Robert THOMPSON

Originally a member of Tweedside CC, Robert Thompson reached the final of the club’s one-mile novices handicap at Berwick in 1901, aged just 16. He went on to break club 25- and 50-mile records in 1911 and, as a member of the Coldstream team at the Scottish National 50-mile Team Championship, finished in the fastest time, 2-39:48.8. He was second in the Scottish Cyclists’ Union 150-mile Olympic trial around Lanark in 1912, when he finished five minutes behind winner Charlie Hill, but at the Stockholm Games, Thompson finished 26 minutes ahead of Hill. Thompson’s brother Hector was the trainer to the Scottish cycling team at the 1912 Olympics. After the Olympics, Robert finished third in the 1913 NCU Newcastle Centre 50-miles Championship at Berwick.