Re:
Well being Australian I will have to nominate Sir Hubert Opperman, Australias greatest cyclist.
A true great on the road or track and a fine politician in later years. As we say back home ' a true Australian legend'
A list of his acheivements both at home and in Europe and the UK show his class. He certainly doesn't get much of a mention too often here in the UK, hopefully this might help for those here to maybe dig a bit deeper.
Hubert Opperman: some highlights, bearing in mind that a lot of the roads between capitals were dirt, along with sections of Lands end to John O'Groats. Big distances between capitals back home with the Perth to Melbourne route being 1695 miles with around 70 - 80% back then on dirt.
Australian Unpaced Road Records:
1000 Miles Opperman (193
63 hr 37 min 30 sec.
12 Hour Opperman (1939) 264 miles.
24 Hour Opperman (1939) 506 miles 396 yards.
Capital to Capital:
Sydney to Melbourne Opperman (1929) 39 hr 42 min.
Brisbane to Sydney Opperman (1936) 47 hr 10 min.
Perth to Adelaide Opperman ( 1937 ) 09 days 06 hr 01 min.
Perth to Melbourne Opperman ( 1937), 11 days 04 hr 05 min.
Perth to Sydney Opperman ( 1937 ) 13 days 09 hr 22 min.
Melbourne to Sydney Opperman (193
37 hr 06 min.
Adelaide-Melb-Sydney Opperman ( 193
02 days 18 hr 16 min.
Track Records:
5 Miles ( paced ) 1926 04 min 42 s
10 Miles ( paced ) 1926 09 min 32 s
100 Miles ( unpaced) 1926 04 hr 22 min 39 s
100 Miles ( paced ) 1930 01 hr 39 min 38 s
1000 Miles ( paced ) 1932 28 hr 55 min
One Hour ( paced ) 1930 59 miles 629 yards
24 Hours ( paced ) 1932 865 miles
24 Hours (unpaced) 1940 489 miles 596 yards
Abroad:
Paris - Presse Road Race 1931 First place.
Paris - Brest - Paris 1931 726 miles non stop
French Bol d'Or - Tandem - Paced 1928 First place - 565 miles in 24 hours
Lands End to John O'Groats in Britain (then 889 miles). British cycling authorities decided to recognise unpaced rides between these two points as official records in 1897. C.J. Maher, of Wellington, broke the standard 5 days 18 hours and 48 minutes. In 1908 G.A. Olley registered 3 days 5 hours and 20 minutes. In 1934 Hubert Opperman reduced the record time to 2 days 6 hours and 33 minutes