Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree targets new world record - BBC Sport BBC Sport Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree targets new world record 17 Dec 2011 Read more about sharing. Obree was nicknamed the Flying Scotsman after breaking the hour time trial record Scots cyclist Graeme Obree has set his sights on a new world record, aiming to break the human-powered vehicle land speed time by a considerable margin. Obree, 46, famed for his unusual bike designs and unorthodox cycling positions, is hoping to break the current 83mph record on a new vehicle. "I don't want to curse it, but I would like to do 100mph," said Obree. "If everything was perfect, with the power output and aerodynamic drag then 100mph might be possible." Obree was nicknamed 'The Flying Scotsman' after he broke the hour time-trial record on a bicycle he built himself from washing machine parts, but retired from top-level cycling in 2001.

I'm always thinking what the limits are - I take everything to a limit where it can be - and that's what sport is all about; taking everything to its possible limit Graeme Obree He was depicted by actor Jonny Lee Miller in a film in 2006 and was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame last March, but now he wants to take cycling to its ultimate limit. "I am setting out to attack the world land speed record, which is on a bicycle, but there's no rules," Obree told BBC Scotland. "It's a branch of the sport called human powered vehicles. The record is set as under the same conditions as cars - it's on a flat road, not wind assisted, and with no other vehicle assistance. "It'll be on a straight, flat road, probably in Colorado at Battle Mountain." The trial will see Obree gather speed in a rocket-like transporter that contains a flat bike and a protective membrane which he has been working on for 15 years. The Scot believes his own determination and refusal to accept limitations has inspired him to seek goals that seem impossible or unattainable. "I'm building the bike myself with some help," added Obree.

"The whole thing is no more than three feet off the ground - it's basically a human torpedo - you pedal it like fury. "I've kept my fitness over the past few years and I've kept it going which means I have good shout of getting the power up. "I've been thinking about this for 15 years - but when it comes to the skin, it's not my area of expertise. "The skin is a vitally important combination of carbon and Kevlar in case you fall off at 100mph. If that happens, then you're going to lose some of your own skin, which is not worth thinking about.

"I'm always thinking what the limits are - I take everything to a limit where it can be - and that's what sport is all about: taking everything to its possible limit." Share this page The Flying Scotsman rides again: Graeme Obree reveals Beastie, the bicycle he'll ride in an attempt to break world record | Daily Mail Online show ad The Flying Scotsman rides again: Graeme Obree reveals Beastie - the bicycle he'll ride in an attempt to break world record Former Olympic cyclist Graeme Obree, 47, will make a comeback this year in the World Human Powered Speed Challenge Obree has made a bicycle, named Beastie, out of recycled materials in his kitchen which he road-tested last week He rides the bike in a prone position - head-first and two feet six inches off the ground Obree broke four world records in the 1990s on his homemade bike Old Faithful The record for the World Human Powered Speed Challenge is 82.4 miles per hour, held by Sam Whittingham 'Flying Scotsman' Cyclist Obree Sets A New Speed Record : The Two-Way : NPR 'Flying Scotsman' Cyclist Obree Sets A New Speed Record British cyclist Graeme Obree, 

48, celebrates setting the land speed record for prone cycling at the International Human Powered Vehicle track near Battle Mountain, Nevada.

AFP/AFP/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption AFP/AFP/Getty Images British cyclist Graeme Obree, 48, celebrates setting the land speed record for prone cycling at the International Human Powered Vehicle track near Battle Mountain, Nevada. AFP/AFP/Getty Images Cyclist Graeme Obree, 48, has set a new world speed record for prone bicycles, as the man known as the Flying Scotsman topped 56 mph during a session at the just-completed World Human Speed Championships , held at Battle Mountain in the Nevada. Pedaling with his nose less than an inch away from the front wheel of his custom-built, smooth-skinned bike, Obree finally succeeded Friday, after early runs failed to break the record of 54.9 mph set by Steve Ball in 1983. Obree's final session on the flat desert highway was a success, setting a new mark for a prone rider on a two-wheeled bike, cycling head-first on his belly. He was clocked at 56.62 mph. "The timekeeper announced it was a new world record and that is a strange feeling.

