Jack Watson MBE – RIP
Cycling Ulster is extremely saddened to learn of the death of its esteemed member and friend Jack Watson MBE. Jack passed away this morning after a brief illness and our thoughts are with his wife Rea, sons Paul and Alan and all his family circle.

Jack devoted his life to cycling and his list of achievements and roles within cycling are numerous. He was involved in the National Federation for almost forty years from acting as Registrar, to Vice President, President, and Secretary. This dedication is hardly surprising as his own father was involved in the administration of cycling for over thirty years.

Following his retirement from the Board of Cycling Ireland he was the natural choice to act as Ambassador and advisor to Cycling Ulster. He was always the first port of call when advice was needed whether of a technical nature or a governance issue. He represented Cycling Ulster at many events and throughout his long and very busy career he rarely missed an Ulster AGM or Awards ceremony. He took great delight in presenting awards especially to the youth members whom he regarded as the future of cycling. As a former cyclist who came up through the ranks, he appreciated the advice and guidance that came from participation in club cycling.

Chairman of Cycling Ulster, Tommy McCague had this to say. “Jack will be greatly missed. From a personal point of view, he was a considerable help to me when I took on the role of Chairman of Ulster. He had served on the Executive himself for many years and always had the interests of Ulster at heart. His knowledge of all aspects of the sport was phenomenal and therefore his advice was consistently sound and practical. There were few aspects of the sport that Jack had not been involved with so should I have questions on doping, rules and regulations or the general running of the organisation Jack was always able to supply an answer to any question.

During my time of volunteering in the sport, I decided to take up the Commissaire role and Jack was one of the men who trained me. He was so encouraging and extremely supportive to all the Commissaires. I commissaired many races with him and his knowledge and expertise was mind-blowing. We would have needed to go to the rule book, yet Jack could quote it to us. On the odd occasion, I would have challenged Jack and we would banter that he had written the book. Whenever you asked Jack a question, there was always a positive response.

The cycling community has lost a great icon within the sport. I speak on behalf of all Cycling Ulster and Cycling Ireland members, that his loss will be greatly felt in our community for his knowledge, his wisdom, his expertise and above all his friendliness.

On behalf of the Cycling Ulster Executive and all Cycling Ulster members, I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to Rea, Paul and Alan and all his family”.

Anthony Mitchell worked with Jack both on the Board of Cycling Ireland and also served with him in the days of the NICF. Anthony had this to say,

“The death of Jack Watson sees the passing of a legend of Irish Cycling who will be known to almost everyone on the Island who has raced a bike competitively.

I first came to know Jack when I started cycling in the late 1970s, and he managed me on a NI Schoolboy team in the 3-day international in Scarborough in 1979.

Following a successful racing career, he went on to be one of the top officials in the sport as a promoter, mechanic, manager or Commissaire; the latter of which ranged from checking bikes were fitted with a bell in local races to controlling major international events throughout the world, and he was still active on the local scene until only a few weeks ago.

His international service was honoured with a merit award from the UCI, an inaugural inductee to the Cycling Ireland Hall of Fame and later an MBE for a lifetime given to Cycling.

Jack and I would have been on opposing sides of the Cycling split in Ireland throughout the 1990s, however following the final chapter in the unification of the sport in 2007 we became close again when I joined the Board of Cycling Ireland in 2013.

Jacks cycling stories on our monthly trips to Dublin for Board meetings were fascinating and interesting and certainly prevented our commute from becoming boring!

When our time on the Board came to an end in the early 2020s, we both stayed active in the Cycling Ireland Technical Working Group and were together on a Teams meeting less than two weeks ago.

I also share another link with the Watson family, in that Jack`s youngest Son Paul and I share a birthday, and we spent many great days racing together as kids, with Paul going on to be one of the most senior and respected UCI Commissaire`s in the world today.

