Marinoni narrowly misses new hour record

On the final lap of his one-hour ride at the Milton Velodrome, Giuseppe Marinoni already knew that his efforts to set a new record for the 80-84 age group was about to fall short. The legend in the Canadian cycling community finished his hour having ridden to within 200m of the current and still standing record of 38.657 kilometres.

Throughout Marinoni’s hour in the saddle, fans cheered from grandstands on both sides of the velodrome, cheering on the framebuilder and athlete from Montreal. Even as the clock wound down, the cheering continued, fans willing the 80 year old to find a little more speed, hoping to see a new world record.

Marinoni’s entire family were on hand to watch the effort, and they gathered together after the finish as Marinoni considered how close he had come to achieving his goal. Though he stayed mostly quiet after the event, he still made time to sign autographs, including some Marinoni frames brought by ardent fans.

The Milton velodrome, built for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am games, now hosts some of Canada’s high performance cyclists as they train for international competition. At the same time, learn to ride programs enable cyclists of all ages to try out cycling on a velodrome. The venue was the natural choice for the prestige of Marinoni’s effort.

Marinoni rode the velodrome using the same bicycle he used to set the hour world record for the 75-79 year age group five years ago, a record that he set at 35.728 km. The bicycle bears the Marinoni name, on a frame he originally built 39 years ago for Canadian Olympian Jocelyn Lovell. American Jim Turner later bettered that to set the current 75-79 age group record at 38.494 km.

Marinoni did not have much to say following his attempt, but indicated he has time booked at a velodrome in Mexico next month to try once again to set a new record.