In delving into the history of The Balham Rough Stuff we’ve got our hands on medals, race reports, race cards, photos and route descriptions but never a route map. Not until now that is.
Here’s a map of the 1949 route and a version overlaid with today’s road markings. You can see the M25, Tatsfield, Limpsfield, Biggin Hill, Westerham, Titsey, Hawley’s Corner and Oxted.
The map is part of the Parkinson family collection. Phil Parkinson finished 6th in the 1949 Rough Stuff and 14th the year later. The photos are of him in those races representing South Western Road Club.
Source
Big thanks to Chris Parkinson for letting us share the photos and story on the BCC blog.
Balham Cycling Club 
Just spent most of the afternoon reading about the Balham Rough Stuff instead of working – incredible stories. I’ve attempted to the re-draw the route from this article here – https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36500938
It’s nearer 33 miles than 25, but the roads were shorter back then 🙂
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Thanks for getting in touch Luke. Loving the re-draw. Messing about with Balham CC maps and memorabilia when we should have been working is not an alien concept to us!
Route went through some changes in its time – might have started off as a 25 in 1925.
We’ve re-created and ridden versions ourselves but some of the roads are one way (the wrong way!) these days
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