Stewart Duff

Stewart joined the Johnstone Wheelers Cycling Club from a background of professional grass-track racing where he dominated the pro ranks for 12 years, and soon established himself as a prolific Time Trialist, excelling in hilly courses.

He dominated the SCU Olympic Time Trial series for 3 years, breaking the course record in every event in that series and, during this period, leading Johnstone Wheelers to victory in the 1996 Hill-Climb Championship at Aberfoyle.

As a build-up to the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Stewart ventured South to compete in the Time Trial series of the RTTC. (The Road Time-Trialing Club is the official Time-Trial body for England). He finished 2nd or 3rd on several occasions, being beaten only narrowly by Stuart Dangerfield or Gethin Butler.
At the Isle of Man 1996 TT, he finished 3rd in the British Cycling Federation's World Championship Qualifying Event and his time is still one of the fastest 10 times of all entrants in this event. (The Isle of Man course is one lap of the island and goes over the mountain, a very hard course.) Others in this Top 10 list include Chris Boardman (the Olympic World Pursuit Champion, World's 1-hour Record holder, Yellow-jersey wearer and stage-winner in Tour de France), Graeme O'Bree (legendary World Record Pursuit Champion, 1-Hour Record-breaker, British & Scottish Time-Trial Champion) and Stuart Dangerfield (the current top time trialist in Britain).

Stewart was told he would go to the Games only if he rode Track as well as Time Trial; accordingly, he attended Track Squad sessions and posted qualifying times in all their disciplines. Shortly before the announcement of the team, he was told not to attend any more squad sessions and, upon asking why, was informed that at 32 years, he was too old for the Scottish Games team. He rode strongly after this and posted more records for non-standard distance Time Trials.

The following year, 1999, a long-term back injury flared up again and, although still winning events, he reached the point where he had to be lifted off his bike at the end of each race, and was left facing major surgery as possibly the only remedy. When the pain became unbearable, he reluctantly took the decision to retire from racing at the age of 34. He still keeps in touch with the Club and indeed the Club has supported him in his new career, for Stewart has another talent - he can sing like Elvis Presley!

Stewart's ability to "Sing Like the King" brought him many successes in local karaoke competitions and, in 2002, Stewart's wife, Alison, sent in a demo tape to the TV programme, "Stars In Their Eyes". Out of 10,000(!) Elvis applicants over the years, Stewart was the first to be featured. He won his final heat and went on to the Grand Final. At the (live) Grand Final, he won, convincingly, with 240,731votes, and is now carving out a new career as an Elvis Tribute singer, showing the same dedication and single-mindedness for this as he did in cycling.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu