Steve Watson, the first local to establish himself in the early Workington Comets team, has died at the age of 82.
Lowca-born Steve earned legendary status for his exploits on the track, even more remarkable as he had lost an eye in a boyhood accident.
After his speedway career ended he turned to running and was a member of the Cumberland AC taking part in many events, specialising in marathons. He was still doing parkruns up to two years ago.
Looking back at his career, long-time Comets fan and former team manager Tony Jackson said Steve was one of the great characters of the Comets team in the early 1970s.
He recalled: “His fence scraping style often took him through gaps that didn’t seem to exist. His appearance in the side was also of great significance because he was the first locally born rider to hold down a team place.
“Making his league debut for the Comets on May 7 1971, in the home match with Eastbourne, Steve failed to score from two rides, and it was to be almost another three months before he became a regular in the team.
“On Saturday July 3` 1971 Steve rode in the Division Two match at Berwick, scoring one point. That was the start of a remarkable record. From that date, Steve rode in every league match for the Comets until May 16 1975, almost four years.
“In doing so he set a Division Two record for consecutive league appearances for the same team at 123 matches, a tremendous achievement.
“In order to keep his appearance record intact he rode with numerous bumps and bruises, not to mention broken ribs and injured collarbones. What makes Steve’s racing record all the more incredible is the fact he only had sight in one eye, a legacy of a childhood accident.
“In his time as a Comet Steve Watson appeared in a total of 149 league and cup matches, the fourth highest ever, and scored 556 points and 100 bonus points in the process. This made him the ninth highest points-scorer in the Comets history.
“Prior to speedway coming to Derwent Park, Steve had always been involved with motorbikes, whether it be trials, scrambles or grasstrack, while working as a surface worker at Lowca mines.
“He helped construct the Comets track and then got a job as a starting marshal before having a go on Comets rider Vic Lonsdale’s machine after a meeting. Steve then bought his own bike and took up the sport at the age of 30 starting with second-half races, and the rest is history.
“Steve loved his time with the Comets, with Derwent Park his favourite track, and he had many great memories from those days. In 1974 he defeated the newly crowned British Champion Eric Boocock around Derwent Park.
“Another memory, again from 1974, is the night he had a punch up here with his own team-mate, Alan Cowland, who he accused of knocking him off. Steve later admitted it was probably his own fault for going too slowly in front of him!
“He rode his last match for the Comets on July 4 1975, but then took up road running. As a member of Cumberland Athletics Club Steve was voted Runner of the Year in 1992, 20 years after being voted Comets Rider of the year.”
He regularly ran in the London Marathon and set his fastest ever time in 1999 when almost 59 years old, and could often be seen training on the streets of Workington.
He also cycled from Land’s End to John o’Groats as well as running the Coast to Coast route but always found time to watch the Comets when they returned to Derwent Park in 1999.
