CLUB ON THE UP

QTell us a bit about Cairns Cycling Club. How is the club tracking from your perspective?

AIt’s probably the best its been in quite a while. Over the last two years, pretty much with the introduction of the clear distance to riders legislation, that caused a little bit of an issue getting permits for road racing and therefore the inability to hold racing events on the road then had road cyclists moving elsewhere. You probably found they went to mountain biking or some ventured to triathlon. Over the last two years we’ve been working fairly hard discussing the process with the council, other referral agencies such as Queensland Police, on how that rule is policed and over the last couple of years we’ve had a full calendar with criterium and road racing, which means we’ve picked back up to 150-plus members.

QThe track at Smith Park is quite historic, sealed in the 1960s. How often is it used?

AIt’s a 400m track, it’s only got a slight camber on it but you’re always turning There’s always been a following for the track. The track races regularly in dry season every Wednesday night. There’s a core group of probably 20-30 riders that come down intermittently and compete against one another, but probably the bigger use of this is the junior events down here. A lot of the parents bring their kids down here with the safety of being on the track. A lot of the club’s money goes towards the upkeep of this particular facility. Outside of office hours, this is at its capacity with different training groups.