St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-07-05
RAN NECK and NECK.
The Twenty-Five Mile Bicycle
Race Attracted a Big
Crowd.
1t Is Keenly Contested and
Won by George
Craemer.
Burney Bird Makes the Best
Time, 1 Hour rs Minutes
80 Seconds. /
A Number Of the Competi-
tors Played Out by
the Hill.

bicycle race, under the auspices of the
st: Paul Cycle club, was run on the
Lake Como boulevard yesterday after
noon. The day was perfect in every
respect. and long before the start the
greensward of the park was covered
with gay throng, of which the ladies
were in the majority: and if bright
smiles and waving handkerchiefs could
have won the race, many of the riders
would have received first prize. The
by-pathS, too. were crowded with inter-
ested spectators, while carriages of
every description blOckaded every side
street awaiting the start of the race.
The race was run on a fair track. but
the hill on the western end bothered
some of the riders. Thirteen times the
riders had to encircle the track to COM
plete the twenty-five miles. Out of fifty
entries only thirty started, but the race
proved to be hard-fought one. as each
rider was in it for blood. The handi-
cap eyened things up i'll good shape and
made it one of the closest and most eX-
citing races ever run in the NorthW est.
The contestants and their handicaps
were:
Nelson and Holbrook, IS minutes: G. T.
Bisby. W. E. Becker, Gus Benson, H. H.
Hodson and Al. Bloomquist, II minutes; s.
s. Reem and Gus Nelson, 10 minute; A.
Scheioe, minutes; o. Rudd, w. j. Martin,
the skater, McDiarmid and NJ. A. Smith.
8 minutes; H. F. Hatch. o. M.Hokanson and
George Cramer, minutes; P c. Avery, 6
minutes; George Biggs and Ed Kately,
minutes; Strom, Harrison, w. S. Day, W. j.
Martin ana A Munich, minutes; E. j. Hale.
minute; A. Graham. D. Van Week, B. Bird
and W. l.. Marks, scratch.
The Start
At 1926 Starter Collie Bell gave the
word Ego" to the eighteen-minute men.
who quickly vanished up the track, and
at 3:44 Graham. Marks, Bird and Won
Week, the scratch men. were started,
and the race was on. Holbrooke showed
up in the lead the first time around,
with ii. Nelson close behind, but at the
second lap Nelson came in alone and
Holbrooke found the pace too hot and
withdrew. Benson broke his wheel on
the first lap and also quit
Marks was seized with cramps,
weakening on the first lap, and
man ON the third lap, and started out to
win third place, which he did handily.
At the fourth lap tine interest grew
more intense. Hudson took first place
and held it until the eighth. when
Scheibe passed him after q hard strug-
gle. By this time the better riders had
left behind the poorer ones, aud things
began to settle down for the final strug-
gle.
Graham, Bird and VanVleck rode
around i'll the order named, steadily
gaining on the time men, and it was
evidentfthat they would capture the
timespriZes.
On the sixth lap Bird came in sight
leading Graham by six feet. and cheer
arose from the crowd. VanVleck did
not show up until some minutes later,
when he walked in with sprained
knee. The great strain required to
climb the hill had proven too much for
that ailing member. AT the sixth lap
the strain began to tell on most of the
riders, and Bird and Graham
began to creep up to the rid
ers in front, until at the eighth
lap they were within a lap of HodSon.
the leading man. Scheibe led the race
at eight laps and led for two rounds,
when Hodson proved too much and
again led. At twelve laps Hodson
coasted past the line and
Started in to Win
first place, with Scheibe and Cremer
close behind. Graham and Bird did not
gain on the leaders after the eighth lap,
and it was evident that they could not
catch the leaders, but would fight hard
for the first time prize.
The finish of the race was most excit-
ing. The spectators crowded onto the
track, and it was with difficulty that 1t
could be cleared for the finish. The
bunch of time men made their last lap
in surprising time, and flew over the
tape with George Cremer winner by
100 feet, Hodson secoud and Gus Nelson
third.
The race between Bird and Graham
was bitter and hard-fought battle. On
their last lap it was question as to who
would prove the winner. They rode
side by side at terrific pace. neither
gaining the advantage, until within 100
yards of the finish, when Bird, by a
tremendous effort. drew ahead. Graham
redoubled his efforts to regain his posi-
ton, but slipped his pedals, and Bird
won the first time prize by two-fifths of
a second.
The following table shows the cor
rected time of each rider:
Winners of Time Prizes.