|
Not held in other editions
| Event type

5 miles, Men

Date 5 August 1904
StatusOlympic
LocationFrancis Field, Washington University, St. Louis
Participants9 from 1 countries
FormatFinal only.

The five mile race was spoiled by a large crash, precipitated by the rough riding of Joel Nash McCrea of Springfield, Illinois. For his rough riding, he earned the nickname, )Crash McCrea.) The Bicycling World noted that )he does not seem to be a vicious rider, but simply ‘rides all over the track’ and is dangerous for that reason.) The crash took out the best riders in St. Louis in 1904, notably Marcus Hurley, Burton Downing, Teddy Billington, and Oscar Goerke. It was noted, however, that they deserved this somewhat because they rode near the end of the pack for much of the race, and thus were susceptible to a crash. The crash occurred on the penultimate lap when McCrea swerved into the rider alongside him and they struck two other riders. Hurley, Downing, Billington and Goerke were behind them and fell over the fallen riders. Charles Schlee, of Newark, New Jersey, had been in last place, as was his customary strategy, but escaped the fall and he and George Wiley of Syracuse, New York, fought out the championship on the last lap. Wiley led going around the last turn but Schlee overhauled him in the straight and won by five open lengths.

PosCompetitor(s)NOCTimeMargin
1Charles SchleeUSA13:08.2Gold
2George WileyUSAat 5 lengthsSilver
3Arthur AndrewsUSABronze
4Julius SchaeferUSA
DNFMarcus HurleyUSA
DNFBurton DowningUSA
DNFOscar GoerkeUSA
DNFTeddy BillingtonUSA
DNFJ. Nash McCreaUSA