Kolarz Polski, Vol 1, No 5
Articles in this issue
- Communiqué No. 8 of the board of the Związek Polski Towarzystw Kolarskich, admitting four new member bodies — the cycling sections of the Krusche i Ender works sports club in Pabianice, K.S. "Goplanja" in Inowrocław, the Borkowski Klub Cyklistów in Borek Fałęcki and the professional NCOs' club in Kraków — each at a 20 zł. annual subscription. It also suspends Jan Zybert of S.K. "Resursa" Łódź for four weeks for unsporting conduct at the Helenów track, lists standing suspensions (A.Z.S. Lwów's cycling section, Gabrych, Skórka, Krzemiński and Blicharski), notes changed club addresses, and announces a gold token for the fastest winning time in any provincial championship road race of 1926.
- The Z.P.T.K.'s regulations for the 100 km unpaced provincial road championship: entry restricted to licence-holding members of clubs based in the province, prizes of an enamelled silver, a silver and a bronze token plus a diploma, and a qualifying standard of 3 hrs 40 mins. Sixteen general rules cover the ban on pacing and machine changes, which spares may be swapped and only from riders met by chance on the road, feeding from the roadside rather than from cars, flagged controllers riding at least 100 m behind each group, sealing of machines the day before, and an ambulance car following the last competitor.
- Leading article arguing that Warsaw should become an international cycling centre, now that the rebuilt Dynasy track ranks with the best in Europe and Polish amateurs match the leading foreign riders. It points out that Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Latvia and Estonia all lie closer to Warsaw than to Paris, and predicts that within two years "Warszawa zastąpi Paryż".
- Signed "Fes.", an attack on provincial track promoters who run three-lap heats into a thirty-lap final, so that sprinters are exhausted and long-distance men eliminated before the race that suits them. It sets out a model programme divided by rider type: sprint events of 800–1200 m plus handicaps and standing/flying-start records, middle-distance points races of 3–15 km, Australian elimination races and the 4000 m two-start team race, and stayer events up to 100 km including madison pairs under the French federation's rules.
- Report signed "Sportowiec" on the 105 km road race for the Express Poranny cup, run from Warsaw out through Jabłonna, Nowy Dwór, Pomiechówek and Serock and back to the Dynasy track, with 46 starters and appalling mud-and-flint roads. S. Ziembicki won in 4 hrs 8 min 32 sec after gambling on a sprint over the greasy setts at Karowa, 43 sec ahead of Duszyński with Gronczewski third from Skowroński; Józef Lange, Miller of Łódź, Szenrok of Pabianice and Ignatowicz of Lwów all lost their chances to punctures and breakages. It closes by scolding the thirteen motorists who trailed the leading four.
- A "Kolarz Polski" correspondent's account of the opening track meeting run by S.S. "Union" at Helenów, Łódź, on 25 May, where Szmidt of "Union" beat Zybert, the Polish champion Łazarski and Janociński in the 1200 m final of the main race and also took the Krajowe Derby Wiosenne and the 1600 m handicap. Zerbe of "Szturm" won the American elimination race, Kapłan of "Bar-Kochba" the 1600 m Bieg Otwarcia, and Szmidt with Łazarski the hour-long madison, covering 36 km 400 m for 25 points; Bartodziejski crashed heavily after a bungled change.
- Report on the Zawadzki firm's 50 km road race on the Jabłonna–Struga road, a course chosen by captain Wojtkiewicz that kept the usual crowd of following cars away. Ochniewski won the closing sprint by half a wheel from Kwiatkowski, with Artur Karle third ahead of Krotkiewski and Gronczewski, whose late solo break was caught in the last kilometre; Koszutski and Sobolewski both abandoned with a broken saddle and a puncture. The judging is criticised, while Mazurek of W.T.C. is praised for lending his pump to Sobolewski of the Kalisz club.
- Foreign round-up: a Denmark–Holland match at the Ordrup track, Copenhagen, won 20–10 by the Danes; Blanchonnet's win in the 119 km Paris–Orléans; Jaap Meyer's comeback sprints at Cologne; the 1926 Tour de France enlarged from 5,400 to 6,000 km over seventeen stages from Evian on 20 June to Paris on 18 July; Michard's wins at Hautmont and, from Moeskops and Bergamini, in the Grand Prix de la République at Bordeaux; Henry Hansen's 160 km win at Malmö; the Danish amateur championship; the new 500 m track at Krefeld; Abegglen's Swiss amateur title at Oerlikon, Zurich, with Egg and P. Suter taking the professional and stayer titles; and Debusschere's overall win in the four-stage Tour of Belgium.
- A notice from the editors asking all provincial correspondents to send topical manuscripts by registered post no later than five days before the number goes to press, so that reports and communiqués from the provinces are not held over.
- Home news: the newly constituted board of the Warszawskie Towarzystwo Cyklistów under prince Seweryn Czetwertyński; the reopening of the rebuilt Dynasy track, redesigned by engineer Fr. Szymczyk with more elliptical 35° bankings said to allow 120 km/h for motor-paced racing; and Jan Głowacki's win over 13.5 km in 27 min 35 sec from 244 starters in the Express Poranny street race. Club reports follow from Mława, Włocławek, Łódź, Piotrków (the new P.T.K. "Siła"), Częstochowa (K.S. "Victoria" and its three-year jubilee), Sosnowiec, Drawsko, Kraków, Lwów, Kęty, Grudziądz and Wieliczka, whose meeting included a 5 km women's race won by Janina Kwaśniewska of "Sokół" Podgórze.