Norman Sheil
Cyclist whose victories helped lead Britain on to the world stage
NORMAN SHEIL, who has died aged 86, was a cyclist who joined Tom Simpson and Brian Robinson in the vanguard as British riders began to figure on the world stage.
He won two individual pursuit gold medals in the world championships and two in the Commonwealth Games, raced in the Tour de France and went on to serve as coach of the British cycling team. He broke national records at five, 10 and 25 miles, and one hour (26 miles 1,398 yards).
Norman Leslie Sheil was born in Liverpool on October 22 1932, and began riding with the Phoenix Club in Aintree in 1948. “I shall never forget those 40 miles, especially the look on my mother’s face when she saw me after the run ended,” he recalled of his first run-out with the club. “She thought I was deadly ill or something. And I didn’t feel so good, as a matter of fact.”
Competitive British cycling at that time was dominated by time trials, and Sheil soon took part in his first, on a bicycle he had built himself from a frame given to him by his uncle, Bill Cronshaw, who had raced in the 1920s. His time-trialling rapidly improved, and he moved to a new club, Walton Paragon.
His career was interrupted by National Service as a Navy signalman. But when he returned to civilian life his career blossomed on the track, and in 1954 in Vancouver he took his first Commonwealth individual pursuit title, beating his compatriot, Peter Brotherton, in the final.
The following year he took the amateur individual pursuit title at the world championships in Milan, again beating Brotherton; both victories were achieved in British-record times. Three years later came a well-earned double: in Cardiff in July, Sheil retained his Commonwealth title, beating Tom Simpson, who would go on to outshine his victor on the road, only to die during the 1967 Tour de France. Two months later, at the Parc des Princes velodrome in Paris, Sheil held on to his world title, beating the Frenchman, Philippe Gaudrillet.
Sheil then turned to road racing. Several British riders were attempting to make their way in France, including Simpson and Robinson, and for the 1960 Tour de France the organisers invited an eight-man British team. Sheil was in a respectable 14th place when he crashed on the 11th stage and was forced to retire. When the race reached Paris, only Simpson and Robinson of the British crew were left.
Sheil retired in 1963, and two years later became coach to the Great Britain squad. He did much to popularise competitive cycling in his home land, helping set up the British Cycle Coaching Scheme and the English Schools Cycling Association.
As GB coach he gained a reputation as a hard taskmaster, but he got results: Ian Hallam, for example, was a dentistry student with little spare time, but Sheil – an early proponent of interval training, which is now universal – took him to Commonwealth pursuit gold as well as silver at the world championships.
Sheil left the British set-up in 1972, and in 1978 he moved to Canada as national coach, serving for four years, before becoming a track coach in the US. He retired to Canada, but returned to the track in later years, winning the points race title at the 1998 World Masters Championships.
Norman Sheil, who spent his final years living in Ottawa, is survived by his wife, Rachel, and their son.