A century is long time in sport; 1925 would see the enigmatic Italian Ottavio Bottecchia take his second and final Tour de France win, then chancellor Winston Churchill would reintroduce the gold standard to disastrous results and more relevantly, the year would also witness the formation of one of Scotland’s most historic cycling clubs: Glasgow Nightingale CC.
The club had it’s routes in a cycle builder ran by Malcolm C Smith on the city’s Drygate. His son, also called Malcolm, would run another shop on the High Street with the bikes he built there carried the name ‘Nightingale’, the maiden name of his mother. The club formed out of the shop in 1925, taking the name of the frames.
The club had instant success, running it’s first open event in 1927 – a 25 mile time trial- and had solid growth throughout the inter-war period.
The eagle-eyed among you may notice that the Nightingales kit shares a close resemblance to that of the Belgian national colours, and that is no accident. The club voted in 1951 to change their colours to that of the Belgians, which was thought to be inspired by those club members who had served in Europe during the second world war.
The clubs relationship to Belgium continued; in 1960 Jim Robinson, along with several other Glasweigian riders, had hitched their way down from Scotland to the English Channel before spending the summer racing in Belgium – following in the steps of pro-rider John Kennedy – who would ride that years’ Tour de France. It’s a tradition that many young Scots still take on to this day – to travel to Belgium for a taste of international racing, either on the road or increasingly so during the winter cyclocross season.
Fast forward to 2025, as part of the centenary commemorations the club organised another pilgrimage to the hellingen of Flanders, with many of the clubs members heading over to ride the Tour of Flanders sportive in April, before watching the professionals race De Ronde on the hoogstraat the following day.
If you want to read more about the club’s history, then please check out this document here.
President of the club since 2017, Denis Mitchell is one of stalwarts of the club, but also one of its most accomplished athletes over its 100-year history. Having joined as a teenager in 1968, Mitchell would reach the peak of his powers in the mid-70s where he competed for Great Britain in the Peace Race, as well as Scotland in the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand.
One of his old adversaries was Scottish Cycling President Sandy Gilchrist, who said of the club:
“Congratulations to the Glasgow Nightingale Cycling Club on reaching the grand old age of one hundred years.
“The club always supported its friendly rivalry between the riders from the west and those from the east. A few of the stars I remember from my racing days were Denis Mitchel and George McBean. Denis, who raced internationally for Scotland for several years, also represented teams for Great Britain. Isobel Campbell, MBE, whom you would always see at races, riding and supporting the Nightingale.
“Surviving for one hundred years is a remarkable achievement that demonstrates the club’s commitment from its members, both young and old.”
Today the club boasts over a 100 members, with two weekend rides in and around the Trossachs – with one flatter ride focusing on the Lake of Menteith and a hillier route taking in the various climbs of the area. As well as the Menteith APR, the club organised the Sam Robinson Memorial Race to celebrate their golden jubilee in 1975, and fifty years on it remains a key part of the Scottish road racing calendar – ran every since, with the exception of 2020 & 2021.
Celebrating the club’s centenary, this year the race forms part of a two-day stage race. This year’s race is set to take place this weekend (26th and 27th July) – you can find out more details here.
Someone else who knows the ‘gales well is cycling photographer Mark McGhee, founder of well known news feed The Press Room. Mark’s photos are synonymous with the Scottish Cycling road scene, so we asked his memories of the photographing Glasgow Nightingale events and their riders in action:
“Since The Press Room started covering events there have been very few races where there hasn’t been representation from the Glasgow Nightingale CC. At their own races, or other events that they’ve volunteered to help out at, they’ve always taken the time to make it easy for us to do our job and a special thanks goes out to Martin Knox, Ian Fraser and everyone at the ‘Gale.”
All there is to say from everyone at Scottish Cycling, is to wish everyone associated with the ‘Gales a very happy birthday and here’s to what the next century will bring.
If you want to find out more about Glasgow Nightingales and how to join then check out their website here.