Feature: Glenn Longland signs Golden Book

The Pedal Club honoured Glenn Longland at its March meeting by inviting him to sign his entry in The Pedal Club Golden Book of Cycling

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Feature: Glenn Longland signs Golden Book
By Chris Lovibond

Glenn Longland is a true all round cycling competitor: his career spans membership of the GB Junior Cyclo-Cross Team to a legendary solo break and stage victory in the Peace Race.

At home, he was an RRA record breaker and, among a number of national time trial championship victories, he was twice British Best All Rounder Champion (1986 and 1991). However, his most memorable achievement must be the 1991 twelve hour competition record of 300.84 miles. This was the first 25 mph ride at the distance – a target which many others had unsuccessfully tried to attain.

The Golden Book of Cycling was started by ‘Cycling’ (as the magazine was then named) and the original volume was presented at the 1932 BAR concert (see this link here). It was intended to be “a record of the great deeds and golden moments of cycling”, and the first signatory was the greatest time triallist of that era, Frank Southall.

The Book was then handed back to Roland Dangerfield, the managing director of the magazine, “to remain in the journal’s permanent care”. Although this was an excellent project and continued for four decades with a further seventy two pages being signed by the sport’s great and good, the magazine’s management eventually became bored by their responsibility and the last signature under Cycling’s auspices was that of Hugh Porter in 1972.

More recently the Pedal Club has revived the Book. The initiative first came from Eddie Wingrave and Keith Robins who succeeded in reaching an agreement, in 1991, with Cycling Weekly’s then owners that they would not object to a ‘Pedal Club Golden Book’. In 2001 the magazine handed over the original Book to the Pedal Club for safe keeping.

The Pedal Club Golden Book is now under the care of the current president, Steve Bullen, who has reinvigorated the project with a new calligrapher and is working through a backlog of celebrities. The first of the current tranche of signatories was Phil Liggett who signed at the club’s October meeting.

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