John Ephraim SIBBIT

Jack Sibbit was a member of the famous Manchester Wheelers cycling club, and became one of the leading British sprinters in the 1920s and 30s, equally at home on grass, cinder or cement tracks. The son of an Ancoats (Manchester) butcher, Jack started racing in 1914, but then served with the Royal Naval Air Service during World War I. He returned to racing after being demobilized in 1919, and the following year was third in the NCU Quarter-mile Championship before going on to win his first National title when he captured the 5-mile track title in 1922. He went on to win a total of 14 National titles including the 25-mile track title (1929), 1,000-yard sprint (1931-32), the quarter-mile title on two more occasions (1925 and 1927) and the tandem title eight times between 1924 and 1937 (including five in succession 1928-32). Ernest Chambers was his partner in five of those tandem victories, including his eighth and last one, when Sibbit was 42-years-of-age. The two men competed together at the 1928 and 1936 Olympics, winning a silver medal in the first of those years.

Sibbit also won the coveted Manchester Wheelers Muratti Gold Cup in 1925 and 1930, and the Dunlop Gold Cup three years in succession, 1927-29. He had a second and third place finish in the Copenhagen (København) Grand Prix and was selected for every World Championship 1922-32. After a 25-year career, Sibbit retired in 1939 at the age of 44, took up coaching youngsters, and also became an NCU cycling official.

During his racing career, Sibbit opened his first cycle shop in Manchester, specialising in making frames and wheels for himself and other crack riders of the day. The Jack Sibbit Memorial Sprint, over 1,000 metres, was set up in his honour.