George Anderson

A local West Ham lad, Gerald Anderson was first known to have raced competitively at the West Ham United FC sports at Canning Town in 1902. However, it was not until 1907 that he gained national recognition when, as a member of Forest CC, he won the quarter-mile at the English Amateur Championship at Exeter, beating the Italian Guglielmo Morisetti into second place by five lengths. Anderson also finished third in the one-mile championship. That same year, he also won the Diamond Jubilee Gold Plate, a half-mile scratch race, at the annual Bath CC meeting. To make it a memorable year, Anderson also won the British Empire quarter-mile title at Gosforth, and was runner-up to Ben Jones in the half-mile.

Runner-up to Ernie Payne at the Bath meeting in 1908, Anderson did lower the world record for the quarter-mile on grass from a standing start from 34 to 33 seconds. He then competed at the London Olympics, and shortly afterwards finished second to Dan Flynn in the quarter-mile at the British Empire Cycling Championships at the Belfast Oval. He was also second to Ben Jones n the half-mile again, but was on the England team that won the 10-mile team race. When Ernie Payne won the Bath Diamond Jubilee trophy for the third consecutive year in 1910, Anderson, who was now riding for Polytechnic RC, was again the runner-up.