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Mark Cavendish wins 2011 Bidlake Memorial Plaque

World champ follows some of GB cycling's most famous as well as less heralded names in receiving honour...

Mark Cavendish has followed in the tracks of some of the biggest names in British cycling, as well as a number of less heralded and nowadays almost forgotten ones, in being named the 2011 winner of the Bidlake Memorial Plaque.

Graham Thompson, Secretary and Treasurer of the FT Bidlake Memorial Trust said “In a year when he won 5 stages of the Tour de France, was the first Briton to win the Green Jersey, won the UCI Road World Championships and was appointed an MBE, Mark Cavendish was the clear winner for the 2011 Award.”

The award, presented annually since 1934, is named in honour of FT Bidlake, who died at the age of 66 the previous year three weeks after being hit by a car as he descended Barnet Hill on his bike, just four months before he had been due to retire to his ancestral home at Great Bidlake in Devon.

Bidlake had set a number of Road Racing Association tricycle records during the 1890s, and also set a 24-hour tricycle ride benchmark at the Herne Hill track of 410 miles, 1,110 yards that would still stand at the time of his death four decades later.

He would go on to become an able administrator, both with the Road Records Association and the Cyclists’ Touring Club. It was his idea to institute the Cyclists’ War Memorial at Meriden, in what is now the West Midlands.

Past winners include some of the greatest names in British cycling on both the road and the track, with the likes of Tom Simpson, Reg Harris, Chris Boardman, Graeme Obree, Sean Yates, Beryl Burton, Mandy Jones, Yvonne McGregor and Nicole Cooke all figuring on the role of honour – although Sir Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins, Barry Hoban, Robert Millar and Victoria Pendleton are among some notable absentees.

Those cyclists whose exploits are unknown beyond these shores have been recognised too, with recent examples being time trial powerhouses Michael Hutchinson and Julia Shaw.

Broadcasters, too are honoured – David Duffield in 1998, and Channel 4 boss Jeremy Isaacs in 1984 for bringing the Tour de France to a wider audience – while Dave Brailsford was honoured in 2008 for masterminding Great Britain’s success at the Beijing Olympics.

Also featured are cartoonist John Helms and artist Frank Patterson, the latter’s citation in 1944 emphasising what is delightfully called his “joyous delineation” of cycling.

But perhaps more than anything, the list of winners reflects those who work for cycling unstintingly behind the scenes, including administrators at national level and organisers of local races, often giving up their time with no reward other than the satisfaction of contributing to the sport they love.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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davebinks | 12 years ago
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I am very pleased to see this going to Mark.

I have been aware of this prestigious award ever since I started cycling nearly 50 years ago and have had the greatest admiration for anyone who even gets nominated for it, never mind actually getting it.

I have actually held one in my hands (Eric Tremaine for his trike record rides) and seeing all the previous winners names it really reads like a roll of honour.

I hadn't heard of it for a while and probably assumed it had fallen by the wayside, but I'm so pleased I was wrong.

I am plesaed that your article gives the background to the award, as, sadly, so much history of this great game is disappering as the incoming journalists in one magazine in particular haven't a clue about anything other than sportives.

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