Richard J. Mecredy
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1861 Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland |
| Died | 1924 |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road racer |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | All-rounder |
| Major wins | |
| National Cyclists' Union meeting, London, 1890 | |
Richard James Patrick Mecredy (1861 – 1924) was an Irish bicycle racer, journalist and writer. He is credited as being the inventor of Cycle polo, the rules of which he drew up in 1891.[1]
Life
Mecredy was born in Ballinasloe, County Galway, the son of a Church of Ireland clergyman. He was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen. He graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1884 and was an Irish champion tricycle racer while still at university.
His interest in cycling and his growing reputation as a cycle racer led to his becoming Dublin correspondent of the Tralee publisher J. G. Hodgins's Irish Cyclist and Athlete in September 1885. Hodgins appointed him editor in November the same year. Mecredy bought the paper from Hodgins with his brother Alexander in 1886 and moved its office to Dublin.
In the 1886 Irish National Cycling Championships in Track Racing he won the 1 mile, 2 mile and 4 mile events. In the 1880s and 1890s he won a total of nine Irish championships.
He had his greatest success at the National Cyclists' Union meeting in London in 1890.
As the editor of the Dublin Motor News, Mecredy was involved in helping to organize the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup, the first international motor race to be held in Ireland (an honorific to Selwyn Edge who had won the 1902 event in the Paris-Vienna race driving a Napier). The Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland wanted the race to be hosted in the British Isles, and their secretary, Claude Johnson, suggested Ireland as the venue because racing was illegal on British public roads. Mecredy suggested an area in County Kildare, and letters were sent to 102 Irish MPs, 90 Irish peers, 300 newspapers, 34 chairmen of county and local councils, 34 County secretaries, 26 mayors, 41 railway companies, 460 hoteliers, 13 PPs, plus the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Patrick Foley, who pronounced himself in favour. Local laws had to be adjusted, ergo the 'Light Locomotives (Ireland) Bill' was passed on 27 March 1903, and Kildare was chosen. The 328 miles (528 km) race was won by the famous Belgian Camille Jenatzy.[2][3]
In early October 1912 Carl Stearns Clancy, along with his biking partner, Walter Rendell Storey, arrived in Dublin to commence his circumnavigation of the world by motor-cycle. Mecredy gave them road maps and helped them plot their route in Ireland. Clancy continued his circumnavigation of the globe until August 1913, during which he rode 18,000 miles in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.[4]
Family
He married Catherine Anne Hopkins, from County Meath, in 1887. They had six children: Raymond, Ralph, Eric, Myrtle, Ivy and May.
His son, Dr. Ralph Mecredy, was also a cyclist and competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. He survived the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915.
Publications
- The Art and Pastime of Cycling. By R. J. Mecredy and G. Stoney. 1895
- Mecredy's Road Book of Ireland
- The Motor Book
- Cyclist & pedestrian guide to the neighborhood of Dublin. 1891
- De Dion Bouton Motor Carriages, Their Mechanism and how to Drive Them. 1910
References
- ^ "BBC SPORT | Olympics 2004 | History | London 1908". BBC News. 2004-07-09. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
- ^ Forix 8W – Britain's first international motor race by Brendan Lynch, based on his Triumph of the Red Devil, the 1903 Irish Gordon Bennett Cup Race. October 22, 2003
- ^ The Gordon Bennett races – the birth of international competition. Author Leif Snellman, Summer 2001
- ^ Frazier, Gregory W. (2010). Carl Stearns Clancy: First Motorcyclist to Ride Around the World 1912-1913. iUniverse. ISBN 978-1450221412.