CRMCC – 30th Anniversary Web Version
Capital Region Masters Cycling Club 30 th Anniversary Commemorative Bleat
Masters,
It’s been a great 30 years of competitive racing for our Club. It is my privilege to have the opportunity to put together a history of some of the key moments in our history highlighting some of the names and faces and the interesting facts about how our Club got started.
I hope you enjoy reading how our Club has changed over the years and how we got to where we are today.
You can go online to http://www.netspeed.com.au/hendrie/Memorabilia/ and see more photos courtesy of Graham Hendrie.
Ian Morton
Prologue
The genesis of the ACT Veterans Cycling Club dates back to the late 70’s when Eric Aldin put an advertisement in the paper for cyclists to form the Canberra Old Boys Cycling Club.
Technically the “Old Boys” was for men only however there was one female member, Leslie Dan.
One of the members of the Old Boys was Milos ‘Mike’ Paral who died as a result of an accident at the Goulburn Velodrome. The ‘Iron Mike’ race, from Uriarra Rd through to the end of the bitumen, was named in his honour and we still race it today.
By 1982/83 the Old Boys had in the order of 100 members.
In 1983, there was an amalgamation of the Canberra Old Boys and the Canberra Wests Amateur Cycling Club (which was struggling) to form the Canberra Cycling Club (which is still in existence today).
Over the next ten years, there was an increasing feeling among the older members of the Club that the Club was focussed on the racing for the junior members and that the older members were being relegated to support roles. Some Veterans felt there was a need for a Veterans only club.
1993
In June/July a Club Championship event was organised for juniors only. It was suggested the older members could “go on a training ride”. A group went out to the Old Federal Highway and ran the first unofficial race on the Old Federal Highway from the Tulip Farm, along Shingle Hill Way (to the then end of the bitumen) and back.
Around that time, Keith Davis approached Henry and Marilyn Beaverstock and Barry Cole * with an idea to form a new club for Veterans. After a number of meetings at Barry Cole’s house, the plans were in place and a set of flyers were produced
*The Annual Cole Family Handicap is named in honour of Barry and Christine Cole.
First Race – 21 Aug
The first “official” race for the Club was run at Point Hut. Below is the result sheet showing a sprightly Graham Hendrie winning the event;
| Point Hut (36km) – 20 Competitors. 1. G Hendrie 2. S Hillyard 3. C Toohey 4. B Jones 5. J Sweetapple 6. B Seevink 7. R Norris 8. M Cashmore 9. D Maher 10. F Tonelli 11. J I’ons 12. N Simper 13. K Davis 14. D Gould 15. G O’Neill 16. R Paten 17. J Weiss 18. A I’ons 19. J Davis 20. J Udvardi |
At some point after the Club had started racing, it was suggested that getting some insurance might be a good idea. In order to obtain insurance, the Club needed to be Incorporated, so the Club legally came into existence.
The Inaugural General Meeting of the ACTVCC was held on the 4 th December 1993 at the Picnic Ground at Uriarra Crossing.
The First President was Keith Davis, Vice President Henry Beaverstock and Marilyn Beaverstock as Secretary and Treasurer.
1994
1994 Kicked off with a 33 Race Program. Racing was only on Saturday afternoons or Sunday mornings except for Thursday Track meetings. There would be no mid-week racing until the Stromlo Forest Park facility was built in 2006.
One of the races on the program was the Sweepstake Handicap. Riders paid $2 (or $5) into a pool and the money was divided up and paid to up to the first 10 place getters depending on the size of the field. This event was discontinued in later years as it decided that it made the racing too competitive.
In 1994, the ACTVCC affiliated with the Australian Veterans Cycling Council (AVCC) enabling Canberra Vets to participate in Interstate events as well as access to national Insurance arrangements.
The ACT Veterans Cycling Club Newsletter “Spoke Torque” was being produced every month (or every second/third month) by Henry Beaverstock and Graham Hendrie and posted out to members.
1995
The Club had only 9 female members and they were made very welcome, even receiving flowers at the race one Mother’s Day weekend.
Word of mouth and advertising of club races in the Canberra Times saw membership increase rapidly over the next few years (both male and female).
Boiling water for after-race tea and coffee was provided from approximately 10 ‘Airpots’ which were painstakingly filled and brought along to the races each week by Graeme O’Neill. This clearly wasn’t sustainable with growing membership numbers and part of the brief for the new trailer design was a gas fired urn.
