Marshall sets benchmark

Rockhampton’s Masters cyclist Lewis Marshall adds more medals to his growing collection.

Casey Imaging

Who's this bloke?

That was undoubtedly the question on the lips of Lewis Marshall’s competitors as he surged through the 2010 Masters State Track Championships in Brisbane at the weekend.

The 51-year-old Rockhampton cyclist didn’t surprise himself when he stamped his name in the record books for the 2000 metre pursuit, but it did catch his opponents off guard.

Marshall, who is racing in his first track season, claimed gold in division five of the 2000 metre individual pursuit, bronze in the scratch race and fourth in the 500m time trial and sprint.

“It’s good to go down there and meet your goals,” Marshall said.

“This is my first season and I think they were pretty surprised down there – they would have been thinking, ‘who’s this bloke?’”

And although Marshall is generally a road rider, he said he planned to continue to excel in track.

“It’s my goal to do the states and then the nationals and then the world,” Marshall said confidently.

“I should be competitive. I have to improve my time, but not by much and I am on track with that with my coach Cameron.”

Coach Cameron Jennings said it was Marshall’s first “real crack” at track cycling and his medals proved he was a top contender.

“I knew he would go well down there, I just know from training he makes the A grade cyclist squirm on their seat because he is pretty strong,” Jennings said yesterday.

Jennings, who is new to the coaching world, said he was confident of Marshall improving his times before the nationals.

“I know he wants to go to nationals and we can knock another couple of seconds of his times before then,” he said.

“It’s good now because he knows he can do it and he didn’t crack under the pressure.”

Ron “Silver Fox” Hickson also made an appearance at the Masters Track Championships.

The speedster claimed gold in division six and seven for the 500 metre time trial, bronze in the 2000m individual pursuit and fourth in the scratch race.

The Rockhampton speed machine is no stranger to medals and also cycled into fifth place at the CQUniversity Rockhampton Cup on Wheels earlier this year.

Rockhampton’s cyclists are now hard at training for nationals for both seniors and juniors.