Mexborough & Swinton Times, June 1st 1957
Conisbrough Boy Cyclist, Only 13, Covered 113 Miles In One Day
Even though he is only 13 years old Geoffrey Birch of Conisbrough, is a full member of Conisbrough Ivanhoe Cycling Club and goes with them on nearly every run near or far.
Geoffrey, only son of Mr and Mrs Wilfred C. Birch, of 1, Clifton hill, Conisbrough, is no ‘hanger on’ despite his youth and keeps up with the older more experienced cyclist on all their outings. He has now been a member of the club just over 12 months and holds the clubs 100 mile reliability test certificate in which he had to do 100 miles in less than 7 ½ hours (his time was actually less than 6 ½ hours) and at Whitsuntide he cycled 113 miles to Trout Beck youth hostel in one day, keeping up with the other members all the way except for the steepest of hills. And his modest comment on this feat was: “A bit hard”.
Geoffrey, a schoolboy at Conisbrough Northcliffe modern school, now has only one ambition – it is to finish the Tour de France, the two months arduous test for the best cyclists in the world.
Geoffrey has also taken part in time trials and did the Don Valley10 mile time trial in 32 minutes,16 seconds. – His modest comment on this was: “it was a bit windy”.
Since he joined the club he has missed only a few runs because of trouble with his machine or illness – he has never missed a run because the distance was too far for him. And at the age of 16, he says he intends taking up road racing seriously and to start training in earnest. At present, he admits his just a bit too young to train seriously.