The 1896 Los Angeles to Santa Monica Road Race
The annual clash between racers out on the course was not the only competition during the 1896 "Great Road Race" between Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Nor was the struggle between spectators attempting to get from start to finish. There was also a competition between races, with Riverside, Downey, Fullerton, Pomona, and San Diego all holding their own road race, and the Citrus Wheelmen holding a big meet at the Southern Pacific Track (in Santa Monica) following the "great" one (additional track events were held at Riverside, Redlands and Bakersfield).
You, therefore, could expect that the field might not have been quite as large, the racing not quite as fierce as other runnings of the race. In some part you would be correct; even so, many of the fastest racers from previous years were entered. The handicap committee (John S. Thayer, James Patterson, H.C. F. Smith, J. Phil Percival and D. D. McGarvin) met on the night of 29 June to set the start times and by the time the next morning's newspaper hit the stands, the list of racers and their handicaps was marked in print. The four scratch riders were Carson Shoemaker. Though he had won as part of a team in Los Angeles little more than a month earlier, Shoemaker was still a relative unknown in his first year of racing. Howard Squires, G. Rodriguez, and Emil Ulbricht rounded out the scratch four. Also printed was the full list of instructions to the riders, and rules of the race, which included an admonition that "the cycle paths are barred to all contestants, riding on them will be cause for disqualification. You must keep to the road." The race was to start at Sixth and San Pedro Streets, and finish outside the Citrus Wheelmen's headquarters at 323 Utah Avenue.
On 2 July, the list of prizes, which would be on display at the Barker Bros show window in the Stimson Block, was announced, and which included a Thistle bicycle for the fastest time, cameras, pocket knifes, a Turkish leather chair, a Cleveland bicycle for first place finish, a bedroom set, bicycle suits, boxing gloves, and various cycling necessities including a wide selections of shoes, tires and pumps. The East Side Cycling Club also put up two cameras as prizes to the first two racers from that club to finish. Additionally it was noted at this time that "while there has been, as usual, a number of 'kicks' regarding handicaps" the majority of riders gave them good marks and considered them fair.
"There were some unfortunate collisions, some ugly falls, and more than one rider claimed that he was interfered with by the crowd and the zealous policemen who on horseback did their utmost to give the riders enough room to finish in." A colorful lot gathered at the race start - Fay 'Cupid' Stephenson "in the prison suit", "Billy Jenkins a blaze of color", "Ulbricht in red with Old Glory draped about his loins." Many riders had sponges or lemon halves strong around their necks for use during the race. As usual the limit men started off twelve minutes ahead of the scratch men.
The winner, a member of the highly regarded Riverside Athletic Club of New Jersey, surprised even the best guessers among the race "cognosenti." A. D. Thompkins, who started with a large group at 3 1/2 minutes, finished with the fastest time of the day, though more than a half minute slower than the record time set by Ulbricht in 1895. Both Rodriguez and Ulbricht, fully expected to do well, did so, finishing with the second and third fastest times respectively. The two speedsers played a "nip and tuck match" the entire way, Rodriguez's finish kick gaining him a three yard margin at the line. As for the finish placings, they were another surprise. The brothers, S. F. Boettcher and R. H. Boettcher, who both started with ten minute handicaps brought home the honors. R. C. Hamlin, who also started at ten minutes, rounded out the top three. Though there is no description of how the race proceeded along the seventeen mile route, that the top six finishers were all either ten or eleven minute men suggests that they worked well together.
W. M. Jenkins and Phil Kitchen, two veterans of the race, and both starting with 3 1/2 minute handicaps, went down in a heap with a young rider just past the Washington Street Post Office. "Both got severe and sanguinary falls." Jenkins, "though much disfigured by dust and gore" carried on. Kitchen, however, was done for the day. Ulbricht challenged the eternal Fay Stephenson for the best line of the day saying, at the end of the race, "you won't get much out of me, you know. Rodriguez and I were together the whole way. The road was very dirty, no more than last year, though, and I would like a stein." End of race priorities. As for that Stephenson wit: "The same old story. I hollered to the men in front of men to stop, when I got out of breath; but, strange to say, they wouldn't." As for the other two scratch men, Shoemaker did not start, choosing instead to race the 10 3/4 mile course in his hometown instead (he won), and Howard Squires, of Redlands, was taken out by a dog in "a very nasty tumble, his machine being completely knocked out of shape."
"The majority of the men at the end of the race resembled chimney sweeps and scavengers, but a dip in the briny or a tub bath soon restored their spoilt beauty."
An interesting postscript: The Herald reporter suggested, looking ahead, that next years' race would include a roped off finish to control the crush of spectators. On the other hand, Charles F. Lummis in his magazine Land of Sunshine lamented his belief that the race probably "will never be run again." I am not sure where the information came from allowing him to state that "next year's big road race will start at East Lake Park, Los Angeles, and go to Pasadena through Alhambra, then through Lincoln Park, Garvanza, Highland Park and East Los Angeles" and back to its starting point. I don't know if a competing race was being planned, but the LA to SM race would be back.
The winner, a member of the highly regarded Riverside Athletic Club of New Jersey, surprised even the best guessers among the race "cognosenti." A. D. Thompkins, who started with a large group at 3 1/2 minutes, finished with the fastest time of the day, though more than a half minute slower than the record time set by Ulbricht in 1895. Both Rodriguez and Ulbricht, fully expected to do well, did so, finishing with the second and third fastest times respectively. The two speedsers played a "nip and tuck match" the entire way, Rodriguez's finish kick gaining him a three yard margin at the line. As for the finish placings, they were another surprise. The brothers, S. F. Boettcher and R. H. Boettcher, who both started with ten minute handicaps brought home the honors. R. C. Hamlin, who also started at ten minutes, rounded out the top three. Though there is no description of how the race proceeded along the seventeen mile route, that the top six finishers were all either ten or eleven minute men suggests that they worked well together.
W. M. Jenkins and Phil Kitchen, two veterans of the race, and both starting with 3 1/2 minute handicaps, went down in a heap with a young rider just past the Washington Street Post Office. "Both got severe and sanguinary falls." Jenkins, "though much disfigured by dust and gore" carried on. Kitchen, however, was done for the day. Ulbricht challenged the eternal Fay Stephenson for the best line of the day saying, at the end of the race, "you won't get much out of me, you know. Rodriguez and I were together the whole way. The road was very dirty, no more than last year, though, and I would like a stein." End of race priorities. As for that Stephenson wit: "The same old story. I hollered to the men in front of men to stop, when I got out of breath; but, strange to say, they wouldn't." As for the other two scratch men, Shoemaker did not start, choosing instead to race the 10 3/4 mile course in his hometown instead (he won), and Howard Squires, of Redlands, was taken out by a dog in "a very nasty tumble, his machine being completely knocked out of shape."
"The majority of the men at the end of the race resembled chimney sweeps and scavengers, but a dip in the briny or a tub bath soon restored their spoilt beauty."
An interesting postscript: The Herald reporter suggested, looking ahead, that next years' race would include a roped off finish to control the crush of spectators. On the other hand, Charles F. Lummis in his magazine Land of Sunshine lamented his belief that the race probably "will never be run again." I am not sure where the information came from allowing him to state that "next year's big road race will start at East Lake Park, Los Angeles, and go to Pasadena through Alhambra, then through Lincoln Park, Garvanza, Highland Park and East Los Angeles" and back to its starting point. I don't know if a competing race was being planned, but the LA to SM race would be back.
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