At 13 Cyril Sumner began work as a tinsmith. Every day, he rode his bike to and from his home in Midland to work in Roe St, Perth. He started riding competitively when he joined the Midland Cycle Club, then the newly formed Belmont Wheelers. By 1941 he was riding for the Victoria Park Cycling Club (VPCC).

Cyril celebrated his first major success at 16 winning the VPCC 20 Mile Handicap Cyril Norton Cup. This was followed in the same year with a win in the 23 Mile Junior Cycle Race.

In September 1941, now 19, Cyril lined up with 40 other riders in the gruelling, gravelly 116 mile "Beverley". This tough handicapped race attracted some of the best cyclists from around W.A., and often featured interstate riders too.

“Handsome cups, sashes and badges” would be presented. 1st prize was a “special racing machine”; a Rainbow Challenge Racer donated by Sandovers. The rider making fastest time would receive cash towards representing W.A. in races held in the Eastern States.

Though one of the youngest riders the quiet and unassuming 19 year old Cyril was in good form. Riding his lightweight Ascot he would have felt in with a chance given the head start he had on the limit bunch. He could not have imagined the grit and experience of the state’s best race hardened warriors, or the hills, wind and rain that lay ahead that day.

Flagged off 27 minutes ahead of the defending champion - the legendary Bill “Tito” Bonser from Kalgoorlie on scratch – Cyril would have chased off after the cloud of riders that had departed before him, soon rubbing dirt & mud from his eyes and spitting grit to the ground, driven on by youthful exuberance, stamina and a good measure of pluck and luck on the slippery pea-gravel roads before him.

Bonser, though once again setting fastest time for the race, didn’t catch Cyril that day. Despite the vast gap in experience over distance and terrain, Bonser only made up 10 seconds per mile on Sumner. Pushing his 5A Ascot down the hills and across the line at the Peninsula Hotel in Maylands, mud stained Cyril finished 8th overall in a time of 6hrs 12mins. For his sterling effort, Cyril won a pair of high pressure tyres valued at £1/8/6.

With the world at war and his first child not long away, no further trophies were added to Cyril’s collection. Cyril kept the Ascot though, and the new Swansea racing frame #6864 he took as a prize that day.

In 1982, aged 60, Cyril suffered a heart attack and underwent surgery. As part of his rehabilitation, his son Robert had the tired 5A Ascot and equally neglected, unbuilt Swansea frame repainted. The plan was, after 41 years, to finally build up the Swansea and fix up the Ascot as a father and son project for the occasional ride together.

photo of Cyril Sumner in 1938 courtesy of daughter Barbara Moss