I've not heard that for 20 year, so I'm still absorbing it, that's nice and anything else is a bonus," Obree tells BBC Radio Scotland . Obree accomplished his feat on The Beastie — a bike that he designed and partially built in his kitchen. It is noted for including parts of a saucepan and roller-skates. The mechanics of the bike are great, Obree tells Scotland's The Daily Record , but he adds that he's learned that it's shape isn't as aerodynamic as it needs to be to go faster. Article continues after sponsorship A winner of two world pursuit championships in the 1990s who set a world record by riding nearly 53 miles in one hour in 1994, Obree refused to take part in professional racing because he didn't want to take performance-enhancing drugs, as Velo Nation reports. In addition to Obree's riding ability, he is credited with introducing technical and design innovations that challenged the sport of cycling — ideas that were, in some case, banned by the authorities. Handlebars that extend the rider's hands forward over the front wheel are part of his legacy.

As the film The Flying Scotsman detailed, his story also includes severe struggles with depression. A Toronto team at the competition gave Obree a chance to set another record on Friday, by riding its exotic entry called Vortex. But he didn't finish a run on the bike, citing concerns for his safety — and a sense that he'd done enough in Nevada. "Vortex has already gone at speeds in excess of 75 mph and I had her up to 45 mph and was hardly pedaling," Obree tells The Record. "However, the steering was too fine for me to control without much more practice. I had to freewheel at times over the course just to regain control." If high-speed prone cycling is your game, you might consider that The Beastie is now up for sale. Obree says he's retiring from competitive cycling — perhaps even burning his shoes — and selling the bike, The Record reports. Or you could emulate another idea of Obree's, and add fairing to your bike. In a recent interview, he told the Road.cc site , "I believe most bikes should have a fairing of some kind at the front almost like a moped, which would make it 20 percent more efficient.

But that would make it faster than a racing bike." 'The Flying Scotsman': Great Scot | Toronto Star Movies 'The Flying Scotsman': Great Scot The Flying Scotsman provides a few answers to that (mildly) vexing question, Why make a sports bio-pic? Everyone already knows the outcome, the plot, theme and main characters. By Susan WalkerEntertainment reporter Fri., May 4, 2007 Starring Jonny Lee Miller, Billy Boyd and Brian Cox. Directed by Douglas Mackinnon. Written by John Brown and Declan Hughes. 97 minutes. At major theatres. 14A The Flying Scotsman provides a few answers to that (mildly) vexing question, Why make a sports bio-pic? Everyone already knows the outcome, the plot, theme and main characters. Article Continued Below Chariots of Fire, the 1981 film about two British athletes competing to enter the 1924 Olympics, set the template for contemporary sports drama on the big screen where Harold (a Jewish university student) and Eric (a Scottish missionary) have issues beyond beating each other on the track.

And so did Graeme Obree, the Scottish cyclist who broke the one-hour world record in 1993, cycling 51.596 kilometres around the wooden oval track of the Hamar Velodrome in Norway. Obree was an unemployed amateur cyclist who broke the world record on a bicycle he made from washing-machine parts. He revolutionized the sport by changing the bicycle handles and the position of the rider, inventing the so-called "Superman" stance. In this tidy film, he is depicted as a clever fellow, in love with his wife and child, running a cycle shop in a Scottish village. The shop fails and he has to take a job as a cycling courier. In the course of this work, Obree meets Malky, a fellow cyclist, and persuades him to help in his crazy plan to break the cycling record. Obree should be on top of the world, but he isn't. He suffers from debilitating, suicidal depression and has no interest in seeking treatment for his condition. Taking the ups and downs of an athlete's career as a plot is pretty simple stuff.

Screenwriters John Brown and Declan Hughes supply a motive, showing wee Obree being chased and beaten by bullies until the day his parents give him a bicycle for Christmas. And Obree wrote an autobiography, The Flying Scotsman, which must have had some bearing on the proceedings. Douglas Mackinnon, a Scottish TV director, demonstrates only rudimentary filmmaking skills in slicing up the biography to build tension. Yet this is a story that more or less tells itself. The beautiful Scottish landscape does its part, and so do lead actors Jonny Lee Miller (Hackers, but best known as a former husband of Angela Jolie) as Obree, Billy Boyd (On a Clear Day) as Malky, the sidekick and eventual manager, and Brian Cox (Match Point, Running with Scissors), a key supporter who happens to be a clergyman. Laura Fraser plays Anne Obree, a standard sympathetic but helpless wife who is sidelined to her husband's athletic pursuits. The bike Obree built and named Old Faithful is identical to the one in the film, and may even be the real article.

