HOW TWO WHEELS MADE ROAD RUNNING HISTORY

Those of you who have visited the Comrades Marathon Museum, might have noticed the bicycle on display, which belonged to 5-time winner Arthur Newton. The history of the bicycle, as recalled by Ian Champion, former President of the Road Runners Club (UK), was recorded.

According to Ian, Arthur started running the Comrades Marathon, hoping that if he won, he could draw attention to his dispute with the South African Government. However, it did not have the desired effect. Eventually Arthur moved back to England, where he acquired two second-hand bicycles (in case something happened to one bicycle, he would have a spare one at hand), which he used for exercise, and as a cheap way to travel.

During the 1940’s one of Arthur’s friends, John Jewell, who was a scientist by trade, but also an active road runner, realised that his friend needed financial assistance and offered to buy Arthur’s ‘spare’ bicycle.

In the early 1950s the two friends became involved in the formation of the Road Runners Club. John started researching and testing various methods for measuring distances of road races and devised a system of measurement that uses the number of revolutions of a bicycle wheel.

He made use of Arthur’s bicycle, which became the ‘prototype’ for a gadget subsequently invented, called the Jones Counter.

The bicycle came into the Road Running Club’s possession after Jewell’s wife passed away, and since it played an important part in road running history, Ian offered it to various museums in England, however none were interested. It eventually ended up in the Comrades Marathon Museum, where it still stands proudly on display.