1996
Tony Carylon was elected Club President
An interesting fact;
· In 1996, there were ~200 club members. The average number of riders in Road Races was 63.
· In 2013, with over 450 members, the average number of riders in Road races is 64!
A competition was held amongst the club members for a new club jersey and the winning design was by Peter Southgate;
The outfit is being modelled by Bobby Dungca.
All race results were results calculated manually, including aged standard time trials. Henry Beaverstock subtracted and sorted results for 60 riders using mental arithmetic, paper and pencil.
1997
Looks like back in 1997, according to “Spoke Torque”, we were having trouble getting sufficient volunteers to help run the races. Seems not much has changed in 25 years.
Track Racing was up and running by 1997/98. Ann Scown and Jan Koehler were regulars out at the Queanbeyan track, as were Mark Harris and Terry Moore, Bill Frost, Bobby Dungca and several more.
1998
The ACTVCC gets its first World Champion. Mark Harris won the inaugural World Sprint Title Championship held in Maryborough. The sprint was over 300 metres from a ramp start.
The ACTVCC finally joined the Internet age with its own Website and an actual Email address.
Around this time, the Club had a memorable weekend away at Cabramurra, holding a Criterium on Saturday afternoon and road race on Sunday. It was a very successful weekend with a great turnout of members.
1999
This year marked the inauguration of the Gunning Two Day event.
Bill Frost took over from Jan Koehler as editor of Spoke Torque.
Tony McDonald was elected President and Ann Scown as Vice-President
The Club set a new membership record of 225.
2000
The GST was introduced with the interesting effect that;
· The cost of a Bike goes down: 22% Sales Tax -> 10% GST
· The cost of Bike Helmets goes up: 0% Sales Tax (safety equipment) -> 10% GST
Parkes Way vanishes as a Race Venue
2001
Club President – Bill Frost, Vice president – Jim Thompson
In that year, there were a number of Club Awards including;
The ‘Iron Pot’ (as in ‘Talk the leg off an …’) Award went to Peter Klein.
Haven’t seen this award handed out recently, maybe it needs to be re-instated.
There was a competition for a new uniform. The winning design is shown in this photo being worn by Robert Langridge;
Our much loved Club Secretary, John Scarlett, died during a race at Lookout Hill. Almost the entire Club forms an honour guard at the service and lead the hearse out to honour John’s memory.
2002
Spoke Torque Editor was now Gabrielle Wright
The Club decided to investigate computerised results after manual results sheet were left outside Graham Hendrie’s place for publication, only to be eaten by snails!
An Initial Proposal for a permanent Crit Track was being developed off Lady Denman Drive. The following diagram shows the location of the proposed facility;
In the event, the Canberra Bushfires of 2003 cleared the Pine Forests around Stromlo opening the way for the construction of the current multi-use facility.
2003
Judy Scott took over the editing of the revived Spoke Torque which was in A4 format for easier reading.
Bill Frost was elected to the position of President with John Thorn as Vice-President.
Devastating bushfires in Canberra destroyed many houses, including that of member Peter Prammer. Peter approached the Club pointing out that many young children were cut-off from their circle of friends due to the loss of their only means of transport. Club members chipped in to purchase around 15 to 20 low cost bicycles that Ian Downing fanatically built into dependable machines. When they were handed over to the grateful recipients, just listening to the parents’ stories was sobering and sufficient thanks in itself. One young girl of around 12 rode around and around, overjoyed to have a bicycle again. Caroline Buchanan was later to become a BMX World Champion and Olympic Games representative.
2004
One of our original members entered club legend by riding off the bridge and ending up in the Murrumbidgee River during a race. He climbed back onto Uriarra Crossing a bit dazed, looking for his bike. Phil Lesjek who was marshalling, spotted the bike and pointed it out under the water and he, without a thought, dived in, retrieved it, turned it upside down and once the water had drained out, remounted and made his way back to the finish.
[Ed: Club legend has it that he re-joined the bunch and continued racing but I have it on good authority that this wasn’t the case (sorry to spoil a good story).]
2006
The Club’s 500 th Event was held on the 29 th January 2006 at the Old Federal Highway;
There was a $500 prize for each grade. There were 107 starters on the day.
2007
The newsletter sent out by Email was started by John Coleman and he named it ‘The Bleat’.
