Cycling at the 1950 British Empire Games

Cycling at the 1950 British Empire Games
Venue	Western Springs Stadium
Location	Auckland, New Zealand
Dates	4 – 11 February 1950
←  1938 1954  →

Cycling at the 1950 British Empire Games was the third appearance of Cycling at the Commonwealth Games. The track events took place at Western Springs Stadium, which had a 10 foot high banked concrete outdoor track, 18 feet wide and 515 yards in circumference. ^[1] The road race started on Tamaki Drive, progressed to Parnell and Ōrākei before finishing on Tamaki Drive. ^{[2] [3]}

Australia topped the cycling medal table with four gold medals. ^{[4] [5]}

Aerial view of the Western Springs Stadium in January 1950. Whites Aviation

Medal table

  *   Host nation (New Zealand)

Medals won by nation with totals, ranked by number of golds—sortable

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Australia	4	3	2	9
2	England	1	0	1	2
3	New Zealand*	0	2	2	4
Totals (3 entries)		5	5	5	15

Medal winners

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Time Trial	Russell Mockridge   Australia	Sid Patterson   Australia	Tommy Godwin   England
Sprint 1000m	Russell Mockridge   Australia	Sid Patterson   Australia	Graham Avery   New Zealand
4000m Individual Pursuit	Cyril Cartwright   England	Russell Mockridge   Australia	Les Lock   New Zealand
10-mile Scratch	Bill Heseltine   Australia	Les Lock   New Zealand	Ken Caves   Australia
Road race	Hector Sutherland   Australia	Nick Carter   New Zealand	Jack Fowler   Australia

Russell Mockridge (left)

1,000m sprint championship

^[6] First Round

• Russell Mockridge bt Allen Stonex
• Sid Patterson bt Lorne Atkinson
• Graham Avery bt Erick Oland
• Don Olive bt E. Evans
• Tommy Godwin bt Charlie Bazzano
• D. K. Bennett bt Alan Geldard

Repechage

• Bazzano bt Stonex & Evans 13.7 sec

Quarter finals

• Mockridge bt Bennett 2–0
• Patterson bt Stonex 2–0
• Avery bt Bazzano 2–0
• Olive bt Godwin 2–0

Semi finals

• Mockridge bt Olive 2–0
• Patterson bt Avery 2–0

Third place

• Avery bt Olive 2–1

Final

• Mockridge bt Patterson 2–0

1,000m Time Trial

Pos	Athlete	Time
1	Russell Mockridge	1:13.4 mins
2	Sid Patterson	1:13.5 mins
3	Tommy Godwin	1:13.6 mins
4	Cyril Cartwright	1:15.1 mins
5	Les Lock	1:16.2 mins
6	Alan Geldard	1:16.5 mins
8	Graham Hughes	1:17.1 mins
9	John Millman	1:18.2 mins
10	D. K. Bennett	1:18.6 mins
11	E. Evans	1:18.8 mins
12	Robert Carmichael	1:19.5 mins
13	William Hamilton	1:19.8 mins
14	E. P. Branfield	1:19.9 mins
15	Lorne Atkinson	1:20.0 mins

4,000 metres individual purusit

^[7] Heats (top 4 times qualify for semi-finals)

• Cyril Cartwright 5:26.7 bt William Hamilton 5:43.0 (lapped)
• Russell Mockridge 5:40.0 bt E. P. Branfield 5:48.1
• Jimmy Hamilton 5:26.7 bt Les Lock 5:29.6
• Malcolm Campbell 5:40.4 (rode alone)

Semi-finals

• Cartwright 5.21.2 bt Lock 5.34.0
• Mockridge 5.28.0 bt Hamilton 5.29.8

Third place

• Lock 5.26.7 bt Hamilton 5.28.2

Final

• Cartwright 5:16.3 bt Mockridge 5:27.0

10 mile scratch race

Pos	Athlete	Time
1	Bill Heseltine	23:23.4
2	Les Lock
3	Ken Caves
	Barry Coombs
	Erick Oland
	John Millman
	Lorne Atkinson
	Tommy Godwin
	Cyril Cartwright
	Alan Geldard
	Alan C. Dean
	Frank Tredrea
	Jimmy Hamilton
	Malcolm Campbell
	D. K. Bennett
	E. Evans
	E. P. Branfield

100km Road Race

The 100km road race travelling west along Tāmaki Drive

Only 7 of the 13 starters finished. ^[8]

Pos	Athlete	Time
1	Hector Sutherland	3'13:06.4
2	Nick Carter	3'13:06.5
3	Jack Hartley Fowler	3'13:06.6
4	Peter Pryor	3'13:06.7
5	Malcolm Campbell	3'13:06.8
6	Alf Newman	3'13:07.2
7	James Downie	no time
	Eric Holroyd	dnf
	Lorne Atkinson	dnf
	William Hamilton	dnf
	E. P. Branfield	dnf
	Jimmy Hamilton	dnf
	Ted Lambert	dnf

References

1. "The Fourth British Empire Games" . Ireland's Saturday Night. 9 July 1949. Retrieved 12 September 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
2. "Empire Games Results" . Coventry Evening Telegraph. 6 February 1950. Retrieved 12 September 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "Empire Games road race". TEARA. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
4. "Medal Standings 1950". Commonwealth Games Federation. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
5. "Commonwealth Games Medallists - Cycling". GBR Athletics. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
6. "Cycling" . Hull Daily Mail. 7 February 1950. Retrieved 12 September 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Empire Games results" . Manchester Evening News. 11 February 1950. Retrieved 12 September 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "Results" . Shields Daily News. 6 February 1950. Retrieved 12 September 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.

See also

• List of Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling