We are very sad to have to tell you all Trevor Fenwick passed away on Tuesday 27th July. Trevor was a professional cyclist in the 1950s riding the Tour of Britain among other high profile races of the time. Trevor never stopped riding his bike, setting a new hour record for 75 + years with 24.2 miles at Newport (above at Winton Rec attacking the outdoor record). Trevor also wrote a weekly cycling column for the Bournemouth Echo.
Some Jubilee thoughts on Trevor
Older members of the Jubilee Wheelers remember Trevor as something of a father figure, forever keen on riding his bike through his later years in the shadows of the time in the 1950s when he was a well known, professional road racer in the “Daily Express” backed heyday of the sport in Britain. To some extent he was something of a square peg in a round hole with the Jubilee because his first love was always with road racing rather than time-trialling.
However, despite this leaning, for a good number of years he regularly graced our Tuesday evening club time trials, usually arriving in his impressively sized car, of which one feared he could not see over the bonnet, and accompanied by his dear wife Betty . Watching his impeccable riding style and determination I am certain that some of our youngsters must have learned from him. This time trialling period culminated in his amazing effort in his veteran hour record at Newport, where those of us present appreciated, perhaps for the first time, that the mental input to such endeavour is just as important as the physical.
Before moving to be near his son, Shaun , in France Trevor had a number of years as cycling correspondent and photographer for the Bournemouth Echo, where again his professionalism shone through. In this time Trevor became a regular at photographing riders in local events, usually secreting himself by a bush or whatever so that the riders did not spot him as they approached. I like the tale Trevor told of a 2-up TT with one rider being a national star and the other a much slower but flamboyant chap, who freely let it be known that he had sat behind the star rider for the whole of the event; except that he had got to know where Trevor would be and burst past his mate just the once. Who says that the camera never lies?
Peter TW