Keith Butler (cyclist)
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Keith Butler (2 September 1938 – 13 March 2019) was a British cycling champion who raced as a professional in
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
and
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and who later organised cycle races in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.


Biography

Butler was born in
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 ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, in 1938. As an
amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
, Butler won stages of the
Milk Race The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the S ...
, the
Tour of Britain The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the S ...
, in 1961 and 1963. He won the national team pursuit championship with colleagues from the Norwood Paragon club, south London, in 1963. He represented
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in the road race at the
1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North Perth. The ...
in
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
, Australia. In 1962 he took part in Peace-Race and finished at 51. He went to Belgium to race soon afterwards. He won his second race, the first of 11 victories.Cycling Weekly, UK, May 2002 He said: :"There'd be so many races that you'd cross one going the other way. And there'd be a lot of catcalling and waving and then you'd get on with the racing. And there'd be no team tactics allowed and there were no service cars or team cars. But what used to happen is that all the riders from, say,
Destelbergen Destelbergen () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Destelbergen proper and Heusden and was created on 1 January 1977, by the fusion of these two municipalities. Its western ...
, would ride together in a group even though they came from four or five different clubs. But that's as far as it was allowed to go. The only times the roads were closed was in criteriums, and that was because they were on circuits of just two or three kilometres and it wouldn't be safe to have traffic on them. But that also meant you couldn't have many riders either, so they'd be invitation only. They'd get two or three good riders to attract the crowd, then all the local boys they could get and if there were any places left over you could get one as a foreigner. But essentially they were just by invitation".Procycling, UK, 2007 He won the professional
British National Road Race Championships The British National Road Race Championships cover different categories of British road bicycle racing events, normally held annually. History Between 1943 and 1958, two separate bodies – the British League of Racing Cyclists The British ...
at
Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upp ...
,
Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, in 1964, beating Albert Hitchen and Ged Coles. He finished third in 1965. He returned to Belgium, took a fully professional licence - until then he had been an independent, a semi-professional allowed to ride with both amateurs and professionals - and rode briefly for
Jacques Anquetil Jacques Anquetil (; 8 January 1934 – 18 November 1987) was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964. He stated before the 1961 Tour that he would gain the y ...
's St-Raphaël team before leaving shortly afterwards for the Ruberg team in
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. Butler earned 5,000 francs a month, he remembers, "which doesn't sound much now but remember that 1,000 francs would get you a flat for a month and that on top of your retainer you got your travel expenses and your prizes." He rode the Belgian spring classics and finished 14th in the
Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...
. He rode for
Tom Simpson Thomas Simpson (30 November 1937 – 13 July 1967) was one of Britain's most successful professional cyclists. He was born in Haswell, County Durham, and later moved to Harworth, Nottinghamshire. Simpson began road cycling as a teenager b ...
, a fellow Briton, in the 1965 world championship in
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
. There he followed Anquetil as the Frenchman began to chase. Anquetil was one of the fastest riders in the world alone. Butler said: "It was like riding behind a bloody motorbike!" He also organised cycle races in southern England. He formed the
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
League, a consortium of organisers, in 1974. It runs 170 races a year. He managed the British road teams at the world championship in
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
and managed other teams in France, the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. His father, Stan Butler, was a significant time-triallist in Britain in an era when the country had only
velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate Track tran ...
racing and dawn competitions on the road against the clock. Stan Butler also rode the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
. Keith Butler's son,
Gethin Butler Gethin ( or ) is a Welsh name with two possible origins. It may mean "dark-skinned, swarthy". In other cases it may originate as a familiar form of the Old Welsh name ''Grippiud'' (strong lord, from "cryf", strong, and "udd", lord or ruler), modern ...
, was a prominent amateur rider in Britain during the 1990s.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Keith 1938 births 2019 deaths English male cyclists British cycling road race champions Cyclists from London Cyclists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for England