Ray Booty - The First Sub-four Hour 100

The First Sub-four Hour 100

Booty broke the record in the 1956 national championship with 4h 1m 52s. The next event was the Bath Road '100' on Bank Holiday Monday 6 August 1956. The course was west of Reading, through Theale, Pangbourne, Wallingford, Shillingford, Abingdon and back down the A4 to finish near where it started. Booty rode a Raleigh bicycle with an 84-inch (2,100 mm) fixed gear to 3h 58m 28s. The second man, future professional Stan Brittain was beaten by 12 minutes.

Booty had ridden from Nottingham to the start the day before - 100 miles (160 km). For his race he was awarded a medal by Cycling and a certificate from the RTTC.

The Daily Herald reported the record, speaking of 'Booty the incomparable', and the News Chronicle said: 'Rider crashes four-hour barrier'

He was awarded the F. T. Bidlake Memorial Prize in 1956. The citation read:

Raymond Charles Booty For his superlative ride of 3 hrs. 58 mins. 28 secs. in the Bath Road Hundred of 1956, this being the first time one hundred miles had ever been ridden on a bicycle, out and home, inside four hours.

Booty recalled:

It was one of those lovely sunny summer mornings you crave for when you are time-trialling. It was calm, as I remember, and eventually it became very hot. And I was really having to hang on in the last half hour. I remember it was a real struggle. I knew I was on to a good ride if I could hang on. The thing I remember about that particular event was at the finish, and I was absolutely shattered at the finish. And I sat down. And, of course, when I finished I realised just how hot it was. I was desperate for some drink and somebody came with all they'd got, which was a bottle of milk. And it was sour. And he said it was sour. It was all he'd got. It was really sour. But I drank it all. That was the thing I remember mainly about that event.

Also in 1956 he signed the Golden Book of Cycling.