It was roughly three years ago when coaches and riders at Dubbo Cycle Club made a pact.
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The club had been starring on the junior scene at both a state and national level but there same kind of success wasn’t quite being achieved at a masters level.
“We’d done really well in the juniors and had state and national representatives,” Dubbo Cycle Club coach Gus Dawson said.
“We wanted to do that in the seniors and put the fear of God into other clubs and everyone has been working towards that and now it’s coming to fruition.”
It’s come to fruition in a massive way.
On the weekend, Dubbo Cycle Club riders collected a staggering 28 medals – 11 of those being gold – at the NSW State Masters Track Championships at Sydney’s Dunc Gray Velodrome.
Under the guidance of national level coach Dawson and NSW Junior Track assistant coach Vaughn Eather, Dubbo had Jason Farr, Tim Hines, Darrell Wheeler, Catherine Fuller, Simone Grounds, Heather Ticehurst, Graeme Peadon and Jennifer Raines star at Sydney.
“It was a great result for all of them. They’re a credit to themselves,” Dawson said.
Jason Farr, the reigning sprint and individual time trial champion in the MMAS3 division, took out the sprint and scratch race this time around while he finished second in the 750m time trial and third in the points race.
Himes, racing the same division, was a mark on consistency at his first state titles and finished second in the sprint, points race, 3000m individual pursuit and scratch race while he collected bronze in the 750m individual time trial.
Grounds was one of the undoubted stars of the Championships.
The multiple road national champion finished the WMAS3 division with four individual gold medals, taking out the scratch race, points race, 500m individual time trial and 2000m individual pursuit.
She also combined with Ticehurst to win the Women’s Team Sprint while she and Ticehurst then teamed up with Fuller to take out the Women’s Team Pursuit.
The trio set a new personal best time and now shape as one of the leading contenders for the looming national titles.
The evergreen Darrell Wheeler, himself a current National champion on the track, finished with two gold medals and one silver.
He claimed victory in both the 500m individual time trial and also the points race while he finished a narrow second in the 2000m individual pursuit.
Ticehurst stepped up to WMAS3 and took out silver in the 2000m individual pursuit, 500m individual time trial and scratch race as well as finishing third in the points race, while Fuller took home bronze in the 2000m individual time trial as well as silver when combining with Raines in the Women’s Team Sprint.
Raines finished with a bronze in the 500m individual time trial, silver in the 2000m individual pursuit and was awarded gold for her ride in the combined WMAS1/2 scratch race.
Dawson had nothing but praise for all those who took part, with hopes now high for the nationals later this month.
“The city people were coming up and saying how professional our riders were and how well they performed,” he said.
“It was outstanding.
“Our whole club is a close group. We’ve got some going to Melbourne for that junior nationals this week and everyone has been training together.”
The Cycling Australia 2018 Masters Track Nationals will be held at Melbourne’s DISC Velodrome run from February 28 to March 3.