South London’s Herne Hill Velodrome has come through existential crises to become a major talent-development hub and an invaluable community asset
Words Nick Christian Photography Honor Elliott
I have just come off the track for the final time on my first night of Track League racing at south London’s Herne Hill Velodrome, and have tuned in to the renowned commentary stylings of Phil Wright, over the tinny pitch-side PA.
I have not lit up the track, but nor have I struggled too hard to hold the wheels. I wasn’t ever among the top positions, but I did manage to come away with one of the jerseys awarded as a prize for sneaking a prime [ed – pronounced ‘preem’, the French word for gift, and awarded for intermediate sprints] in the final points race. More meaningfully I’ve been welcomed, by Joe, Rob, Swanny, Pete and the rest, into the band of ragtag riders known as “the Cs,” one of the myriad groups that help form the wider HHV community. Phil’s rascally, wry, irreverent remark to the neighbours reflects not only a love for this place that everyone here wears on their lycra sleeves, but a confidence in its continuity.
Seventeen years ago, the 132-year-old venue was in serious trouble. The track itself was in a state of disrepair and the leisure partners charged with its management didn’t see its potential and were failing to invest in its upkeep. When the lease came up, the landowners, the Dulwich Estate, refused to renew it. As the velodrome’s current head coach, John Scripps, describes it, the freeholders decided it was “either going to be run properly or not at all”.
99 problems but the lease ain’t one
Not at all was, for a while, where things were headed. For a year until August 2005, the gates were shut. That existential threat stirred the locals, inspiring the birth of the Save the Velodrome campaign which, ultimately, achieved just that. Thanks to British Cycling, and a generous bequest, funding was secured for the necessary resurfacing of the track, in-fill of track centre, floodlights and other physical infrastructure. That was sufficient assurance for the freeholders to grant the velodrome a 99-year lease on the land. Velo Club Londres, the racing-focused team most closely associated with the velodrome, temporarily took over its management before handing over responsibility to the newly established Herne Hill Velodrome Trust in 2017.
Then, a little over three years ago, the velodrome was again wobbling; by most assessments failing to live up to its potential. The pandemi
