READY FOR THE BIG CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES - It Will Take Over Twenty Races Among the Crackajacks to Decide the Bicycle Events. - Thu, Apr 30, 1896 – 7 · The San Francisco Examiner

San Francisco has had multiple bicycle racing tracks, or velodromes. Here was one, designed by noted San Francisco bicycle racer of early days, and later velodrome, bridge and railroad builder, Frank D. Elwell. - MF

READY FOR THE BIG CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES Frank D. Elwell bicycle track construction Thu, Apr 30, 1896 – 7 · The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) · Newspapers.com

READY FOR THE BIG CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES

Athletic Clubs Getting Their Best Men in Trim for Next Saturday's Contests.

It Will Take Over Twenty Races Among the Crackajacks to Decide the Bicycle Events.

Great Enthusiasm Over "The Examiner's" Plan to Help Send the Berkeley Team East.

WORKING FOR CALIFORNIA'S GLORY.

The U. C. Team Will Make Extraordinary Efforts to Show Itself Best Entitled to Represent the State.

Next Saturday afternoon at Central Park the best athletes in the State will gather and contest in the biggest field games ever held on the Pacific Coast.

Twenty clubs, all of them members of the Amateur Association, have entered their picked men, and every one of the events promises to be closely fought and exciting, There is lots of enthusiasm among the clubs over the affair, and they're all working their mightiest to make it the very best outdoor athletic exhibition ever given west of the Mississippi river. They're doing it for the glory of athletics and to help send the Berkeley team East to compete with the teams of Eastern colleges, for all the receipts will go towards paying for that trip.

It's all for California, for the Berkeley team is expected to bring back new laurels for the Golden State. Incidentally, all the teams are going to try their best to smash records with a view to getting up an allround California team.

But vaulting, jumping, sprinting, putting weights, etc., won't be the least of the attractions. So many crack wheelmen have entered for the two big bicycle events that there are going to be at least twenty heats. Twenty bicycle races among men famous all over the Coast. That alone is enough for an afternoon's entertainment.

The programme embraces every sport from the spectacular bicycle racing to bammer-throwing.

The bicycle track is in itself a wonderful creation, and has excited widespread interest among the racing enthusiasts. Constructed of boards, six laps to the mile, it is expected to be a world beater in its own way. Manager Charles A. Wikidel, whose success in the handling of the recent indoor tournament games won for him the admiration of the cycling fraternity, has supplemented the work of Frank D. Elwell, the designer of the track. During the time of its construction he has been a constant attendant at the grounds and has personally superintended the work. The result as seen in the completed track last night will be appreciated by every wheelman who knows how far the minor details go toward making a track both safe and fast.

The painters followed closely the work of the carpenters, while the latter were putting down the surface so that to-morrow morning it will be thrown open for practice. To-day the paint will be allowed to dry thoroughly - a necessary precaution owing to the fact that finely powdered pumice stone has been sprinkled on it, to provide a non-slipping surface for the racing tires.

Peter McIntire, with his assistants, is working like a Trojan on the running paths, and will have them fit for any runner when the bell rings for the first event on Saturday's great programme.

One feature of the day's sport which gives promise of an exciting competition is the tug of war. Up in the Olympic Club's big gymnasium on Post street, Professor George Miehling is coaching a crew of lusty youths who, if reports be true, could pull a house over. The team is composed of G. E. Jackson, anchor; D. Mahoney, W. H. Smith, A. L. Buckley, E. V. Kington and E. McDaniel, with H. J. Butler, substitute. Professor Miehling, who is captain of the team, has given them a careful preparation, and is confident of their prowess on the cleats.

Captain John J. Conroy of the San Francisco Athletic Club has not been idle with his men, and they will make a strong bid for championship honors. The team consists of Henry Sullivan, Arthur Dolan, Thomas Brown, John Welsh, John McCafferty and George Bates. The University of California team is composed of F. G. Radelfinger, A. E Perley, B. E. Hooper, F. J. Greisberg, P. W. Hall and C. R. Holton.

NEW BICYCLE TRACK ON WHICH THE CRACKERJACKS WILL MEET IN SATURDAY'S BIG GAMES. 

(The bicycle track at Central Park will be finished to-day, and will be thrown open for practice to-morrow. The track is of boards, the first of its kind for outdoor racing ever constructed on the Coast, and is expected to prove a record-breaker. Next Saturday, at the big Coast championship games the track will have its grand official opening. Owing to the large number of entries handed in it will be necessary to run over twenty bicycle races. Crack riders from all over the State have entered. In addition there will be running, vaulting, hurdling, throwing weights, and tugs-of-war between crack amateurs representing the biggest and most active clubs in the Amateur Athletic Association. Altogether, it will be the greatest field day ever held on the Pacific Coast.)

Here is a photo from the California Historical Society showing Central Park in 1896, looking south, I am guessing before the track was constructed, but another page dates it 1901. - MF

To get a sense of what that area looks like now, here is Market & Eighth Streets in Google Maps, 3D view (AKA Google Earth), viewing City Hall roughly from the same spot, but a higher elevation as in the drawing in this article, both of which look northwest. What's now on the site of Central Park is Trinity Place. - MF