You want to learn Obree's story, because depression really is a kind of hell on Earth, and this man overcame it to win a championship no one ever expected him to win. When he failed in his first attempt to break the hour record in 1993, he insisted on doing the gruelling course again, the very next day. In 1995 he again beat the odds makers, winning the world pursuit record on Old Faithful. For all its dramatic manipulation, The Flying Scotsman succeeds, in a modest way, because it's true. Flying Scotsman breaks world record Flying Scotsman breaks world record Sport Saturday 14 September 2013 - 9:11am British racing cyclist Graeme Obree high-fives a teammate after setting the land speed record for prone style racing at the International Human Powered Vehicle track near Battle Mountain, Nevada,on September 13, 2013. Photo: AFP PHOTO/DEREK R.

HENKLE BATTLE MOUNTAIN - Former Scottish cycling champion Graeme Obree set a new world record Friday, hurtling head-first across the Nevada desert at over 50 mph on a prone-style bike called "The Beastie." The 48-year-old, known as "The Flying Scotsman," broke a 30-year-old record for a one-man prone machine by reaching 56.6 mph (91.1 kph) at the World Human Powered Speed Challenge event near Battle Mountain, in the western US state. "It feels good," he said after setting the record on his last ride -- and he admitted it wasn't looking good after his initial times were well off the pace. "I thought, oh my goodness I'm going to struggle a bit... I started off with 47 miles an hour, then 48, then 52. I thought, 'Now hold on, I've really really got to nail this,' so last chance. "I really nailed it and gave it absolutely everything... this was the last chance, the last ride," he added.

The Nevada event, in its 14th year, tests riders on "what is arguably the straightest, flattest, and smoothest road surface in the world," according to organisers. At an altitude of 4,619ft (1,408m), they can accelerate over four miles to reach their maximum velocity being timed over a 200-meter distance. In his top cycling days -- when he was known for his distinctive aerodynamic helmet and riding position -- Obree twice set the world hour record in 1993 and 1994, and he was the 4,000 m pursuit champion in 1993 and 1995. In 2006 his story was made into a film called "The Flying Scotsman," which told how he built his bike from old bits of washing machines, won glory on the world cycling stage but also suffered lows, including with mental health problems. BBC SPORT | Other Sport... | Cycling | Flying Scotsman Flying Scotsman By Tom Fordyce Professional cyclists tend to be strange people - loners, masochists, obsessives.

It's the nature of the sport - the pain of the training, the hours spent out on the roads alone, the agony of racing. Obree and Jonny Lee Miller on the set of The Flying Scotsman But even by those standards, Graeme Obree is a man apart. Obree was the amateur time-trialler from rural Scotland who shocked the sporting world by smashing the legendary one-hour record - twice. He did it on a bike he'd made himself, with parts taken from his washing-machine, riding in a bizarre tuck position that no-one had ever attempted before. He was also a manic-depressive who tried to kill himself on at least three different occasions, a maverick who saw his radical bikes and riding positions banned by cycling authorities and an outsider ostracised by pro cycling for his refusal to take drugs. Now, after a 10-year period during which, by the man's own admission, "no-one was interested in anything I was doing," Obree's tumultuous life is the subject of a new film, The Flying Scotsman, with Jonny Lee Miller playing the lead role.

Obree had already tried to commit suicide - inhaling acetylene gas in his dad's garage - when, in 1993, he decided to break the hour record, the event that was to catapult him into the sporting spotlight. Cycling had always been a form of escape - a way of fleeing the "black mist" - for Obree, who suffered from terrible bullying as a youngster because of his father's job as a policeman. OBREE'S HONOURS Broke world hour record 1993 Broke same record again, 1994 Individual pursuit world champion, 1993 and 1995 Broke British 10-mile time-trial record, 1993 RTCC 50-mile champion, 1993 RTCC 25-mile champion, 1996 "The whole thing was that I wanted to get over the horizon," he says. "As soon as I got on a bike, I thought - wow - I've broken out of my tiny zone." Obree threw himself into the sport with the frenzied passion that would define his life.

