Hugh (William) Porter - Senior competition, First national track title, Olympic disappointment, First professional steps, Professional success, Professional pursuit domination

Cyclist, born in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, C England, UK. As an amateur he won a bronze medal at the 1963 world championships in the pursuit. He lost in the quarter finals at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but won a gold medal at the 1966 Commonwealth Games. He won four professional world titles in 1968, 1970, and 1972–3.

Hugh Porter (born: January 1940) was one of Britain's greatest professional cyclists, winning four world titles in the individual pursuit discipline, as well as a Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1966. Building on his track cycling and road racing experience, he became a well-known commentator on cycle events, notably for the BBC. Aged 16, Hugh Porter began racing as a junior for Wolverhampton Wheelers cycling club, finishing third in his first road race.

Senior competition

As a senior, he won his first race in July 1958 and by the end of the season another victory and other high placings led to a first category licence for the 1959 season. Six victories came that season on the road, along with a gold medal on the track as part of his club's team pursuit squad at the national track championships at the Fallowfield Stadium, Manchester. A year later he was 20th in the same event, and had earned selection for the 1962 world championships in Italy where he was to ride in both the road race and team time trial events. However, over-exertion in the time trial led to a poor performance in the road race.

First national track title

Porter still dabbled in track racing, though, and in 1963 put in an encouraging showing in the individual pursuit at Aldersley Stadium's Easter international meeting, before winning the final ten-mile Scratch Race. Encouraged by these performances, Porter began to consider contesting the national individual pursuit championship. In the meantime, he also raced in the national 25-mile individual time trial championship in Gloucestershire, finishing second.

Olympic disappointment

1964 was dominated by thoughts of the Olympic Games in Tokyo where Porter was already pre-selected to ride in the pursuit, though he still saw fit to defend his British championship, emerging victorious at Herne Hill and shaving almost a second off the championship record. He also tested himself in the national 10-mile time trial championship, finishing second, and was a member of the Wolverhampton Wheelers squad which won the national team pursuit title.

While Porter retained his British individual pursuit title and won several road races, 1965 was otherwise not particularly memorable. He was defeated in the quarter-finals of the world pursuit championship in Spain (a timetable change meant he almost missed the contest, and, without his normal pre-race routine, he was narrowly defeated by Colombian Martin Rodriguez in the fastest race of the event). Porter began the year with 12 successive road race victories, and won a pursuit match in the Easter meeting at Herne Hill. Without any further track races, he travelled to Jamaica for the 1966 Commonwealth Games, where he set a new games record in qualifying for the semi-final of the individual pursuit, and then beat Australian Jan Bylsma in the final to take the gold medal.

First professional steps

In early 1967 Porter turned professional, riding for the Mackeson Racing team. The step up to the professional ranks meant that in the individual pursuit discipline, he was now racing over 5,000m instead of 4000m, but in his first test at the distance, he emerged victorious, beating Dave Bonner to win the professional title in Leicester. Porter was then selected to race in the world professional pursuit event in Amsterdam. Nonetheless, his silver medal led to contracts from track racing promoters, including an invitation to ride the London six-day race – his first six-day event. However, he recovered quickly and spent much of the winter track racing in Belgium, finishing the Antwerp six-day race before returning to England for the start of the 1968 professional road season.

Professional success

Porter began the 1968 season with a time trial stage victory and second place overall in a three-day race in Bournemouth, plus two stage wins and 6th place overall in the Tour of the West.

Professional pursuit domination

From 1967 until his retirement from professional cycle racing in 1973, Porter was crowned World Professional Cycling Champion in the 5,000 metre individual pursuit discipline four times, being beaten into second place on two occasions and taking bronze on the other. The sequence ran:

1967 - Amsterdam - silver 1968 – Rome – gold 1969 – Antwerp – silver 1970 – Leicester – gold 1971 – Varese, Italy - bronze 1972 – Marseilles - gold 1973 – San Sebastian - gold

In between, Porter continued to race on the road during the summer and to participate in the winter six-day races. In March 1973, Porter travelled to Buckingham Palace and received an MBE for services to cycle racing.