Ron was born and grew up in Southport He went to Farnborough Rd Junior School then on to what is now Birkdale High School . On leaving school at 14 his farther got him a 7 year apprentice as a brick layer this included 4 years at the Liverpool College of Building During this time he met another Brickie with who he made friends with this was Bob Bird Ron told him he was going for a weeks cycling stopping in youth hostels in Wales so Bob asked if he could go with him so off they went for a 1week holiday coming back Via the Y Valley Bob had no bike so had to borrow one This was the start of Bob & Rons cycling careers Another Club holiday was to Devon & Cornwall Ron went with Jack Guy & Ginger Wills again staying in youth Hostels. 1947 saw him start Time Trial racing with Bob who was soon to be the star man in the Southport club and along with Arnold Green they where amongst the best in the country at the longer distances. The first success I can find is for him is in 1949 he rode the Liverpool St Christophers 30m time Trial The great Bob Bird broke the club record with 1-19-52 Ron starting 30 minutes later came in with 1-19-25 to beat Bob and lower the club record this was maybe his best ride . Also In 1949 he teamed up with Jack Seddon to break the Southport-Blackpool-Southport Tandam record with 2-37-50
In 1950 they went for the longer Southport-Lancaster-Southport record which they broke with a time of 3-30-37 They still hold this record in 2025 75 years later.
1950 was a good year for Ron he was in the winning team in the Liverpool Time Trials Best all Rounder 25m 50m 100m 12hrs with Bob Bird & Arnold Green and the Team in the North Lancs TTA BAR with the same 3 riders They also won the team in the Lancs RC 12hr race that year He was also 3rd in the Southport Club Best all rounder Another team win was in the Lancs RC 100m TT again with A Green & B Bird Its unfortunate i have no times for any of this. His younger brother ERIC who still lives in Southport and followed Ron into cycling with the Southport club.
Later collage and work then restricted his time to train and race . In1954 he emigrated to Canada. He lived on Vancover Island when i first made contact with him He Later moved on to mainland Canada living in Stoney Plain When he was 52 he took up running and won 61 Masters races in Canada and set a Canadian masters record for 5m 29 -11 He also finished 10th in his class in the World Masters Championship After the running finished Ron took up boat building for his grandchildren to sail round the local lake in then a much bigger project that took a long time to finish (see 2 photos below) Ron was unlucky in his cycling career to come up against 2 such great clubmates who stole much of his glory
1 result we have found
Club 50m Event July 1950
1st Bob Bird 2-09-57 2nd Ron Welch 2-11-22 3rd Arnold Green 2-14-11
This is the Proof. If there is anything you would like to alter or add please E-mail me. If you come across any Finishing sheets or anything cycling I would be interested in them.
Ken
