Kolarz Polski, Vol 1, No 9
Articles in this issue
- Blunt editorial on the paper's finances: although the general meeting of the Związek Polskich Towarzystw Kolarskich resolved that clubs should support Kolarz Polski as their official organ, only 17 of roughly a hundred affiliated cycling societies paid their subscription for the past four months. The editors warn that they are neither subsidised nor magicians, and will stop posting free copies.
- First instalment of a history of the Polish cycling championship, signed "Sportowiec", tracing it from the founding of the Warszawskie Towarzystwo Cyklistów in 1886 and the touring boom that followed, to the first 100-verst road championship staged by the W.T.C. in 1891 against the objections of the Russian authorities, doctors and public opinion. Describes the machines of the day: iron tubing, solid tyres, a 5/8-inch chain and a weight of about 45 pounds.
- Pomian's angry eyewitness report on the 1926 world track championships at the Velodromo Sempione in Milan, from the customs ordeal that cost the Polish team about 70 lire a bicycle to the Blackshirt militia lining the infield, one of whom stopped Szymczyk at rifle point on his way to the start. Records the heats and the partisan judging (Łazarski's win over Martinetti and Jensen annulled and re-run; Kaufmann given second behind Moretti after clearly winning), the amateur title to Martinetti of Italy, and the professional title to Moeskops of Holland ahead of Moretti, with Kaufmann conceding third to Michard in protest.
- Wł. Junosza's account of the XX Tour de France of 1926, which Henri Desgrange started from Evian rather than Paris to force earlier racing. Jules Buysse took 13 minutes on the opening stage to Mulhouse, Bottecchia lost time steadily and abandoned, and the 326 km Bayonne–Luchon stage over the Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde in storm and fog was won alone by Lucien Buysse, who took the overall lead by half an hour from Tailleu.
- Pomian's history of the unpaced hour record, from the Cambridge man Dodds in 1876 (25 km 508 m) through the Oxford riders Weir and Christie, Arthur Linton's fourteen failed attempts, the Frenchmen Desgrange and Dubuis, Hamilton's first 40 km in 1898, Petit-Breton, and the Berthet–Egg duel that ended with Oscar Egg's 44 km 247 m in June 1914. Notes Berthet's death in the war, Egg's vow never to attempt the record again, and that Poland still has no unpaced hour record of its own.
- Editorial notice asking subscribers to settle payment for copies already sent, failing which this number is to be treated as the last they receive. Correspondents and cycling societies are asked to post their provincial reports and communiqués by registered letter no later than five days before an issue appears.
- A letter signed "Miłośnik Sportu Kolarskiego" contesting the claim in Fes's article "Programy sportowe" (Kolarz Polski No. 5, p. 4) that short-distance racing should head every programme because it shows the maximum of physical fitness and human breeding. The writer argues that every long-distance rider was first a sprinter, that the Polish 1 km record was set by a long-distance man, and that no sprinter has ever attempted the classic hour record.
- Domestic news column. Warsaw: Józef Lange took the 50 km Warsaw championship on the Dynasy track in 1h 21m 8s and a new record 22m 51.2s over 25 km behind motors, while Choiński set Polish motorcycle records of 1m 44.4s for 3 km and 6m 14s for 10 km; also reports from Ciechanów, Częstochowa (R. Daab of C.T.C. city champion), Łódź, Kalisz (Jerzy Koszutski), Sosnowiec, Grudziądz (Feliks Pisarski, Pomeranian championship), Lwów (Ignatowicz), Inowrocław, Borek Fałęcki and Kraków, including the second Kraków–Zakopane mountain classic won by Piotrowicz in 4h 58m 35s and the consecration of Cracovia's new 440 m concrete track, the largest in Poland.
- Foreign news column: the professional world sprint was re-run in Amsterdam, where Moeskops again beat Kaufmann and Michard; Girardengo, in top form, swept the Marseille meeting and won the madison with Binda; Victor Linart of Belgium took the 100 km motor-paced world title at Turin in 1h 24m 17s; France won the amateur road world championship through Dayen (185 km in 5h 57m) and the team title; the Swiss withdrew their riders in protest at the Milan scandals; and the sprinter Poulain was engaged to race in America.