Page 12 - Demo

12 | Gazette Life | May 2026LIFE IN THE SADDLEMaurice Burton is a British cycling legend %u2013 the first black British cycling champion who went on to an exciting professional career in Belgium before becoming the owner of De Ver Cycles in Streatham. Maurice has been coming to Lanzarote since the 1980s and has run regular cycling camps on the island for 20 years. We chatted to him about his eventful life in Costa Teguise last month.Maurice, how did you start cycling?My dad wouldn%u2019t let me get a bike, and my dad wasn%u2019t the sort of person you argued with. So I didn%u2019t learn to ride until I was 12, out and about with friends. I then started to compete at then Herne Hill Velodrome, which had been built for the 1948 Olympics. I soon found out that no one could catch me!I won my first Junior Sprint title in 1973 and the amateur scratch title the following year. It was on Grandstand, but I%u2019m not sure if my father watched it %u2013 he preferred Mick McManus and the wrestling on ITV. I don%u2019t have any bitterness - it%u2019s good to know that I achieved everything on my own. There are reports that you were booed by racist spectators when you crossed the line. Is that one of the reasons why you left the UK?There were a few people booing, but it was more to do with problems with the team and coach. I competed in the 1974 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand, but I wasn%u2019t selected for the Olympics in 1976, and decided to move over to Belgium, where I took part in 6-day-races.They were big events then, and I made good money. After a couple of 6-Day races I put the money down for a Toyota! I was cycling alongside the best, and met riders like Eddie Merckx. Once he asked me to let him win a track event once, so I gifted him the race. Did you ever do the road tours?No. track was my thing. I could beat Eddie on the track but I wouldn%u2019t have stood a chance on the road. Why did you return to London?I had a bad crash at a 6-Day event in Argentina in 1984 and had to leave GAZETTE | INTERVIEW