‘Wangaratta’s cavalcade of cycling stars (Part 2)…’ by KB Hill

 

 

KB Hill concludes his 2-part series on prominent cyclists from the Wangaratta region.

 

Among the long line-up of Wangaratta’s outstanding cyclists, CRAIG MILTON would rank as one of the most talented.

Milton grew up in Wangaratta and began riding in Juvenile, then Junior races from the age of seven. He recalls, in his early teens, competing against future Olympians Dean Woods and Glenn Clarke.

“I often look back and think how magical it was to be involved in that era……Gee, there were some great riders around Wang,” he says..

His first notable success came when he pipped Dean Woods in an Australian U17 Junior Scratch race. He repeated the feat the following year, just months prior to Woods leaving for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

In his initial professional race, at Sydney’s Canterbury Velodrome, still aged 17, he upended back-markers such as world title-holder Steele Bishop, and national champions Kevin Nichols and Shane Sutton, when he burst from the pack to win the highly-rated Clarence Street Cyclery Cup.

Milton was lucky to survive a spill at Launceston in 1985…tumbling disastrously when a tyre blew out on him…

As he landed, his pedal dug out a splinter of the new track surface, which punctured his lung……..He was back on his bike weeks later, claiming the Australian 10-mile and Team Pursuit titles.

Craig Milton’s career drew to a close when he was hit by a car whilst on a training ride. He lost a spleen as doctors feared for his life. He tried a comeback some time later but was forced into retirement at the age of 23.

He has had a lengthy involvement with cycling and still operates two businesses in Sydney – Insurance Bike Assessors, which he launched 32 years ago, and The Chain Reaction Bicycle Company.

 

Alex Meyland

 

Craig Milton wins his first pro race

 

ALEX MEYLAND showed his potential as a track rider when he won the 2012 Wangaratta Wheelrace.

But his attention turned to Cyclocross where he took out the Victorian title and finished fourth in the National series.

His resultant selection in the Australian team for the World Titles in Champery, Switzerland provided Meyland with the thrill of a lifetime.

“It was massive……The whole atmosphere was out of control,” he recalled.

He began impressively enough but got caught up in a crash which had a domino effect on other riders in the bunch…….By the time he got back on his bike he was second last, but he recovered to finish 66th.

Meyland continued to make his mark on XCO cycling at international level over the next few years.

He is now the head of Club, Workforce and Product Development at AusCycling…….

 

DICK MOORE was Wangaratta’s outstanding track cyclist of the ‘30s…….He won selection in an Australian team which competed in New Zealand in 1933, and enjoyed considerable success in events far and wide during the next decade.

Moore rode into the annals of local cycling history when he took out the 1936 Wangaratta Wheelrace. He sprinted away in the final lap to win by five lengths from Dick Boland…… Another local, Ian McDiarmid, filled third placing.

 

TREVOR GRIFFITHS had not quite turned 15 when he came under notice for his performances on the Road and Track.

He won sprint Gold at the National U15 titles in Tasmania and clinched the 2004 Australian U15 Time Trial championship in Queensland.

It was the beginning of an outstanding junior career which culminated in Griffiths representing Australia at the 2008 World Junior Track Championships.

The following year he won a Bronze Medal in the 20km Omnium at the National titles. But his crowning achievement in 2009 came when, after taking out the Aces scratch race at the Local Carnival, he pipped Damien Semmler on the line to win the Wangaratta Wheelrace.

 

Trevor Griffiths

 

David Wohlers

 

DAVID WOHLERS attributes Pat Toohey for his start in cycling.

“I got my first bike off him and he took me everywhere; taught me all of the skills on the track,” he recalls.

Wohlers followed in Toohey’s footsteps by becoming a helping-hand to young cyclists who were just starting out in the game as his career began to wind down.

He regarded himself as more attuned to Road Racing…….”I was basically a ‘stayer.”

Probably the highlight of Wohlers’ career occurred when he was victorious in the reputable West Australian 108-mile ‘Beverley to Perth’ road race.

He won a Victorian jersey when chosen to represent the state in the National titles in Devonport but regarded his individual highlight as finishing 12th in a gruelling Sun Tour.

Wohlers rode in 2 Sun Tours, 6 ‘Warrnambool’s’ and hundreds of other road races around the state in a fruitful time at the top.

 

Another member of a famous local cycling family, THOMAS McDONALD , enjoyed a stellar junior career.

McDonald first came under notice when he rode to victory in the U17 2000m Individual Pursuit at the 2014 National Championships in Sydney. He also claimed Bronze in the Points Score race.

The following year he added to his credentials as an all-rounder when he collected Gold in the National Time Trial, held in Toowoomba, making him a reigning title-holder on both road and track.

McDonald represented Australia at the 2016 World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland, riding a personal best in the Individual Pursuit, and finishing sixth overall.

He won Cycling Victoria’s Young Athlete of the Year award in 2014 and, a month or so later, displayed his credentials in front of his hometown crowd by adding the 2015 Wangaratta Wheelrace to his notable list of achievements.

 

Thomas McDonald

 

 

REUBEN SMITH has already displayed enough potential to indicate he might become the ‘next big thing’ in Wangaratta cycling.

