Ken Russell - the Whitaker and Mapplebeck years
By: Ken Russell“My association with Whitaker & Mapplebeck began with a visit by Geoff Whitaker to see me at my place of work,
(Martins The Cleaners) in late 1946, when he asked me if I would like to join them in their new business venture. I jumped at the chance as I had always wanted to be a cycle mechanic since leaving school in 1943 at the age of 14.
I started as a mechanic but went on to learn the whole business including wheel-building, servicing Sturmey Archer gears etc. and later some frame building when I assisted with the building of their first frame, a welded model, which was given to me for my competitions. It was completed just in time for our club's 1947 August Bank-holiday long weekend which started at Alston, Cumbria.
Because
Geoff and I were working on the Saturday we did not leave for Alston
until mid-afternoon on that day. Johnny was left to look after the
shop !!! About 5 miles before Alston I
noticed that
one of the front fork ends had broken loose. The brazing had failed but
as the bike was still safe to ride with care it was decided that I
would ride it through the following week (I was taking my week's
holiday then along with two members of our
club). The
following Sunday I had entered the "Shropshire Hospital 3rd &
Jnr. RR". Geoff had arranged to make another pair
of forks. He arrived at the changing rooms a couple of hours
before the start
complete with a new pair of forks, enamelled and chrome plated, which
were discreetly changed. Off I went feeling quite elated and won my
very first road race.
Ken finishing 2nd in the 1947 Burbage Road Race
on his welded W & M
Early in 1948 we discovered a hairline crack in the welded frame and by this time they were building lugged frames so one was built for me. In terms of numbers of wins and places this was to be the most successful frame I ever had,
including
three RAF championships, 50, 100, and massed start road races, plus
three of the BLRC's toughest road races, the " CJ Fox Memorial RR , the
"Severn Valley GP" , the "GW BELL Memorial RR” (three times
round
the Nidderdale course) and, in 1949, the top BLRC Road Race, "The Tour
of The Peak". Unfortunately, the whole bike was stolen Dec
1949. I had just arrived home on leave and I parked
my bike
in the yard at the side of the W&M shop. 3 mins later it was
gone and I
never saw it again.The next frame was another lugged frame, built with the latest "Nervex" lugs and was one of the first to be named "Scelta dei Campioni" (choice of the champions). Perhaps my best performance on this was 2nd place in the 1950 Brighton to Glasgow, beaten by Ken winning the C J Fox Memorial RR on a
the late,
great, George
Lander. I used this bike until late 1951 when I
lugged
W & M in 1948
joined the Ellis Briggs company.”
joined the Ellis Briggs company.”
 Ken taking first place by a whisker to win the Baslow Road Race in 1949
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 Ken looking very stylish climbing Hollings Hill in the 1949 Brighton-Glasgow Race where he finished 5th overall
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In 1952 Ken went on to win the Tour of Britain as lone rider of the Ellis Briggs team. He had many other successes, as you can see from his CV below:
| 1947 1st. Shropshire Hospitals 3rd and Junior 1st. Bradford RCC Time Trial - Junior 1st. National Hill Climb Champs - Junior 1948 1st. Airedale Olympic MTT 1st. Moss Moor MTT 1st. C.J. Fox Memorial Road Race 1st. Severn Valley GP 1st. G.W.Bell Memorial Road Race 1949 1st. Moss Moor Road Race 1st. Baslow Road Race 1st. Tour of the Peak 1st. RAF Massed Start Champs 1st. RAF Swinderby Massed Start 1st. RAF Binbrook Massed Start 1st. (First day) Cleveland 2 Day Road Race 5th overall Brighton - Glasgow Time Trials 1st. RAF Northern Counties Championships 1st. RAF 100 mile Championships 1st. RAF 50 mile Championships 1st. RAF Swinderby 25-mile 1st. RAF Scampton 25-mile 1st. RAF Bawtry 25-mile 1st. RAF Syerston 25-mile 1st. Louth 25-mile 1st. RAF Binbrook MTT 1st. RAF Leconfield 25-mile |
1950 2nd. Brighton - Glasgow (winner of Bradford - Newcastle Stage – 124 miles) 1st= Tour of the Chase Road Race 3rd. National Independents Champs 1st. Circuit of New Mills 1st. (second day) Manchester - Llandudno 2-day 1st. Sheffield - Burton, East Midlands 3 day 1st. Bradford RCC 25-mile TT 1951 1st. Nottingham - Sheffield 3 day Tour of Britain: Winner of stage 5 Cardiff - Wolverhampton (112 miles) 1952 (Now riding for Ellis Briggs) 1st overall - Tour of Britain winning: Stage 2 Southsea – Weymouth 85½ miles Stage 5 Aberystwyth-Blackpool 179miles Stage 11 Newcastle – Scarborough 88 miles 1st. Chesterfield Road Race 1st. Yorks Champs Road Race 2nd. Dover - London 2nd. Wolverhampton - Llangollen - Wolverhampton 1st. Jackson Trophy Road Race 1st. Wilsden Road Race Time Trials 1st. Sheffield RCC MTT 1st. Bradford RCC 25-mile 1953 1st. Border Grand Prix, Newcastle 1955 1st. Midland Grand Prix 3rd. National Independents Champs 1st. Buxton Road Race |
A collage of Ken coming third in the National Independent Championships in 1950