The Wilmington Grand Prix returns for its 14th year of races and community rides through and around the city of Wilmington this weekend.Īfter two years of race cancellations, top cyclists competing in USA Cycling National Racing Calendar will be back to tackle the course through downtown Wilmington and up Brandywine Park’s challenging Monkey Hill. Anybody who’s on a bike should have some sense or some understanding of connection to who he is.” I don’t mean just our Black friends who cycle – I mean our white friends who cycle or our Asian friends who cycle. “What should be surprising, what we should be working to change is why all of our friends who cycle may not know. “It’s not a surprise to me when my family or a friend or somebody doesn’t know anything about it,” Hall said. The community ride is also part of an effort to spread the word about Taylor’s life and accomplishments to the broader community. Later in the afternoon, some of the top cycling pros in the nation will race along the same course. The Major Taylor Ride event will offer community members a chance to tackle the USA Cycling sanctioned course for free starting at 11:15 Saturday morning. It was a normal thing for us to ride around.”Īs part of this weekend’s Wilmington Grand Prix cycling races, some of these kids will take their bikes for a few laps on the downtown racecourse. “Maybe that’ll help some of the kids to start that activity as just a regular part of their life like we did. Maybe they don’t think it’s a thing,” Scott said. “For me personally, it’s exposing our group to people who may not know that there’s a whole community of Black cyclists across the United States and across the globe. “They thought of bikes as like a Christmas present, a toy for children, as a plaything.”īess Scott, with the Capital City Cyclists in Dover, said she hopes the program encourages more Black young people to join the cycling ranks. “Some of the kids I talked to during these discussions talked about how they never really thought about cycling as a competitive sport, as athletics,” Tolman said. While Taylor’s life is the focus, the group also talks about their enjoyment of cycling, in an effort to develop a love for cycling as a legitimate sport among the young people. “Having everything thrown at him because of the time period he was in and all the things he would have struggled with because of his race, and he still decided to be the best anyway.” “He worked so hard to get where he wanted to be,” said Ethan Raines, an 11th grader from Wilmington. “The kids themselves brought up a lot really, you know, they really cut to the chase. “We talked in our room about how come I never heard of this guy? Why is that? What doors did he open? Who followed him or why didn’t more people follow him?” said Lynne Tolman, who directs the nonprofit Major Taylor Association in Worcester, Mass. The lack of recognition for Taylor is also one of the topics the groups discussed at their online meeting on Monday. WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsor Taylor kept going “no matter how many times he was knocked off of his bike, assaulted intentionally, or pushed out of a race, or tactically disadvantaged within a race to try and keep him from winning,” said Artis Hall, a member of the Philadelphia Major Taylor Cycling Club. Now his story of triumph over adversity is being used to inspire and teach Wilmington kids about perseverance. Following one race in Massachusetts, he was nearly choked to death by a competitor he’d beaten. Throughout his career, he faced racial prejudice and threats of violence. He would go on to beat many of the world’s top riders in races in the U.S., Europe, and Australia. He was also the national sprint champ in 18. In 1899, Taylor won the one-mile sprint event at the world track championships. Years before Jack Johnson became the first Black boxer to win the world heavyweight title, and decades before Jackie Robinson would break Major League Baseball’s color barrier, Major Taylor became the first Black cyclist to become world cycling champ.
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