Milk Race: On and On
A short film about riding the Milk Race Tour of Britain in the 1960s.
British cycling legend Les West, twice winner of the race, and his team mate Roger Pratt reminisce and swap anecdotes about competing in the race over a montage of glorious colour 16mm cine footage.
Despite facing exhaustion during the two week long stage race, they just didn't want to stop.
They saw fierce opposition from Russian, Polish and Belgian riders who were in organised amateur teams, but were professional in all but name. They could ride their bikes full time. Not so for Les and Roger. After racing 1,500 miles round Britain they had to return to work the following day.
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“We didn’t want to stop, we just wanted to go on and on.
You were in this total little bubble, where all that mattered was the race, all that mattered was getting through the race.”
Screenings in 2017
Television
I am delighted to say the film will make its UK television debut on the BIKE Channel in March, schedule as follows:
- Premiere: Friday 10 March at 22:45
- Re-run: Saturday 11 at 10:45
- Sunday 12 at 04:45 and 16:45
- Saturday 25 at 20:45, Sunday 26 07:00, Monday 27 at 01:00 and 14:45
Watch the BIKE Channel on Sky: 464 | Virgin: 552 | Freesat: 251
Film Festivals
Sheffield Adventure Film Festival
Milk Race: On and On is showing at ShAFF 2017 in the Road Biking Films sessions:
- Saturday 11 March at 11:15 Screen 3
- Sunday 12 March at 13:30 SHU screen
AD Sport Film Festival, Rotterdam
- Cinerama Film Theatre, Rotterdam, Netherlands, Saturday 8 April 18:45. Cycling collection programme.
BCN Sports Film Festival
- 8th Barcelona International FICTS Festival, Spain, 8-12 May.
- 10/05 - 6.30 p.m. - Biblioteca Districte 5 (Terrassa);
- 11/05 - 7 p.m. - Biblioteca de Ponent (Sabadell)
16th Annual Bicycle Film Festival
- Madrid, Spain. Friday 31 March, Programme IV 18:30.
Screenings in 2016
Milk Race: On and On won the BMW Milano 'Special Award' in the Short Documentary category at the Sport Movies & TV - 34th Milano International FICTS Fest in November. It was an Official Selection of the Bicycle Film Festival, screening in New York and Brighton and the Plymouth Film Festival.
It has also screened at bike shows including the Spin London Cycling Festival, The London Bike Show and Bespoked.
Rouleur Classic screening
It was an honour to be invited to screen the film at the inaugural Rouleur Classic. It was slightly surreal to appear alongside some of the sport's biggest names, past and present.
Les and Roger both came along and we participated in a Q&A after the film hosted by Matt Stephens (who recalled getting smashed by Les during his veteran racing comeback - legends of British cycling both).
They were worried no-one would be interested in their experiences, so it was great seeing the film get such a warm response from the appreciative audience, with people asking for Les and Roger's autographs afterward.
On and Ongoing project
The project doesn’t stop with this film.
If you have any footage, photographs or memories of the race then please get in touch via the form below. Whether it was riding, helping or working on the event, or even just memories of watching it speed past, I'd love to hear from you.
Lost and found footage of the 1966 edition passing through Wales and the man behind the 16mm camera. Feature for issue 49.