Francesco Moser's record had stood unbeaten for nine years before he took it on, riding a home-made bike called Old Faithful, his handlebars positioned under his chest and his torso horizontal to the ground. "From the very start I said to myself, right - I've got two arms and two legs, Moser's got two arms and two legs, and I can try harder than he did, and I will try harder than he did and train harder than he did. And therefore I'm going to break the record. "People would talk about me 'attempting' the world record, and I would say, hold on - I'm going to break the world record. The words 'attempt' or 'try' were negative, and I would not countenance those words. "In my mind it was mine. I just had to go and collect it. People were saying, 'Ah Jeez, Graeme's lost it - he's on some huge ego trip or he's had a bad mushroom on his pizza or something.'" But break it Obree did, pushing himself so hard at the Hamar Velodrome in Norway that he lost all feeling in his scalp, feet and hands.

Miller trained intensively for the part of Obree "It was like pulling teeth with pliers," he says. "But what you've got to realise is that pain is negative. There never was any pain - only supreme effort. You can add a few expletives if you want, but it was effort. And that's positive." Obree's feat - and the way he went on to extend the record after his rival Chris Boardman broke it a week later - should have been the catalyst for a lucrative pro career. He was feted in the European media as the latest in a long line of brilliant Scottish eccentrics, a phenomenon of the track who eschewed coaches, heart-rate monitors and scientific supplements in favour of marmalade sandwiches and brutal long rides in the hills around his Ayrshire home. Instead, Obree found his riding position and bike banned by the UCI, cycling's governing body, and his offers of contracts with pro teams withdrawn when he refused to take banned substances. When his brother died in a car crash in 1994, he slipped into a deep depression that would almost end his life. "I thought that if I broke the record, everything in my life would suddenly be perfect overnight," he says.

606: DEBATE Obree v Boardman - who was your favourite? "But the pros were so glib. It wasn't like, how was your flight, or what did you have for breakfast - it was what did you use for the hour record? "I was like, what? And they would say, who was your doctor? I'd say, oh, a GP in Irvine. And they'd say, no no - who's your doctor? Who's your trainer? "I'd say, I don't have a trainer. They'd say, what did you use? I'd say - nothing. And I could see their impression of me going down and down. They're thinking - 'amateur'. "That opened my eyes. You'd heard all the stories about drugs, but you'd dismissed them. And here it was, almost openly being done. "I must have had five or six different invitations to get involved in the process of doping - from teams, doctors, people who knew somebody. Obree in action with his Superman position "We all knew who was doing what, years before they were getting caught. And we all know people who didn't get caught.

"It was like two worlds - we knew what was going on, but we weren't meant to tell anyone outside our world. But I didn't want to be part of it. I didn't want to be involved." Obree's life began to disintegrate. On a trip to Geneva for a race, he made another suicide attempt, swallowing 112 aspirin and washing them down with beer and water from a puddle. After several aborted comebacks, shunned by sponsors and the big teams and struggling to deal with severe depression, he was found hanging from the rafters of a barn. It was just before Christmas, the period in which he would find it hardest to cope with the death of his brother. My career was cut short because of other people's drug-taking Graeme Obree Today, Obree is able to talk about the moment with characteristic black humour. He describes watching its depiction in the film as "cringey - like seeing yourself in flares in the 1980s". What he can't cope with is watching pro cycling. The Tour de France might be coming to Britain next month, but Obree will be having nothing to do with it.

"I saw it last year by accident - I was on a stag-do in Paris," he says. "Just as the race was about to arrive, I realised that I couldn't stand to watch the guys. It sounds terrible to say it. "But my career was cut short because of other people's drug-taking. To put it more bluntly, my career was cut short because I wouldn't take them. "I wasn't accepted; I was considered a risk to have in a team. I was considered a loose cannon, so that was it - wallop. Persona non grata. And I couldn't even say why at the time, because I would have been sued. "I know that there's still a big pile of it going on, and it's so hypocritical that I can't stand to watch these guys come past. Their ilk in that sport have robbed me of my career. "During the Festina scandal in 1998, it was like, this is the scandal to end all scandals, it's all going to be cleaned up - but it hasn't been cleaned up." Miller spent long hours with Obree, mimicking his movements Obree is still living in Irvine with wife Anne and sons Ewan and Jamie.

