Chas Messenger

In 2009, he was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.

Charles William Messenger (January–March 1914 – 26 July 2008) was a British cyclist, a former Milk Race organiser and British road team manager.

The Chas Messenger road race, established in 2001, was named in his honour. It is a Premier Calendar event. Messenger was at the 2008 race.

He was sacked in September 1967 without explanation from the British Cycling Federation. He subsequently stepped in to run the 1982 UCI Road World Championships, which were held at Goodwood.

Messenger and Peter Itter, chairman of the rival National Cycling Union, forged the links which merged the organisations to form the British Cycling Federation in 1959. He negotiated with the police to hold races on open roads. He became vice-chairman of the BCF’s racing committee, which picked teams, for seven years. He managed the British road team four times between 1962 and 1967, culminating in the world championships in which Graham Webb won the men’s amateur road race and Beryl Burton the women’s event.

Messenger was an official of the British League of Racing Cyclists, which started during the second world war to promote massed racing on public roads. The BLRC organised Tours of Britain under different names and sponsors and in 1958 secured sponsorship from the Milk Marketing Board. Messenger was the BLRC’s event organiser and he and other officials visited the board at a hotel in central London. He said:

Messenger ran the Tour of Britain, known as the Milk Race, from 1958 to 1965. He was succeeded by Maurice Cumberworth. Messenger’s Tour emphasised on long, hilly stages.