2008
Foundation member Bruce Jones became the first club member to participate in 500 club events.
Edward King was the editor of the Bleat which was now a weekly update by Email updating members before race day.
2009
Rob Diamond was elected as President with Graham Hendrie as Vice President replacing Glenn Allen.
Richard Gorrell took over as the editor of the Bleat.
Peter McLennan
There have been many memorable people in the club over the years. One of the most enthusiastic, committed members was Peter McLennan who was tragically killed in a boating accident in 2009.
Peter joined the ACT Vets in 1998. He cut a distinctive figure, racing with an original red 1980s stack hat and an Allen carbon frame that was 3 sizes too large and he had paid a small fortune for, stuck in a bidding war at the police stolen property auctions. He quickly became interested in pursuing a Criterium facility and to further this, formed a group composed of ACT Vets, Canberra Cycles, Triathletes, CORC, Pedal Power and speed skaters and wrote a submission that quickly grew to 15 pages. He organised lobbying meetings with every relevant state or federal politician and pressed them for a suitable venue. After one of these meetings, with Wilson Tuckey, who thought we could perhaps use a bike path somewhere, some of us questioned whether we really had a chance. Completely undeterred, Peter decided to enhance the submission with a bit more marketing. He borrowed the club’s video camera, hired a light plane and with the window open, flew around filming suitable venues. In those post 9/11 times, it wasn’t long before the AFP asked the control tower to radio the pilot and demand that he stop flying slow circles around Government House!
Eventually, the Stromlo facility was built and if you drive by and see thousands of mountain bikers, hundreds of road cyclists or parents cycling with their young children, then this is as Peter McLennan envisaged it.
Peter also developed and maintained a software package that holds details of riders and races and automates a lot of the event management tasks. This is used by three Canberra clubs. Results are generated from a web site called raceforever.com and I think this phrase typifies Peter McLennan’s approach to life.
2010
The Race Management System (RMS) went online so that members could access race results and standing via the Internet.
2012
Congratulations to Sue Powell
The big news for 2012 was that club member Sue Powell took Gold on the Track at the London Paralympic Games.
Ian Morton takes over editing the Weekly Bleat.
2013
20 th Anniversary celebration at the Christmas wheel race.
2014
Club members Brandie O’Connor and Paul Kennedy have been named in the 41 member Australian Cycling team to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in July.
New ACT Government rules required the use of trained Marshalls at all events. We began the process of training club members to avoid the cost of hiring professional Marshals.
Canberra cyclists welcomed the reopening of the Narrabundah Velodrome in Canberra’s south after a $1.5 million safety upgrade. The 1970s oval cycle track was closed in April the previous year after an engineer’s report raised concerns about the condition of the racing surface.
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2015
Club President Alex O’Shea had a crash on Mt Creek Rd during a Yass ride suffering a number of serious injuries but recovered to resume his duties.
Club stalwart James Meredith retired and moved up to Queensland after a long career with the club as a rider, volunteer and stand-in Marshal.
2016
The Club was shaken by the sudden death of Club President Alex O’Shea who passed away while travelling interstate on cycling club business.
A funeral service was held in Canberra and club members provided an escort for the hearse to the cemetery.
Dougal Torrance stepped in to fill the position of Club President.
Sue Powell claimed a silver medal at the Rio Paralympics in the C4 3000 meter individual pursuit.
2017
The Club rolled out a new, more user friendly website. Huge effort from Andrew Remely and Allan Bontjer to get the new site working.
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2018
New UHF radios were purchased for the van to provide greater communications during events where mobile coverage is patchy.
ABC television came to film during the crit race at Stromlo on Saturday. They were doing a story about cyclists and kangaroos, which may give some impetus to getting a fence installed around the track (Now 5 years ago, so probably not).
2019
ACT Vets went cashless, no more fiddling with notes, members at the Crit races could pay electronically.
Cycling clubs across Canberra rallied on Fri 11 Oct 2019 to protest proposed changes to the Stromlo facility that would see part of the Criterium track removed to make way for playing fields: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6433380/government-responds-to-petition-on-stromlo-criterium-cycling-track/ . The action resulted in the Government not proceeding with any changes to the track.