He is writing a book about how ordinary people can keep fit, and plans to go to college to do a course in sports coaching. Sometimes, when he talks about just riding his bike for fun in the lanes around Ayrshire, he sounds settled, content. At other times, the anxiety bubbles to the surface. With a horrible irony, he is haunted by the fear that people will assume that he too must have taken drugs, simply because he was a champion in an era of widespread doping. "I might be tarred with the same brush as the others, and I've got no way of defending myself," he says. "So I thought - right - I'm going to get that hour record again, no matter what." The actual hour record again? At the age of 41, from virtual retirement? "I know I could do it again. I could certainly get very close. "I'll have my blood sucked out (for dope tests), I want bone marrow taken out, I want hair follicles tested - I even started growing a pony-tail in the last six months, so that would be hair they could test. "I won five or six races this year, and two were against the current British champion. "But it all got so heavy.

With the film and everything it was so busy that I was exhausted. One morning I woke up after a day in the hills and I felt terrible, worse that you would after any hangover. "Something just had to give. I was having to go to bed really early, zombied, but it was the kids' holidays, and I thought - why am I doing this to them?" Obree - who speaks in rapid bursts, sometime stammering, sometimes running away with enthusiasm - is impossible not to like. When he talks with such uneasy restlessness, you want to put your arm round him and tell him not to worry, to assure him that no-one will doubt his integrity. "I just want the back-up if and when people accuse me," he says. "I'll get the bike ready, I'll keep myself in reasonable shape, and if it comes to it I will prove my innocence." Moser, the Italian legend whose record changed Obree's life all those years ago, provided a neat summation of the man in the foreword to his autobiography. He wrote: "Mr Obree is unique; an artist of the pedal. A strange animal, a very rare thoroughbred - and for this reason very delicate, just like a crystal.

"I like him, as does everyone else who loves cycling." The Flying Scotsman is out in cinemas from 29 June. Graeme Obree's autobiography of the same name is available from Berlinn. SEE ALSO The Flying Scotsman (2006) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error | Drama , Sport | 29 June 2007 (UK) The true story of Graeme Obree, the Champion cyclist who built his bicycle from old bits of washing machines who won his championship only to have his title stripped from him and his mental health problems which he has suffered since.

Director: a list of 47 titles created 22 Jun 2011 a list of 25 titles created 21 Dec 2012 a list of 32 titles created 02 Jan 2014 a list of 47 titles created 16 Sep 2015 a list of 38 titles created 5 months ago Title: The Flying Scotsman (2006) 7.1/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. The skilled pilot Denis Hopkins lives with his pregnant wife Valerie and has a comfortable lifestyle. When the gang of criminals headed by the sadistic Ricky Barnes breaks in his seaside ... See full summary » Director: Gillies MacKinnon Cameron Colley is a young scottish journalist, with an interest in exposing the wrongs committed by the rich and powerful. Life is comfortable enough but uneventful, until someone starts ... See full summary » Director: Gavin Millar Following the success of his poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", Byron becomes the toast of London.

Director: Julian Farino A story based on the covert discussions that brought down the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Director: Pete Travis The impossible triumph of Team Rwanda. Director: T.C. Johnstone The film follows the French Paris-Roubaix spring classic, notorious for the hellish paves or cobbled roads of the north "which are no longer used for traffic but only for transporting ... See full summary » Director: Jørgen Leth Will Plunkett and Captain James Macleane, two men from different ends of the social spectrum in 18th-century England, enter a gentlemen's agreement: They decide to rid the aristocrats of ... See full summary » Director: Jake Scott Edit Storyline The Flying Scotsman is a feature film based on the remarkable true story of Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree. In 1993, and as an unemployed amateur, Obree broke the world one-hour record on a bike of his own revolutionary design, which he constructed out of scrap metal and parts of a washing machine. Written by Sharon Howat Hope made him a dreamer. Heart made him a hero.

