Scotch College

Scotch cycling hits the ground pedalling

Words: Ryan Melville - Year 12 Photography: Mr Stephen Kong, Lachie Bell, Ms Susan Stewart And Ryan Melville

It’s not every day that a new sport is introduced to Scotch College, which is why many students were ecstatic to hear that cycling had been given the green light as a summer sport.

After two years of dreaming and one year of planning, I made my way to Mr Price’s office to discuss the idea of introducing the sport of cycling to Scotch. Mr Price opened his arms to the idea, as many of the other summer sports were starting to fill up with large numbers, and there was certainly a need for a new sport.

After putting the proposal into writing, I began to understand that having cycling listed as an official school sport would not be an overnight happening. Once Mr Price had the written application, he then had to go to the Vice-Principal, Mr Savage and put my proposal. Mr Savage was already aware that I was keen to have cycling introduced, having had to put up with my nagging about entering unofficial school teams in inter-school races.

Mr Savage took the matter to the Senior School committee, which consists of senior members of staff including Mr Savage, Mr Kong, the Dean of Students and Mr Wheat, the Head of Upper School. After much deliberation they approved my application for cycling as a sport, and it was then taken to the Principal’s office. As a keen cyclist himself, Mr Batty was more than happy to give the proposal the final seal of approval.

When I received the email from Mr Price telling me that cycling had been approved as a school sport at Scotch, my team-mates from the unofficial team and I were over the moon with delight. A new chapter in Scotch history was about to begin.

In April the rolling hills of Dookie played host to the 2nd annual Australian Schools Cycling Cup, with over 80 schools (a total of 270 competitors) from across Australia entering teams. After much training Scotch entered the second largest team into the event with a total of 28 riders across both the Junior and Senior male categories, with the Senior team winning their category, thus being crowned the Australian Schools Cycling Cup National Champions for 2009. Every student was integral to the success of the team, with each boy entering as many categories as physically and mentally possible. The categories open for competition included a Road Race, Hill Climb, Individual Time Trial, Team Time Trial, Cross Country Mountain Biking and Down Hill Mountain Biking. Points were awarded for the amount of competitors a school entered into each race, as well as extra points for those competitors who finished in the top 30 places of their respective races. As a result of this scoring system, the dedication and skill of our riders paid off, with every rider being rewarded appropriately for their efforts.

However the junior team is not to be forgotten in the success of the Seniors. These boys from Years 7-9 not only worked just as hard as the senior boys, but scored just as well as other schools, unfortunate not to come out on top. Every Monday, all the boys who had selected Cycling as their Summer Sport took the mini bus out to the Darebin International Sports Centre to training on the world class indoor wooden velodrome, under the watchful and experienced eye of Cycle Sport Victoria. This was followed up by training each Wednesday morning at the Hawthorn Velodrome and then finally by a Saturday morning intense ride along the Yarra Boulevard in Kew. Despite this training regime, it must be remembered that these junior boys had never raced competitively before and I have no doubt that as these boys grow stronger and adapt to the competitive structure of cycling, they will become a force to be reckoned with.

With the recent formation of the OSCA Cycling Club, the cycling bug at Scotch seems to be spreading quickly, with more and more boys becoming involved in this great sport. How else can you see new places, chat with your mates and meet new people, while improving your health in a safe manner? Cycling allows you to travel greater distances in less time, at the same time as you breathe fresh air and gain a healthier body and soul.

This year has been full of wonderful fun and excitement, and we are all looking forward to seeing cycling grow new branches at Scotch and blossom into something spectacular.

I would like to thank the following people for their deep involvement in getting the cycling program up and running: Mr Price, Mr Savage, Mr Wheat, Mr Flynn, Mrs Collacott, Stuart Proposch and of course the boys who expressed their interest in the sport. Without them, it would have never got off the ground. Oh, and I promised that I would mention my Head of Year’s name, so as promised, Mr Byrnes, I just have. GS