Meet Britain’s Oldest Cycling Champion at 89 Years Old

Real Fix

Credit: SWNS  Britain's oldest cycling champion is eyeing up another title despite being 89 - and says he has no plans to stop racing.   Walter Fowler racked up another win this month as he faced off younger riders to claim the crown in an over 80's 2km pursuit event with a time of three minutes and 17 seconds.  The retired marketing manager - known affectionately as Wally to friends - has cycled all over the world after taking up the hobby when he was aged 15 in 1949.  Walter, who has one grown-up son, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, believes he is Britain's oldest competitive track cyclist.   He previously broke the record in the one-hour time trial at the Geraint Thomas velodrome in Wales in 2019 in the 85-89 category covering 34.602km/21.5miles.  On October 7 he beat a total of 26 cyclists when he won the 2km pursuit event at the 2023 World Masters Track Championships in Manchester.

Transcript

00:00 Got to the age of 74 in 2007 and was wondering,

00:06 could I restore my youth and ride on the track again?

00:11 My name is Walter Fowler. I'm 89 and I've been riding a bike since 1950.

00:25 My introduction to cycling was in the track. That was at Brighton, Preston Park, Brighton.

00:38 I was mainly concerned with sprinting rather than endurance work,

00:43 so I was primarily riding at short distance, 200 and 500 metres,

00:51 and perhaps the occasional, but not usually, the pursuit,

00:55 because my accent was on fast, very fast work rather than endurance work.

01:02 And even at that age, one is used to the idea that you have to concentrate on a certain type of,

01:11 training for a certain type of activity.

01:20 I started track racing and cycling at the age of 15 and continued with that for a few years

01:30 until a change of life, change of business and that kind of thing.

01:34 And after that, there was a gap while I was doing mainly touring work.

01:40 And I got to the age of 74 in 2007 and was wondering,

01:47 could I restore my youth and ride on the track again?

01:52 I decided that it was worth a try and I joined

02:01 Hell's Owen Cycling Club because it had an outdoor track and I had that facility

02:08 in which to test myself and to train.

02:10 And I found that I was quite capable of riding the track again.

02:15 And my first medal, first world medal in Masters track racing was in 2008,

02:26 the following year, when I went to Sydney and won the 500 World Masters Championships.

02:33 I've won altogether three Masters Championships of various age categories.

02:47 There are four involved from 74 up to the present age of 89, there are four categories involved.

02:53 So I've won three championships and also achieved eight world records

03:00 at distances from 200, 500, 2K pursuit and the power.

03:06 The World Masters Championship for 2023 at Manchester and I rode the two kilometre pursuit.

03:25 I wasn't entirely happy with my performance because I was slower than my record,

03:31 but nevertheless faster than my competitor on the other side of the track.

03:38 you

03:39 you

03:40 you

03:41 (music fades)

03:43 [MUSIC]

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