See more » Genres: Rated PG-13 for some mature thematic elements and strong language | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 29 June 2007 (UK) See more » Also Known As: O Escocês Voador See more » Filming Locations: $78,337 (USA) (4 May 2007) Gross: Did You Know? Trivia David Tennant was cast in this film but had to drop out because of changed dates. See more » Goofs In March 2010, Graeme Obree was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame to honor his achievements as one of Scotland's greatest cyclists (reported in the Daily Record of 16th March 2010). Although born in England, he has spent most of his life in Scotland, currently lives there and has a Scottish accent, therefore he is Scottish. See more » Quotes (United States) – See all my reviews An inspiring movie I had the pleasure of seeing at the Edinburgh film festival. I was briefly in the same cycling club as Obree. I followed his career and read his autobiography.

I still cycle today and boy was I pleasantly surprised at the twists, turns and intrigue which come out in the movie; it gave me new perspectives on a complex and colourful life. What Obree did was monumental and this film does him justice, shedding light on his inner struggles and showcasing what an innovative, committed and strong world beater the man is. Don't pigeon hole this as some kind of sports extravaganza - it is a highly entertaining look at the life of an entertaining and brilliant man. 39 of 41 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes JonnyLeeMiller.co.uk Jonny Lee Miller in The Flying Scotsman JONNY LEE MILLER IN THE FLYING SCOTSMAN IMAGES SYNOPSIS The inspiring real-life story of one of Scotland's greatest sporting heroes. In 1992, Briton Chris Boardman shocked the cycling world when he won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics. It was well known that Britain simply wasn’t capable of producing first-class cyclists, yet Boardman wiped the floor with the competition. Unemployed Scot, Graeme Obree (Jonny Lee Miller) was just as amazed at Boardman’s success. After all, he had occasionally beaten Boardman.

With no prospect of a job, a young baby to feed and a mortgage dragging him ever deeper into debt, Obree - at 27, an old man in cycling terms – decided to have one last attempt to make a living from the sport, spurred on by his friend Malky McGovern (Billy Boyd) and wife Anne (Laura Fraser). With no money, no sponsor and no backer, Obree decided to build his own bike. Using the boatshed of his friend and confidante, Rev. Douglas Baxter (Brian Cox), Graeme used metal he found in the gutter, bits of an old lock, tubing from a kid’s BMX bike and a cannibalised washing machine. Despite having no technical training, he invented a revolutionary riding position which looked like a downhill skier – by reversing and minimizing the size of the handle bars. He was laughed at wherever he went but had significantly improved the rider’s aerodynamics. The laughter grew louder when Obree announced that he would make an attempt on cycling’s equivalent of the four-minute mile - The One Hour Record. Unbroken for 10 years, nobody else in the cycling world even dared try it.

Whereas Boardman trained with computer-control-led isometric equipment and a support team of bike-builders, pacers, coaches and sponsors, financially-strapped Obree had nobody to help him. He couldn’t even afford a phone... LINKS GRAEME OBREE TALKS ABOUT THE FLYING SCOTSMAN JONNY'S NO.1 IN RACY ROLE JONNY LEE MILLER is so fit after playing ex-cycling champ Graeme Obree that he could compete for real - says the man who knows. Obree's rise to fame and subsequent health problems are told in new film The Flying Scotsman. At its premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival yesterday, Obree said: "Jonny is an exceptional athlete. "He's more of a runner than a cyclist but I'm sure he'd give me a good run for my money in a biathlon." Graeme also appears in the biopic - as Miller's body double. Eagle-eyed viewers will spot him as his legs are skinnier than the actor's. Miller, BAFTA members and a posse of Scots media buffs headed to the capital's Cargo bar for the after-premiere party - but it wasn't to everyone's taste.

VIPs had to queue on the terrace for "burgers like the type you get from a van". One showbiz luvvie was heard to moan: "You wouldn't get this in Hollywood." Read this here Obree film goes ahead after unions lift boycott THE Flying Scotsman, the film about the troubles and triumphs of the Scots cycling champion Graeme Obree, opened the Edinburgh International Film Festival last night, after union leaders cancelled a planned boycott. The broadcasting union BECTU had threatened to picket the film's red-carpet premiere in a show of anger over £80,000 in unpaid wages to members. Receivers were called in on the film after it hit a series of financial crises. Mr Obree attended the film's opening, but actor Jonny Lee Miller, who plays him, was not present after becoming a casualty of the air travel security clampdown. Read more here Flying Scotsman - A review The good news, given this film's troubled production, is The Flying Scotsman is a winner.