My heartfelt condolences to Rea, Paul and Alan at this difficult time.
Jack’s wisdom, knowledge, experience and humour will be greatly missed by our sport going forward. “

Tommy and Marian Lamb also remember Jack with fondness and acknowledge how much he gave back to the sport of cycling which he loved. Tommy said, “Jack and I had many discussions over the years. We did not always agree with each other and had many debates which we both enjoyed enormously. The best thing about arguing with Jack was that he never held it against you and the next minute he would laugh about it and discuss something else, usually cycling related. I know he will be missed by all who knew him.”

Funeral arrangements will be posted when they have been confirmed. See below for a full list of his achievements over the years, posted when he received the MBE for Services to cycling.

Photos courtesy of Bronagh Kirk.

Jack Watson MBE

Mr Jack Watson, honorary secretary of Cycling Ireland, was last night honoured with inclusion in the list of MBE recipients in recognition for his lifetime of service to Cycling. This is a fitting tribute to Jack and all he has done for cycling over the last 50 years. This award comes on the back of his recognition by the European Cycling Community earlier this year with a UEC Merit Award received at the UEC Congress in March this year.

Jack was born into a cycling family; his father was a well-respected cycling administrator for over 50 years. Jack competed in races from 1954 until 1968. Some three years of this period was spent racing in England for Coalville Wheelers in Leicestershire. He also played a very active administrative role within this club.

He has been involved in numerous administrative roles in cycling since 1958 and became involved in national administration in 1969. He has served continuously in various roles since then. In that time, he has held or currently still holds the following positions.

Registrar (30 years in this position) – responsible for the registration and licensing of members.

  • Chairman Northern Ireland Cycling Federation
  • Chairman Ulster Cycling Federation
  • Chairman Irish Cycling Tripartite Committee
  • President Federation of Irish Cyclists (original name of Cycling Ireland)
  • Secretary Irish Cycling Tripartite Committee
  • Delegate N.I. Commonwealth Games council on behalf of NICF
  • Delegate Irish Olympic Council on behalf of Cycling Ireland
  • Delegate European Cycling Union (UEC) on behalf of cycling Ireland
  • Delegate International Cycling Union (UCI). One of 14 delegates representing the European Cycling Union
  • Currently Honorary Secretary Cycling Ireland since 1995 – re-elected every two years by nomination and vote of members
  • Currently Honorary Vice President Cycling Ireland since 1995
  • Technical Consultant Tour of Almaty (KAZ)

Locally, Jack was founder chairman of Toyota North Down Cycling Club and also held the position of treasurer, race secretary and committee member within the club. One of his major undertakings over the last number of years was to completely re-write the Technical and Administrative Regulations for Cycling Ireland. He ensures these are updated to international standards every year and all changes proposed and adopted by the Board during the year.

Jack travelled extensively with various Northern Ireland and Irish teams in the 70s and 80s as either manager or mechanic. The included numerous World Championships and the 1984 Olympic Games.

Since qualifying as an International Commissaire (international cycling term for referee) in Colorado Springs in 1986 Jack has officiated in many countries throughout the world.

He has also acted as a Commissaire at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, the 1998 Junior World Track Championships in Cuba, the 2000 Senior World Road Championships in France and over Easter 2004 at the World Cup Track Meeting in Manchester. Jack had to retire in 2004 as a UCI appointed Commissaire at International Events as Commissaires are no longer appointed to international events after the year in which they reach the age of 65.

Jack has been very active in the field of anti-doping. He is currently a Doping Control Officer for U.K. Sport and Sport Ireland. He was involved with the Northern Ireland Sports Council in the mid 80’s in setting an Anti-Doping Policy for all sports in the province. In addition, he has served on numerous hearings in Ireland relating to athletes who have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and at the invitation of the Irish Sports Council has made presentations to other organisations on the application of Anti-Doping rules in the event of a positive result.

In 2003 Jack’s commitment to cycling both nationally and internationally was recognised by the UCI when he was presented with the UCI’s Gold Merit Award at the UCI Congress in Hamilton in Canada, the highest Cycling Award that can be presented by the Sports World Governing Body.

In 2013, in celebration of its 25th Anniversary, Cycling Ireland initiated a Hall of Fame in recognition of those who had significantly played a major part in shaping Irish cycling – Jack was one of the 20 initial persons inducted.