Late in the 2019 season we felt the impact of bushfire smoke on the Capital. Having organised a Working Bee at Dairy Rd on the 7 th December in preparation for racing the next day, the smoke rolled in and racing was cancelled;
By the time the Christmas Wheel Race came around, the unpredictable smoke haze came over the track and racing was abandoned;
2020
The first weeks of 2020 continued where 2019 had left off. Ongoing smoke hazards resulted in a numbers of last minute race cancellations
The Club moved into 21 st Century financial practices offering cashless payment for Crit racing reducing the need to handle cash payments.
Seymour Savell-Boss takes over as Club President.
Unfortunately just as the disruption to our racing calendar from smoke had passed, the COVID pandemic arrived and racing was suspended. After several month’s hiatus, we were able to resume racing under controlled conditions.
Long-time club volunteer Graham Hendrie stepped back from racing duties and started transitioning some of the tasks that he did to other people
Club stalwart Allan Bontjer fell in his garden resulting in severe injuries to his chest. At one stage, the situation was grave and the prognosis was grim, but he’s made a remarkable recovery. The club held a fund-raising event to support Allan during his recovery.
The Committee engaged an external evaluator, Erin Barry, to conduct an evaluation of ACTVCC, to look at how well we engage with our members and target group, and how this could be improved.
2021
The club acquired a new shipping container in order to store the Van, club signage and other race paraphernalia at Stromlo Forest Park.
The Club introduced pre-race online registration to reduce the race day administrative workload.
Unfortunately, the councils in the 3 local NSW shires applied new conditions for racing. The largest change affected marshalling. Councils previously accepted that the role of the “traffic marshal” was to halt racing cyclists if cars were approaching the turn-around or an intersection. In 2021, the requirement became the use fully licenced traffic controllers. This allows vehicle traffic to be stopped instead of cyclists, but also requires 2 full days of training including for tasks not associated with bicycle racing. The limited Event Traffic Controllers (ETC) qualification available to clubs in the ACT was not accepted in NSW.
The option of paying accredited people in NSW, at the estimated cost of around $1,700 per race, was not considered viable that year and no NSW events were held.
Capital Region Masters Cycling Club
In 2021, the Committee decided that we wanted to better reflect our coverage of the region (not just the ACT) and reduce confusion with Military Veterans.
At a special General Meeting, members voted to change the name of the ACT Veterans Racing Club to the Capital Region Masters Cycling Club .
2022
A new club jersey was selected by a poll of members.
Kim Malcolm took over the role of Club President with David Parker as Vice President.
Racing in NSW was also trialled. It was suspended mid-year given the high cost, the low turn-out by members at events, and formal policy advice from the Transport for NSW department that the event must be managed by an accredited AusCycling Commissaire. The latter is a requirement NSW AusCycling clubs have been required to meet for over 5 years.
2023
This year we celebrate the 30 th Anniversary of the Club with an impressive 260 members and a season schedule of 81 events encompassing Road, Track and Criterium racing.
After 11 years, Ian Morton stepped down as editor of the Weekly Bleat.
We lost one of the club’s founding members, Bruce Jones passed away. He raced every season from 1993 to 2019, racking up an impressive 840 events.
Alana Forster had fantastic results at the world champs. She lives in Ballarat but visits Canberra to see her parents and has raced at Sutton and Uriarra Homestead this winter season. Her story is one of conquering adversity after being involved in a horrific car crash. Alana’s results rank at the very top of club’s greatest riders.
Andrew Chamberlain’s son, Oscar, won the road junior ITT at the World Cycling Championships in Glasgow.
The Sutton Super Series was held monthly from April to September at the Sutton Road Training Centre. Over 100 individual riders participate in total, proving the popularity of closed-circuit races compared with traditional winter road racing.
Rosie Hurt, W3 road, and Ben Morrison, M3 criterium, claimed gold medals at the AusCycling masters’ nationals in Shepparton.
Track History
The club began offering track cycling as one of its racing disciplines shortly after its inception in 1993. The track racing developed as a natural part of the club’s evolution from the pre 1980 Old Boys Cycling Club. The Queanbeyan Park track was used by the Old Boy’s Club as far back as the 1970s. In the 1980s the Old Boys Club combined with the Canberra Amateur Club to form the Canberra Cycling Club (CCC). The CCC ran track events at the Narrabundah Velodrome and the Queanbeyan Park Track.