Just as the protagonist of this sports biopic, Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree, had to overcome personal and professional obstacles in order to win the World Cycling Championships twice, so too the film's debuting director Douglas Mackinnon had to wrangle with various financing problems in order to finish his film. It's to Mackinnon and his cast and crew's credit that they managed that, and moreover that the result is a solid piece of film-making and a genuine crowd-pleaser. Obree, for those who don't know, was an amateur enthusiast who in 1993 broke the world one-hour cycling record. Incredible enough as that athletic feat was, Obree, who ran a failing bike shop in Prestwick and subsequently paid the bills and supported his family working as a cycle courier in Glasgow, achieved it riding a race bike that he designed and built himself – with parts cannibalised from his washing machine. Old Faithful, as Obree called the bike, allowed the cyclist to adopt a new, more aerodynamic riding posture and thus shave off those few crucial seconds from each lap around the velodrome.

But Old Faithful brought its designer into conflict with the World Cycling Federation, whose board members didn't appreciate the lack of commercial opportunities it presented (i.e. it couldn't be mass-produced and sold to the public) and went to great lengths to ban Obree from participating in championships. Mackinnon's film dramatises this underdog story, but it also brings an involving personal dimension. Obree overcame the physical challenges of this gruelling sport and the obstacles placed in his way. But what proved to be his undoing were his personal demons. Haunted by bullying he suffered as a child at school, as an adult Obree suffered from crippling bouts of depression (there's a nicely realised scene in which Obree hallucinates that the bullies' full-grown ringleader pays him a deeply creepy home visit). It's these details that lift the film above the ranks of pedestrian biopic. Otherwise, The Flying Scotsman is rousing and often very funny. As Obree's eccentric associate Baxter, Brian Cox generates the lion's share of the laughs.

Billy Boyd and Laura Fraser, playing Obree's pal/manager and his wife, provide sterling support, and Jonny Lee Miller brings grit (and a fine pair of legs) to the role, crossing the finishing line a winning leading man. 'Flying Scotsman' defies gravity By ADAM DAWTREY WHEN THE EDINBURGH INTL. FILM FESTIVAL opens Aug. 14 with the world premiere of Douglas Mackinnon's debut movie "The Flying Scotsman," it will mark the climax of an extraordinary odyssey for the filmmakers. What makes "The Flying Scotsman" unusual is not the 12 years it took to get made, nor the number of times the project collapsed and was resurrected before the cameras finally rolled last year. No, what's remarkable is that the film, with a paper budget of $11 million, seems to have been made out of thin air, with no visible financing in place and no obvious producer (despite the 10 named in the credits). This is a movie that never got greenlit, never had a completion bond, never closed its finance, went into administration (the U.K.

equivalent of Chapter 11) during post-production and still hasn't paid half its bills. "It was a blooding beyond bloody for me," says Mackinnon. "Everyone tells me it's the worst scenario in terms of the politics and the money that they've ever come across." "In hindsight, everyone was completely bonkers," says one industry veteran who was centrally involved in the project, but requests anonymity to spare his professional blushes. Yet the word from those who have had a sneak preview is that the movie might, just might, deliver on the crowd-pleasing, heart-warming promise that led one participant to pitch it as " 'Shine' on a bike." Certainly, Edinburgh topper Shane Danielsen has made a big statement of faith by opening his festival with the film. "The Flying Scotsman" is the true story of Graham Obree, the amateur Scottish cyclist who built his own bike out of washing machine parts and rode it to gold at the world championships, despite battling mental illness and hostility from the sport's authorities. This classic triumph-from-adversity story attracted screenwriter Simon Rose in 1994.

He hooked up with "Rob Roy" producer Peter Broughan, with Mackinnon eventually coming aboard to direct and Jonny Lee Miller to play Obree. In 2002, the death of a key American investor caused the project to collapse just days before it was due to start shooting. It took three years to pull it back together again. By then, Broughan had been joined by Damita Nikapota, a mysterious trans-Atlantic producer who sometimes used the pseudonym Sean Murphy. While negotiating with financiers, Nikapota secured pre-production cash flow from specialist outfit Freewheel, headed by Sara Giles. Broughan fell out spectacularly with Mackinnon and tried to fire him, but Mackinnon refused to walk and cameras rolled last July. It's not unusual for indie pics to start lensing before all the paperwork is finished. But in this case, although there seemed to be financing proposals on the table, the sums never quite added up. "It was only during editing that it became blatantly obvious the producers couldn't close the financing," Giles says. Everyone involved, from Obree himself to Strathclyde Police, was owed money, but there was nothing in the pot.

