One of the tallest men in amateur cycling at the turn of the 20th century, Bert Bouffler originally rode for Shaftesbury CC and first attracted attention in 1903 when he twice beat the reigning NCU quarter-mile champion, Alfred Ingram, over five-miles. A year after first coming to prominence, Bouffler took part in the World Championships at Crystal Palace, before a move to the Polytechnic CC in 1905. He was originally selected as a reserve for the 1906 Athens Olympics, but was called up when Albert Wills was no longer eligible to race as an amateur. Despite not being on top form, Bouffler still managed to win a silver medal behind the Italian Francesco Verri in the 1000 metres sprint. Joy of an Olympic medal was tinged with sadness, however, because his only child, aged six months, was taken ill, and died on 27 April 1906 while Bouffler was in Athens.
Despite returning from Athens in poor health, Bouffler still took part in the Inter-Polytechnic Championships at Maida Vale and won the one lap and five-mile race - just two of many Inter-Poly races he won over the years. Bouffler also won the Southern Counties one-mile championship at Herne Hill in 1906, and in 1908, when he made his second Olympic appearance, he won the coveted 25-mile Lightning Cup at Crystal Palace. In 1910 he became landlord of the Mortimer Arms in Hackney. Bouffler left his family and moved to South Africa in 1915; he remained there until his death from tuberculosis in 1931.
Great Britain