The Narrabundah Velodrome was originally built in 1972. The velodrome gained a reputation as being dangerous, with some bad accidents over the years. The poor geometry of the velodrome, with abrupt transitions from high banking to the straights, contributed to the accident rate. The older riders therefore favoured the gently banked oval track at Queanbeyan Park. The Queanbeyan Park track was originally built as a hard dirt track around the 1920s, when cycling was at peak popularity. It was eventually surfaced and maintained as a bitumen track for decades. By the 1990s, the track surface had deteriorated, with tree roots causing significant cracking and unevenness in the riding surface. This eventually limited utilisation of the track by the CCC.
When the ACT Veterans Cycling Club first formed in 1993, the founding group decided to maintain Thursday night track events at Queanbeyan Park and not race at the velodrome due to safety concerns. One of the early club members, Frank Tonelli, lived in Queanbeyan and knew the mayor, Frank Pangallo. With Frank’s help, club officials approached the mayor with a view to arranging funding for maintenance to the Queanbeyan track. At that stage most club members were from the ACT, so the club officials also approached the ACT sports minister, Bill Stefaniak, to request matching funding from the ACT government. From these approaches, enough funding was obtained to resurface the Queanbeyan track and to cut surrounding tree roots that were undermining the track. The work was sufficient to keep the track viable up until the club ceased using it in 2014.
Track Group at Queanbeyan Park 2011
The Queanbeyan track racing commenced in 1995 after resurfacing of the track. Racing was initially organised by Keith Davis, Henry Beaverstock, Barry Cole and Tony Carylon. The racing was varied with both track (fixed wheel) and road (geared) bikes used in separate events. It was great racing at an idyllic venue in a park setting. Many a warm summer’s evening was enjoyed by club members. The standard of racing was quite high with many A Grade participants and the occasional ex Olympian participating. Some of the club riders would also travel to Goulburn to participate at the Goulburn club’s track events. The club also organised the odd track carnival at Queanbeyan Park with many riders from around the region participating.
Small Group Hammering at Queanbeyan Park 2012
The track group at Queanbeyan Park were a close-knit bunch. The common arrangement after each race session was to adjourn to a local Queanbeyan café for coffee or dinner. It was quite common for rider’s partners to visit for the evening’s social event. The café in Queanbeyan welcomed a sweaty, sometimes Lycra-clad bunch, turning up around 7.30pm. Riders were always served immediately with free herb or garlic bread to stave of hunger until the coffee or dinner orders were filled.
Track Presentation Evening at Queanbeyan Café 2003 – Anthony O’Connor MC
The Queanbeyan Park setting did have it drawbacks, particularly as the interior of the bike track was part of the public parkland. On occasions, the track group would arrive to find a cricket match or football practice had been simultaneously booked on the interior parkland.
Over time, various club members took a leading role in organising the track racing. Anthony (Sluggo) O’Connor and Barry Rose did sterling service over the period from 2000 – 2006. Following that, Graeme O’Neill, Anton Wurzer and Pat Rooke organised the racing from 2007 – 2011. In the final years at Queanbeyan Park, most of the track organisation was left to Graeme O’Neill.
Over time, the club encountered increasing difficulty with staging the racing events at Queanbeyan. A youth club opened next to the track and this seemed to attract a minority of trouble makers. There were many occasions when it was necessary to involve the police when miscreants refused to vacate the track or threw sticks and cans on the track or at riders during racing. The general public also caused their share of problems. Most people were reasonable and understood the risks of populating the infield during racing. However, a minority were uncooperative and refused to be inconvenienced. The police and Queanbeyan council did their best for the club. The council provided prominent signs that were displayed to indicate that the infield park was closed during racing. However, the problems were ongoing.
The Narrabundah Velodrome (affectionately called the Bundadome) was closed by the ACT government in 2013, for safety concerns. It was almost redeveloped as a housing estate. However, after considerable lobbying from cyclists, cycling clubs and the AIS, the ACT government invested around $1 million to refurbish the velodrome. The refurbishment corrected the bad transitions between the high banked turns and straights, resurfaced the track and provided a new grippy surface finish. There were other improvements to fencing and amenities. The refurbishment considerably reduced the risk of racing on the velodrome. In view of the ongoing difficulties at Queanbeyan Park, the club elected to transfer track racing to the velodrome for the 2014 season.
The transfer of track racing to the Bundadome had a few significant impacts. Firstly, only the Wednesday evening was available for booking, so the race evening changed from Thursday to Wednesday. Secondly, the velodrome was only suitable for fixed gear track bikes with a high bottom bracket. The separate road bike races that had been held at Queanbeyan Park had to be abandoned. Additionally, it was no longer practical to organise the coffee/dinner evenings that were such a pleasant feature at Queanbeyan Park.
