A massive thank-you to the club to get Sarah Cliff up riding with her age group in a short amount of time. Most young cyclists have a cycling background – but I just like bikes. So many club members contributed, where I was useless. Back in 2014 I contacted the club, via the web page contact numbers, and received very welcoming responses from Simon Britten and Mick Marshall – I had inquired for Sarah who was 10 and I thought not cut out for ballet. With Sarah not ready to make a change, it happened that Lucy met up with Chloe and Mick at an IAS function – and the club got her going very well and she received some very special treatment. It took until Feb 17 to get Sarah to start some training with Simon on Monday afternoons. Very green, the basic skills were slowly worked on. Simon scratched out a basic program. It took until half way through the road season to finish with the bunch, and plenty of stacks! I was surprised how keen she remained (ballet must be torture). After finishing the road season strong, beginning track racing was a new art to learn. Acceptance into the IAS cycling program was a great boost. She has had; Mick Marshall gently coaching her, Simon regularly running training sessions and support to all the Illawarra kids at races, earlier IAS sessions with Mick Kejda, heaps of sideline ideas from the coaches as well as Doley, Heffo, Shane, Alex, Tilly and many more. However equally important has been the new junior cyclist friends as well as real encouragement from Chloe, Shari, Tahlia and Amelia. Great club! Really helped Sarah. Thank-you.
Gavin Cliff
