Sunday, March 9, 2014

Lost and Forgotten Tracks and Velodromes

Here in Melbourne and the regional towns around Victoria there are both lost and forgotten cycling tracks and velodromes. I've come across many in my time as a cyclist, even raced on some that do not exist any longer.
The gates to Parkdale Cycling Track and home to the Mordialloc Cycling Club.

One such track brings back memories of my very first State Track Championship as a 14 year old. I rode past it today (9/3/2014) in fact. Parkdale Track was a sealed asphalt track around a footy oval on Nepean Highway and home to the Mordialloc Cycling Club. I decided to take a look at it as I must have passed by thousands of times in the car and on the bike since that State Championship in 1964.
I remember during the 60s, the other "Kids" I raced against from the Mordialloc Club in those years were David Kelso, Geoff Cunningham and the Whiting brothers.


Today it is home to Cricket and Football and very little sign of the track remains. There's that slight banking that the old track had but today its no more than a slight sloping of a grassed surface. Unbeknown to me at the the time, I discovered that the track was actually established in 1934. So thirty years later I was competing on the same track - little did I know at the time its history.


When I rode there it didn't seem to be much of a track but after doing some research today, I discovered that it was in fact a very important part of Victorian track racing history. The major track of Melbourne at the time, the Exhibition Oval had seen better days and was used for Speedway events. The Exhibition Board track was yet to be established and the Motordrome was not suitable for Championship events other than motor pace. The Parkdale track therefore was used for those State Championships while Melbourne searched for a new venue.


Below cuttings are from the mid - 1930s



The Mordialloc Carnival Committee were a driving force to establish the track.

T Johnson - That's Gordon Johnson's Father.

Oppy campaigned for the local council to build a Bike track in Parkdale