Bundadome 2016 – Xmas Wheel Race Line Up
The club has organised evening racing at the Bundadome over the daylight-saving period (October to March) every year since 2014. Graeme O’Neill has remained the track Commissaire over that period with various riders assisting on an ad hoc basis. Phil Coulton, Michael Langdon, Steve Jones, John Paul De Sousa and others have had a role in organising or administering the racing. There has been great support from the club committee for booking the venue, providing sports medicine, funding the presentation events and medals / trophies and providing moral support. Overall, the move to the Bundadome has been a success. Around 85 club riders have participated in track racing at the Bundadome with around 35 – 40 riders per season. The accident rate has been pleasing (less than 1 minor accident per year on average) and such that track racing appears to be the safest racing discipline offered by the club.
In 2021, Thursday evening became available for club racing at the velodrome. After much agonising, it was decided to swap the track evening from Wednesday to Thursday (the current day). The theory was that this would allow the Tuesday criterium riders a day’s rest so they could also ride track on Thursday evening. This theory has yet to prove itself. However, Thursday evening is now the standard and almost all of the regular Wednesday riders made the transition.
The club has awarded various perpetual track racing trophies over a long period and the list of winners provides quite a nostalgic read for long time club members. The most prestigious trophy is the annual track championship which goes to the rider topping the points score each season. In the latter part of each season there is a 4-race omnium championship with a perpetual trophy. The omnium events typically comprise, a 2-lap handicap, 1-lap standing start time trial, 200m flying start time trial and 2-lap, paired match races. Originally, the omnium events favoured the very strongest riders. However, around 2012, the track Commissaire reformulated the omnium events and point scores to give all riders a chance at the trophy. Over time, ‘the algorithm’ for scoring this championship attained mystical status and was the source of a good deal of hilarious speculation. To date, ‘the algorithm’ remains a closely guarded secret, though it hides in plain sight.
Two further perpetual trophies are awarded each season, namely, a Christmas wheel race trophy (for a 6-lap handicap) and a trophy for the most improved rider over the season. Following is a list of the track trophy winners over the years. There are a few gaps in the listing where the trophy was not presented. In addition, the listing does not include road bike trophy winners for events at Queanbeyan track from 1995 – 2014. The information on this has been too difficult to retrieve.
| Season | Track Champion | Omnium Champion | Xmas Wheel Race Winner | Most Improved Rider |
| 1995-96 | John Vincent | Terry Teague | ||
| 1996-97 | Tony Carylon | Greg Warwick | ||
| 1997-98 | Tony Carylon | Mark Harris | Ashley Sked | |
| 1998-99 | Tony Carylon | Mark Harris | Mark Harris | |
| 1999-00 | Barry Cole | Mark Harris | ||
| 2000-01 | Barry Cole, Barry Rose | Anthony O’Connor | ||
| 2001-02 | Barry Cole | Ian Downing | Barry Rose | |
| 2002-03 | Jeff Culnane | Steve Jones | Leesa Carson | Terry Scott |
| 2003-04 | Alan Bontjer | Anthony O’Connor | Mick Rawlings | Anthony O’Connor |
| 2004-05 | Barry Rose | Peter Ganns | Leesa Carson | Ally Graham |
| 2005-06 | Bruce Graham | |||
| 2006-07 | Ross Robinson | |||
| 2007-08 | Ian Downing | Jim Veal | John Snell | Linda Stals |
| 2010-11 | Anton Wurzer | Pat Rooke | ||
| 2011-12 | Anton Wurzer | Anton Wurzer | ||
| 2012-13 | Anton Wurzer | Linda Stals | Jim Davey | Jim Davey |
| 2013-14 | Ben Davis | Linda Stals | Ben Davis | Ben Robey |
| 2014-15 | Michael Langdon | Steve Dean | Andrew Peel | Stjepan Hirsler |
| 2015-16 | Michael Langdon | Ross Scutts | Peta Brill | |
| 2016-17 | Michael Langdon | Ben Robey Michael Langdon | Ben Robey | Alec Millet |
| 2017-18 | Michael Langdon | Ken Birch | Michael Langdon | Hamish Anderson |
| 2018-19 | Ross Scutts | Ken Birch | Dougal Torrance | Phil Alexander |
| 2019-20 | Tony Beasley | Graeme O’Neill | James Newhouse | John Paul De Sousa |
| 2020-21 | Steve Jones | Ben Davis | Ben Davis | Alison Hale |
| 2021-22 | Alison Hale | Michael Langdon | Steve Jones | Karen Clutson |
| 2022-23 | Tim Jolly | James Newhouse | Tim Jolly | Sarah Stephens |
In addition to the club trophies, some members of the track group have competed in various regional or state competitions such as the NSW Master Track Championship. A few riders have also competed with success at national and world level competitions. Medal winners at state, national or world level competitions include Jim Veal, Anthony O’Connor, Mark Harris, Ben Robey, Karen Clutson, Peta Brill, Michael Langdon, Graeme Allbon, Steve Jones, Kerry Knowler, Alison Hale, Anthony Bishop, Pat Rooke, Ben Davis, Sarah Stephens, Sue Powell, Craig Kentwell (listed from memory – apologies if some names are missed or misappropriated). In 1998, Mark Harris won an inaugural World Sprint Title Championship held in Maryborough. The sprint distance was 300 metres from a ramp start. In 2012, Sue Powell took gold on the track at the London Paralympic Games.
