John Barnard

John Barnard started racing with the Marlborough AC in 1907, and after some success in individual handicap events, took to tandem racing and teamed up with his future brother-in-law Johnnie Matthews (Barnard was to marry Matthews’ sister Eleanor in 1913). Before Barnard’s first season was out, he and Matthews lost in the final of that year’s London Centre Championships two-mile tandem race to Frederick Hamlin and Thomas Johnson who, like Matthews & Barnard, were brothers-in-law.

Despite their successes together, including breaking the half-, three-quarter- and one-mile records from a standing start, Matthews and Barnard were not selected to race together at the London Olympics. Instead, Barnard was teamed up with the crack rider Arthur Rushen, the 1906 tandem gold medalist (with Matthews). However, neither men, nor Matthews and his partner Leon Meredith, picked up any tandem medals. Like his limited pre-Olympics success, Barnard also did little of note after the 1908 Games.