The Alan Newton Way, a new cycle route starting near Marple Hall School to Bredbury, was officially opened by Alan Newton himself on Saturday 2nd July in Marple.
Alan Newton, together with the Mayor and Mayoress of Stockport, Councillor Chris Gordon and Dr Margaret Gordon, and his wife Barbara Newton, cut the ribbon and declared the cycle route open.
Local councillors and residents also attended the ceremony, and children from the Offerton Art Attack presented a beautiful mosaic which honoured Alan’s achievement of being the first person born and bred in Stockport to ever win an Olympic medal.
In 1952, Alan represented Great Britain in the Summer Olympics in Helsinki, where, alongside his team mates Donald Burgess, George Newberry and Ronald Stretton, he won the Bronze medal in the men’s 4,000m team pursuit.
In the same year, Alan competed in the World Championship in Paris in the individual pursuit, coming 4th in the competition.
Alan Newton said: “The whole event was completely overwhelming on Saturday. There were so many people present in spite of the showery weather and muddy conditions. The new signage, including the chart, is most impressive as well as the improvement to the surface of this ancient bridle way which will now be suitable for pushchairs and trolleys – such as I use! It is also certainly an ideal situation for new or timid cyclists to learn bike handling. Runners and walkers have already told us how much easier it is in their training.
“As for it being named The Alan Newton Way, my family, friends and I are so proud, honoured and grateful to have lived long enough to be able to appreciate all this at the grand age of 85. So many years after what was a spectacular achievement at the time but which was not recognised until the Olympic Games came to London in 2012. Only 11 medals came back from the Helsinki games and only one for Cycling. This new pathway is the culmination of a lifetime and is a great honour for which I am eternally grateful.”
The Mayor of Stockport said: “It was wonderful to see so many people turning up in unsettled weather to honour Alan Newton, Stockport’s first Olympian, on the opening of the cycle route fittingly named after him. What a wonderful and inspiring gentleman, who won a bronze medal for pursuit cycling in an era when sport was not dominated by professional athletes and huge sponsorship deals. A true Olympian in the real sense of the word.”
