Derbyshire's "Boot" was the Roger Bannister of cycling

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In 1956, Derbyshire cyclist Ray Booty broke the four-hour barrier for a 100-mile individual time trial – a feat that was compared to Roger Bannister’s smashing of the four-minute mile. Veteran cyclist Dave Orford, right, of Belper, looks back at the achievements of the man they called The Boot.

Ray Booty celebrates winning the 120-mile cycle road race at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff

The Boot is the nickname for Ray Booty who, when I first saw him on Easter Monday, 1950, was a very tall, gangling youth of 19, but obviously already a good racing cyclist.

The race in question was the circuit of Sherwood Forest. Dicky Bowes, from Solihull, a top international, was expected to win but, instead, after the difficult final climb, Ray came in to the finish alone with Bowes nowhere. He completed the 100km in 2hrs 32mins 17secs.

Ray went on to become a top rider and international but his dominating force was the 100-mile individual time trial. He ran many classic events over that distance, but in the Bath Road 100-mile classic time-trial of 1956, Ray really made his name by being the first racing cyclist to break the four-hour barrier in an “out-and-home” 100-mile race, completing it in 3hrs, 58mins 28 secs.

There had been a gold medal on offer for the first amateur to break four hours, put up by the weekly cycling magazine Cycling. Of course, with Roger Bannister also breaking the four-minute mile in athletics in 1954, Ray became the Bannister of British cycling.

Ray won several British time-trial championships based on his three fastest times (or distance) in the 50-mile, 100-mile and 12-hour events. He also rode in many top road races, like the Peace Race – a 14-day event from Warsaw to Berlin and Prague. This was the East European version of the Tour de France.

In 1958, Ray took the gold medal in the British Empire and Commonwealth Games road race at Cardiff, where he won again in classic manner by finishing alone in the 120-mile race in 5hrs 16mins – almost three minutes in front of the second rider to finish (F Brazier of Australia) and leading the British team to victory.

Ray is 75 now, living in Kings Croft, Allestree, and is an avid gardener. Cycle sport does not enjoy as high a profile in the UK as it does on the continent and the time-trial discipline is given scant publicity. So while Bannister enjoyed the plaudits, Ray received little acclaim outside his sport.

All of Ray’s great time-trials were done on a single, fixed gear – not multi-gears which is now the norm.

Also in 1956, Ray decided, when the weather was just right, to attack the Road Records Association straight out 100-mile record – obviously taking advantage of a helpful wind.

The record was held by Ken Joy, the Hercules Cycles professional, who said after Ray had broken his record by 16 minutes: “Ray, we professionals only nibble a little bit off the record at a time, or otherwise the record is on the shelf.”

Ray’s time for that epic 100 miles was 3hrs, 28mins, 40 secs. It stood for more than 30 years.

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