A look at Manitoba’s cycling history

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/07/2023 (1110 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While looking through the “If you grew up in Winnipeg Manitoba, you remember…” page on Facebook, a cycling photo from 1952 caught my interest. A large group of cyclists was pictured in front of The Paddock restaurant on Portage Avenue, across from what is now the Polo Park Shopping Centre.

The accompanying said that the riders were ready to start the 150-mile Canadian Open bike race from Winnipeg to Kenora, Ont. That immediately got this sports historian searching the newspaper archives for more information. The 1952 event took place on Aug. 4, with Al Stiller, a youth organizer from Chicago, finishing first followed by another Illinois cyclist, Ted Ernst. Winnipeg’s Bill Bullman of the Manitoba Cycling Club was third. Stiller’s winning time was just minutes better that Bullman’s in 1951 when he won the marathon race in seven hours and eight minutes.

Bullman didn’t take much time to rest from his third-place finish as he was back on his bike from Aug. 7 to 9, competing in the Canadian track cycling championships in Winnipeg. Over the three days, the local man proved to be the country’s top sprinter when he first won the 1,000-metre race and followed with victories in the quarter-mile, half-mile and one-mile events on the final day.

Despite Bullman’s accomplishments, the overall championship went to Pat Murphy of Delhi, Ont., with 38 points. Murphy clinched the title when he won the final, 25-mile race (150 laps). Bullman’s chance for the crown ended when he had to drop out after 50 laps. He finished with 28 points, one ahead of Art Johnston of Toronto, who was second in the 25-mile race. Ted Kennington of the Manitoba Cycling Club won the junior championship.

Over the years, our province has produced several outstanding cyclists, whose accomplishments earned them induction into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. Cyclist and speedskater Sylvia Burka was named Manitoba’s female athlete of the century in 2000. Her accomplishments on a bicycle included setting a world record for the 1,000-metre time trail in 1980. Clara Hughes was a seven-time medalist at the Pan Am Games and won two bronze medals in the road race and time trial at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Tanya Dubnicoff cycled in three Summer Olympics and was a four-time Pan Am Games gold medalist, including two won at the 1999 Games in Winnipeg.

Peter Williamson, a HOF inductee as a builder, was a member of Canada’s team pursuit squad at the 1967 Pan Am Games. Lindsay Gauld cycled for Canada’s team at the 1972 Olympics. Like Burka, Hughes, Williamson and Gauld were also competitive speedskaters in the winter.

Jim Fisher won six national titles from 1998 to 2002 and competed in the track team trial at the 2000 Olympics. His grandfather, Erick Oland, who was inducted into the HOF in 1985, won three Canadian championships between 1947 and 1950 and finished sixth in 10-mile event at the 1950 British Empire Games (forerunner of the modern-day Commonwealth Games). Jim Tettamanti was a three-time Canadian titlist in the late 1940s.

Theo Dubois was inducted into the Hall as a rower in 1981, but he was also an accomplished cyclist. When he died at age 100, in June 2011, a Winnipeg Rowing Club report said that he won the Winnipeg to Winnipeg Beach bike race three times. The race was run over 12 miles of pavement and 38 miles of gravel. A Rowing Club member once said that Dubois did it on wooden tires. In 1933, Dubois also defeated American cycling champion Adolph Velthuysen twice in races at the Detroit Velodrome. When Dubois was named Canada’s athlete of the year in 1941, he was the first Canadian from west of Ontario to earn the honour.