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McLeod’s Rise to
Top Epic of Cycling Game
Toronto Messenger Unknown
a Short Time Ago - Now Hero of Canada’s British Empire Team
Wants to be Six Day Racer
Toronto Star, August 15, 1934
Virtually unknown a month ago, Bob McLeod Toronto’s pedal-pushing
C.N.T. messenger is today, one of the heroes of Canada’s British Empire
team. The raw-boned six-footer thrilled Canada’s many bike racing fans
when he showed his dust to the best bikemen in the British Empire to
win the 10-mile cycling championship for the Land of the Maple Leaf
recently.
They will probably welcome him back with a band and all the trimmings
when he arrives home. Yet a few short weeks ago he was just another
telegraph messenger boy pushing his wheel through the streets of
Toronto. Mrs. McLeod’s eldest son is a real conquering hero and
deserves all the credit that can be tossed his way.
No one gave him a chance to win when the team departed. They admitted
he was the best of the Canadian cycling crop but were of the opinion
that the change of climate and the brilliant Australian would prove too
much for him.
Even Norm Wardell, president of the Maple Leaf Bike Club, of which
McLeod is a member, held faint hope for his charge’s chances. He
thought that Bob might possibly catch a second but was agreeably
surprised when news of the Canadian champion’s victory was flashed
across the ocean.
However, like Sam Richardson, another Torontonian, McLeod demonstrated
that the best way to get a reputation is by producing the goods when
the stakes are high. Both these youthful Canucks were able to do just
that and today are sitting on the top of the empire in their respective
fields of athletic endeavor.
The fact that their victories were glorious and all Canada can be proud
of these two youngsters.
McLeod’s rise to the top of the bike racing game has been short and
sensational. He decided to enter the bike racing game two and a half
years ago after delivering telegrams for over three years. He was a
star right from the start and has more than lived up to the
expectations of his friends and boosters by his effort in his short
period of campaigning.
While the new champion is over the six-foot mark, he is on the slender
side and according to racing experts can both sprint and stay the
distance. Shortly before he left for England, McLeod cleaned up in
everything ranging from one to ten mile events, proving his right to
the title of Canada’s outstanding cyclist.
Bob’s many pals on the C.N.T. are staging a gala reception for him when
he hits town but the welcome that will mean the most to him will be the
one at his home on Silverthorne Ave. There his young brother and sister
wait patiently for the day when they will be able to tell their big
brother just how good he is.
Mr. And Mrs. McLeod are the quiet and retiring type of people. They are
thrilled over their son’s brilliant victory, but will wait until Bob
comes home before shouting their praises. Both knew that he was in the
bike racing game but little realized that he would come home crowned
champion of the British Empire.
His ambition is to be a six-day bike-rider. He wants to share the
spotlight with Peden and the rest of the stars of this thrilling sport.
Bob’s ambition almost spelled finish to his racing career. He entered
the amateur races on the Saturday before the six-day professional race
at he Mutual St. arena this spring. He started out with a flock of
other simon-pure pedal pushers, full of ambition and desire to show
Willie Spencer just how good he was. Bob was turning it on with a
vengeance as he neared the northeast turn and was going along in fine
style.
However, misfortune in the shape of three novice riders ahead cropped
up. Their wheels touched and they started to fall. Swinging wide to
miss them, Bob cut over to the top of the steep turn, his front wheel
hit the top railing and he sailed out into space. He fell to the bottom
of the arena outside the bowl, a drop of about 20 feet, but fortunately
did not land head first or there would have been another Empire
champion instead of Bob McLeod.
The injured youth looked like an Egyptian mummy when the boys finished
patching him up. But he showed that he had the stuff that made
champions when he stated that he would be back for another try. His
next attempt will probably be as a regular. The effort he turned in at
the Empire Games has earned him a trial as a pro if he wishes it and he
will probably get it.
This lad thrives on work and if what Norm Wardell, the big gun of the
Maple Leaf Bicycle club, of which McLeod is a member, says is true, we
will soon see his name up along side of that of the one and only Torchy
Peden.
We hope that Bob’s decline is as slow as his rise to the top was rapid.
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