Walter Fowler knew that, as long as he completed two laps of the track, he would become world champion.
He was, after all, the only rider competing in the 500m time trial in his 90-94 age bracket. In fact, he was the only person over 90 competing at all at the UCI Masters Track World Championships in London last week.
“I always am the oldest on the list at the Worlds,” said Fowler, who turned 92 earlier this year. And even still, he adds, “there were several riders, all the way down to 75-79 [age bracket], that were slower than me.”
Fowler’s time of 50.06 seconds delivered him a new world best, if only for the fact that nobody his age had ridden the event before. He had to ask for special dispensation from the organisers to allow him to race alone in his age bracket, and after fighting off some “dodgy” health issues, gave himself only five weeks to train.
“In that time I concentrated entirely on a single objective: the 500m. No other distance. All that mattered was having a good start, a good middle, and a good finish,” he told Cycling Weekly.
“Unfortunately, I did get a good start, but I started to die in the middle and second laps. But that’s always been my character ever since I started back in 2008. I’ve always had a fast first lap.”
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Fowler has now won four Masters world titles since his championships debut in Sydney, Australia almost two decades ago.
His latest rainbow jersey, won last Thursday inside the Lee Valley Velodrome, earned him a 30-second applause – more than half the time his entire effort took – during the medal ceremony. He then held both his hands in the air and bowed to the crowd, before another rider approached him for a selfie.
“I do seem to have raised enthusiasm in a lot of the cyclists, who are probably coming up to the point where they’re wondering, ‘Will I be able to continue much longer?’,” Fowler said. “They’re then able to see, ‘Well, if Walter Fowler can do it at 92, then I certainly can at 88.’ It’s useful in inspiring people.”
Fowler, too, has his own inspirational figures. Speaking to Cycling Weekly two years ago, he explained he was aiming for the 90-94 Hour Record, held by American Carl Grove at 34.498km, but has since changed his mind – “it’s exceptionally fast, so it may not be in my interest to flog myself for it,” he said.
Instead, he is chasing the trail blazed by Frenchman Robert Marchand, who set the first Hour Record in the 100-plus age category, did the same in the 105-plus, and died aged 109 in 2021. Fowler would first like to take the 95-99 age group record. “I don’t make a great fuss about it, but it’s just a quiet resolve that I shall be going on to challenge the 100 result,” he said. He’ll be able to do so in 2034.
In the meantime, he has already marked next year’s Masters Track Worlds in his diary, and is planning a tilt at the 2km individual pursuit, as well as defending his 500m title.
“I’ve had the pursuit world title at other, younger age groups, so I know I can do it,” he said. “Three minutes is the sort of target for me. I’ve done three minutes before and had a record at three minutes.
“Whether I can make that same amount, I don’t know, but that’s not the point; the point is to try my best and get myself fit enough,” he continued. “I don’t consider that to be overdoing it.”