Giles decided the only way the creditors, including herself, would stand any chance of being repaid was to finish the film. That meant taking the production company into administration, and putting up more of her own money. Her eventual cash outlay topped $4 million. "I inadvertently became the adoptive mother of the film," Giles says. "I want people to understand that I was not the financier who had let everyone down. I'm the single largest creditor. Everyone is owed something, but the only person who has not been paid a penny is me." "It's only because of Sarah's faith in the film and her risk-taking that we're here today," testifies Mackinnon, who edited at night while shooting a TV show by day to pay his bills. All hopes now rest on how the film plays at its world premiere. A new sales agent will be announced imminently, and any distribution deals will be used to repay the debts. Now that really would be a triumph from adversity to rival Obree's own remarkable story. BIG OR SMALL..

I'LL DO 'EM ALL Brian Cox on why he's as happy filming a low-budget Scots movie as a blockbuster By Brian Mclver BRIAN COX has played a serial killer, | an evil general and the leader of the most ruthless army in the ancient world. But Hollywood's favourite Scot admits that he fights his hardest battles with accountants desperate to curtail his film-making fun. The award-winning actor is f oneofthebest-knownfaceson the big screen with a host of blockbusters on his CV. But he's just as at home in a tiny independent shoot in the back streets of a Scottish city, much to the despair of his money-men. "I keep getting raps on the knuckles from my accountants who say I can't do these sort of films because I need to go out and make some money," admitted Brian. The 59-year-old Dundonian made time to chat to the Record on the Edinburgh set of A Woman in Winter, directed by fellow Scot Richard Jobson. He's particularly keen to support Scottish talent and AWoman in Winter is the first of a run of three Scots productions for Brian, who's now based in LA.

He'll appear in a film set in Glasgow about Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, and is also in The Flying Scotsman, a biopic of cyclist Graeme Obree, which ran into some financial difficulties earlier this year and had to be rescued by administrators. Source Obree film makers go into Administration December 08, 2005 Mel Films, the production company behind the £3m Hollywood bio-pic on Graeme Obree, has been placed into administration. 'The Flying Scotsman', starring 'Trainspotting' star Jonny Lee Miller, had finished filming and should make it to the big screen despite the latest setback. In 2002, the film was scuppered when the US financier keeled over and died. The film's production company may have been placed in administration but there are a raft of funding partners and the film should not die this time around. The financing partners include NRW, BBC Scotland, Bank of Ireland, Glasgow Film Office, Pictorion Das Werk, IFC, and Scottish Screen. Administrators Tenon Recovery say the film will go ahead.

Kenny Craig, of Tenon Recovery, said: "Our priority is to make sure The Flying Scotsman is released." Source MILLER DOESN'T HAVE THE LEGS FOR ACTING ROLE JONNY LEE MILLER's intensive training regime failed to prepare him for his role as cycling legend GRAEME OBREE in biopic THE FLYING SCOTSMAN, and the real life Obree was eventually brought in as a stunt double. MILLER was thrilled to play the hero who rode a bike made out of washing machine parts to break the world hour-record in the 1990s, but was left embarrassed when his leg muscles didn't make the grade. Obree says, "I'm the legs in the movie but Jonny did well. Source MILLER'S 'EXTREME APPROACH' TO LATEST ROLE JONNY LEE MILLER shocked co-star BRIAN COX with the gruelling fitness regime he has imposed on himself to take on the role of a cycling legend.

The veteran British actor believes the 32-year-old need to play cycling legend GRAEME OBREE in THE FLYING SCOTSMAN as authentically as possible has seen him adopt a training regime usually only seen in sports professionals. Cox says, "I often see him out of the car window when I'm driving to the set, and cheer him on. He's started riding Graeme Obree's bicycle too, which is partly made out of old washing machine parts. That Jonny's a strange lad. No one's making him do it - he just seems to be very enthusiastic."

Question: Which olympic cyclist was nicknamed The Flying Scotsman
Answer: Graeme Obree