It has been pleasing to have a very strong female rider contingent in the track group and they are well represented among the medal winners for higher level competitions. It is also worth mentioning that two inspiring, vision-impaired riders have competed at track over the years. Both John Barlow and Lindy Hou competed, riding tandem track bikes in the A grade competition. Cameron Ermet acted as pilot for John Barlow and Kerry Knowler acted as pilot for Lindy Hou. The tandem bikes were normally at a disadvantage in acceleration. However, they made up for this with scorching top speed. The tandems integrated well with the normal track bikes which is testament to the consideration and skill of both the tandem riders and the A grade trackies.
Track racing at the Bundadome has been great fun. The track bikes are light and responsive and the speed is exhilarating. It’s a bit like road racing with the boring endurance bit removed and going straight to the final contest and sprint. The high banking adds an extra dimension to racing, as it is challenging and can be used tactically, to attack from a highly favourable position. There are a variety of events, from individual, timed 200 metre sprints to 20-lap, bunch-riding points races. For the non-lightweights, there is also a major advantage – no hills! The track group are a friendly, chatty bunch and the racing is undertaken in good spirits. Hopefully, track racing will thrive into the future as one of the club’s racing disciplines.
Graeme O’Neill
Track Commissaire
November 2023
Kirsti and Ian McVay
Kirsti and Ian McVay have been long term members of the Club and involved on the committee for many years and contributed during a time of major changes to the club racing and administrative management as compliance and insurance matters evolved.
Kirsti stepped back from the committee at the AGM 2023 after several years as both Treasurer and Membership Officer having taken it over Barbara Bayliss who had also had a long term in these roles for the Club. Kirsti stepped back a little last year when only being our Membership Officer and now we have both Kevin Woods as our Treasurer and Conan Liu is now responsible for Membership matters.
Kirsti stepped up when Barbara needed a change and helped us out for over 7 years. We thank her for her contributions and further streamlining our processes which included moving into card payment at criterium races and then ultimately all race payments through direct deposit/online prior to races. Kirsti always managed to keep us focused on getting the best deals and accuracy in our payment of invoices. We thank her for her contributions.
Ian McVay has contributed on the committee as Vice President for over 4 years and had to manage the many changes in running our race programs within the ACT as we were required to introduce qualified ETC to manage traffic. Ian also made changes to our Race Director/Referee Manuals and improved our RMS. Ian’s efforts ensured our race programs went ahead smoothly including reminding us all to volunteer to help on races as either Race Directors/Referees, ETCs or Marshall’s. Ian was also involved in getting the container up and running and we found how talented he was with a paint brush.
Since leaving the committee Ian has continued his support with RMS and establishing and online results recording system using Test Flight which he continues to support while it continues to be used at our races and ensures results get into RMS quickly as long as we have people able to use this system on their personal devices or phones. David Parker is helping others with its use and implementation in recent times.
We have many of our members who work behind the scenes making sure we have a valuable and effective race program. Thanks to all those who contribute including support for the Club website, documentation management and email management.