As a Year 11 student, he blitzed a quality field to win the 86th version of the famous ‘Melbourne Cup on Wheels’ in 2023, coming from 20m behind at the final bend to claim victory.

He won two Medals at the Oceania Track Cycling championships last year; one as a member of the Australian team which won silver in the Junior Men’s Sprint, and winning a Bronze in the Junior Men’s Keiren.

 

PETER SIMPSON has devoted a lifetime to cycling…….You would struggle to find a person with a greater ‘handle’ on its intricacies and personalities..

‘Simmo’ gained a valuable foothold on the sport when he moved to Bendigo for a time, and competed against some of the ‘guns’ of the bike game.

Onlookers remarked at his immense improvement……On one of his regular trips home – and finding himself in particularly good form – he liked his chances in the event he had always coveted – the local Wheelrace.

For the local lad, who had done a paper-round to earn enough money to buy a bike, qualifying for the Final was a dream come true.

Spurred on by the cheering of the home crowd ‘Simmo’ grew a leg and, in a dramatic finish, held on to beat the fast-finishing Eric Bishop and Alan Rackstraw…..in so doing, fulfilling a dream…….

 

 

MAX RYAN also achieved his career highlight when he came from nowhere to win the 1951 Wangaratta Wheelrace.

Ryan was a member of another well-known cycling family and had been a stalwart of the local scene for many years. But against a crack field, which included many of the notables of the sport, he rounded up the field five-wide and just pipped national champ Eddie Smith on the line……

 

 

Max was one of the first people to congratulate his cousin TERRY RYAN, when he stormed to victory in the Wheelrace ten years later.

Terry was just 20 and working at the local Woollen Mills when he outlasted Graham Walkley and Yarrawonga star Peter Clarke in a thrilling finish.

 

JOHN KENT joined the Wangaratta Cycle Club as an 11-year-old, but his first major breakthrough came when he was selected to ride in the national junior titles at the age of 16.

He hit form as a senior in 1994 when he was selected to ride in the Commonwealth Bank Classic, just as he began to unveil his real potential.

Kent also rode in the Tour of Tasmania and New Zealand’s Tour of Wellington.

He was part of the Australian Institute of Sport team which travelled to Taiwan to compete in the eight-day Tour of the country, and also enjoyed some experience on the European circuit.

 

ASHLEY BAINES grew up in an era when local cyclists were achieving national – and world – prominence.

He became a road specialist and achieved his greatest success wearing the Australian colours…… He finished ninth in the Oceania Continental Championships in 2011.

Baines also won a Midland Tour, and rode off scratch in a couple of ‘Melbourne to Warrnambool’s’. He was also a solid performer in the ‘Sun Tours’ in which he rode.

 

John Kent

 

 

IRENE PLOWMAN operated a frock shop in Wangaratta during the 1930s and reckoned that cycling would help her to lose weight and keep fit.

But first she had to learn the rudiments of riding a bike.

So began an intensive training regime…….Each night after closing her shop she would set off on an 80km ride……On Friday evening it would extend to 230km as she’d begin a 10-hour trip to Melbourne.

Standing a little more than 5 feet and weighing just 8st 3lb she was an unlikely sporting figure, but she broke a host of cycling endurance records, culminating in her assault on the Sydney-Melbourne record.

As she rode into Melbourne she was greeted by more than 40,000 fans, gathered for the Globe Sporting Carnival.

Her time broke the previous female record by 10 hours 23 minutes and was just 41 minutes shy of the time set by the great Hubert Opperman.

When she passed away in 1999 her memory was perpetuated by the ‘Irene Plowman Award’, which honours Australian Cycling Club members who are able to complete five 200km rides in a season……..

 

When the Wangaratta Cycling Club re-formed in 1947, CHARLIE LARKINS was one of its inaugural members.

Over the next decade and a half he was to prove one of the town’s leading riders…….He took out four Club Championships and competed with success in events around the state.

Perhaps his finest achievement was to finish with the fastest time in the highly-rated Wagga to Albury road race in 1950.

 

Two of his mates – and keen rivals –  ARNOLD NORTON and PAT TOOHEY – were also stars of the fifties, besides being influential figures in the sport, but there was probably no-one who made a greater contribution to reviving post-war Wangaratta cycling than BOB PLANT.

Besides the substantial mark he made as an administrator, Plant rode for more than thirty years, and numbered eight ‘Warrnambool’s’ among the countless events at which he competed around the state during the thirties and forties…….

 

***

 

This is merely a thumb-nail sketch of some of those who added lustre to Wangaratta’s reputation as a formidable cycling town…..

Hundreds of others, however, have been caught up in the buzz of the bike-game, although they may not have received the acclaim of a Woods, Clarke or McDonald.

You might occasionally spot an old codger on one of the back roads around town, ‘head down and arse up’, clad in fashionable lycra, and seemingly struggling to stay upright……

It may be one of our old champs, reliving his dream……..

 

 

To read part 1 of this series click HERE.

This story appeared first on KB Hill’s website On Reflection and is used here with permission.
All photos sourced from KB Hill’s resources unless otherwise acknowledged.

To read more of KB Hill’s great stories on the Almanac, click HERE.

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