The things you stumble over while looking for coasting contests in the
NYT archives . . .
"Western Racers Bar Negroes"
"'The color line is assuming a prominence in Denver that promises
unpleasant complications,' says Bearings [whoever the hell he is,
possibly a bicycle journalist's pseudonym]. 'A suit against the
management of the Sanger-Hamilton race meet is threatened by Charles
E. Marshall on the ground of discrimination. Marshall is a colored
rider of some speed. He has never before attempted to ride at a race
meeting, but was apparently encouraged in this instance by the fact of
Ben Greene having been allowed to ride in the races at the State meet.
Greene is a colored man. He took advantage of an oversight of the
Pueblo race promoters in leaving off their programme the customary
clause reserving the right to reject any entry. Greene went on the
track and rode in the races and not a single racing man refused to
ride on that account. His own personal popularity was responsible for
this."
"With Marshall it was different. His entry was accepted, but when he
went out on the track last Saturday to ride in the first even there
was a general protest, and the referee ruled him off the track. He now
says he will sue W.C. Sanger, W.W. Hamilton, and the Denver Wheel Club
for damages, basing his suit on the civil rights act, which provides
against discrimination because of color."
[much further down the page]
"The second annual race meet of the South Brooklyn Wheelmen was held
at Manhattan beach yesterday. . . . Loughead, who has been too heavily
handicapped in the mile handicap, won in a rattling finish in the
final, with Major Taylor, colored, of Boston second, and Fred Titus
third. Walter C. Sanger, who had not won a place in the other
professional class, was fourth."
"There were several 'spills' during the afternoon. Charles Murphy
[later Mile-a-Minute Murphy] of Brooklyn was injured, and Joe Harrison
of Asbury Park sustained a broken arm."
--August 15, 1897, NYT, "Gossip of the Cyclers," column 2
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C0DEFD81638E733A25756C1A96E9C94669ED7CF