Cecil McKaig started riding for the Effra Conservative CC in Brixton and finished third in the novices half-mile handicap race at Herne Hill in his début season 1905, despite conceding 30 and 35 yards respectively to the first two men home. He won the 10-mile club title for the Tritton Trophy that first year, and retained it in 1906-07. McKaig moved to the top London club Putney AC in 1908 and, whilst an Olympic call-up came, in the tandem with Ted Piercy, very few major honours came his way. McKaig and Piercy did, however, finish second in the two-mile tandem event at the 1909 London Centre Championships at Herne Hill, and in September that year, they set a new record for the quarter-mile tandem flying start record at 23.4 seconds.