Roger Whitfield

Leicester´s Roger Whitfield started competitive track cycling in 1960 when he was 16. Two years later he had won the national tandem title with Ian Alsop and was a bronze medallist in the individual pursuit at the Perth British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Whitfield then went to the Tokyo Olympics and was scheduled to compete in the time trial, but after Hugh Porter pulled out of the pursuit squad Whitfield was drafted in. In GB´s heat with Germany, however, Whitfield was involved in a crash with team-mate Brian Sandy. Both men were badly injured but still took part in the re-run. A couple of months before going to Tokyo, Whitfield broke Harry Jackson´s three-year-old record for the 1000 metres standing start with a time of 1:11.5.

It was not until after the Tokyo Games that Whitfield won the first of two national sprint titles. He beat Alsop into second place in 1965 and beat Bob Bicknell in winning his second title in 1969. Whitfield also had podium finishes in 1967 and 1968, when Reg Barnett won each time. Whitfield worked as a clerk for a Leicester plumbing and builders merchants and after his competitive racing days became a cycling coach. He was the British team manager and later the British Cycling Federation´s Youth Development Officer.