The Trailer
The original club trailer was Frank Tonelli’s Flatbed Truck with a canvas tent over a frame for the sign on desk to keep the officials dry and out of the wind. Here’s a picture of Frank’s Truck at the starting line at Uriarra Homestead.
Frank’s contribution to the Club over the years is honoured by a memorial race each year in his name.
The next version was the trusty trailer which was purchased in around 1998. Tony Carlyon towed the trailer for a number of years prior to his move to Queensland. The trailer was then towed by John McMaster for approx. 3 years until he took up golf in 2003. A towing roster was established but the roster fell into disuse so Bill Frost towed it from around 2003 for about ten years;
In October 2011, the Club purchased a brand new Van. Here’s a photo of Graham Hendrie in the van showing off the setup;
Shipping Container
To avoid the burden of having to store the van at a member’s house (mostly Graham Hendrie’s) the Club purchased a 40ft shipping container to be located at Stromlo Forest Park to house the van and racing equipment in a central location.
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A working bee of members was organised to help paint and fitout the container. Thanks to John McMaster, Darren Blackhurst and Alex Sommariva for their work
Courses
In addition to the current set of courses that we use for racing, there have been a number of other courses that have been used over the years.
Time Trials – Parkes Way
In “the Good Old Days” before there was anything in the way of control, races could be run without any forms of official approval.
One popular course was Parkes Way where cyclists would assemble at the parking area below the roundabout where Anzac Avenue meets. Cyclists would head out along Parkes Way for 10km then return to the finish.
Eventually it was suggested by Police that this “might be a bit dangerous” and the course was discontinued.
Other Road Courses
Other courses that we used over the years were;
· Randwick Road Course – which included Flemington Rd, Sandford Rd and Belenden Rd.
- Lanyon Gates – Apollo Rd
- Lanyon Gates – Point Hut – Tharwa Loop
- Nanima Road to Sutton Rd
- Cooma
- Gundaroo Road
- Bungendore to Tarago
Criterium Racing
Prior to the construction of the Stromlo Forest Park circuit, there were a number of locations around Canberra where we used to run Criterium racing;
- The Parking Lot behind Bruce Stadium – AIS land.
- Back of Campbell Park
· Australian Geological Sciences Organisation (AGSO) Car Park at Symonston.
· Mundaring Drive, Kingston – There were some complaints from local residents and issues with the road surface and camber.
Racing Stats
The following table shows the total number of events (incl racing and officiating) for the top club participants (as of 10 Sep 2023);
| Rider | Events |
| Boylan, Nick | 856 |
| Jones, Bruce | 840 |
| Hendrie, Graham | 816 |
| Bontjer, Allan | 787 |
| Sommariva, Alex | 716 |
| Morton, Ian | 692 |
| de Smet, Donald | 658 |
| Frost, William | 644 |
| Kent, Robert | 637 |
| Milnes, Simon | 631 |
| Langridge, Robert | 629 |
| Hayes, Mike | 629 |
| Taylor, Mark K | 627 |
| Culnane, Jeffrey | 602 |
| Nolan, Chris | 568 |
| Stals, Linda | 542 |
| Thorn, John | 512 |
| Crowe, Bernard | 506 |
| McVay, Ian | 505 |
| Harris, Mark | 504 |
| Robinson, Rosemary | 500 |
| Meredith, James | 473 |
| Bayliss, Barbara | 466 |
| McLennan, Peter | 465 |
| Harding, Peter | 456 |
Life Members
The following are life members of the ACT Veterans Cycling in recognition of their long service and contribution to the Club;
Graham Hendrie
Bill Frost
Barry Cole
Roy Bloomfield
Henry Beaverstock
Vale Veterans
The following members of the Club have passed away;
Alex O’Shea
Ann Gardner
Arthur Jones
Ben Hall
Bob Chorley
Bobby Dungca
Bob McDonald
Bruce Jones
Christine Cole
David Gould
Dennis Jessop
Dieter Lange
Frank Tonelli
Giuseppe Tine
Gunter Ackermann
Harry Worthington
Jeff Culnane
John Harvey
John I’ons
John Ignatius
John Scarlett
John Warth
Keith Knight
Marilyn Beaverstock
Mike Cashmore
Milton Valentine
Norm Simper
Pat Carey
Peter Black
Peter McLennan
Peter Tesseyman
Richard Gregson
Richard Norris
Robert Woodrow
Steve Hilyard
Terry Teague
To these members, and any we’ve missed, we say “Race Forever…”
