Archie McEachern
Personal information
Born(1873-12-25)25 December 1873
Lindsay, Ontario, Canada
Died13 May 1902(1902-05-13) (aged 27)
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Team information
DisciplineTrack
RoleRider

Archie McEachern (25 December 1873 – 13 May 1902) was a Canadian track cyclist. He was the Canadian National Champion of middle-distance races and was also the first Canadian to win the New York Madison Square Garden Six-Day Bicycle Race, in 1901.[1] In 1902 he broke the world's indoor bicycle record for 5 miles in a motor paced race.[2]

Biography

McEachern was training at the Atlantic City, NJ velodrome prior to it officially opening. During training he was being paced by a tandem motorcycle (driven by his two trainers Bobby Thompson and Alfred Boake).[3] While riding close to his pacers, McEachern was injured when the bike's drive chain broke and died shortly thereafter.[4][5]

In 1999 the Canadian Cyclist website put McEachern in 9th place on their list of Top 25 Canadian Cyclists of the Century.[4] The Journal of Sport History stated that he "was one of Canada's most famous professional cyclists" of his day.[6]

Achievements

1899
2nd Six Days of New York
1900
2nd Six Days of New York
1901
1st Six Days of New York (with Bobby Walthour[7]

See also

List of racing cyclists and pacemakers with a cycling-related death

References

  1. Balf, Todd (2009). Major: A Black Athlete, a White Era and the Fight to Be the World's Fastest Human Being. Random House. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-307-23659-3.
  2. "Broke Record Beating Freeman". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 26 January 1902. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  3. "M'Eachern Killed". The Baltimore Sun at Newspapers.com. 14 May 1902. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 Arnold Devlin. "Canada's First Six-Day Star". 6-day Racing. Archived from the original on 26 August 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  5. Michael Gabriele (2011). The Golden Age of Bicycle Racing in New Jersey: The final Chapter of the Golden Age of Cycling. The History Press. ISBN 978-1-59629-427-1. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  6. History, North American Society for Sport (1974). Journal of sport history, Volume 1. p. 37. Archived from the original on 10 February 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  7. Homan, Andrew M. (July 2016). Iron Mac: The Legend of Roughhouse Cyclist Reggie McNamara. University of Nebraska Press. p. 112. ISBN 9780803290556. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
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