Grafton Cycle Club Women
GCC is an inclusive club and is looking to encourage more women to ride bikes. The club hopes to increase female membership in all areas of cycling. Our club has female members in both road racing and mountain bike racing as well as social riders. We also have a female National Champion! We support, encourage and provide opportunities for women of all ages and abilities.
Grafton Women - Grafton to Inverell Classic (G2I)
Grafton women have been competing in the G2I since 1994. 13 female members have completed the G2I.
Featured Rider Michelle Newstead
In August 2022, Michelle took out the National XCM championship in her category in Wagga Wagga. Michelle said it was cold and the course had a variety of technical features but she was able to stay in front. Michelle will be defending her title in 2023.
Michelle added another National Champion Jersey to her collection by winning the solo 24hr MTB in her age category. She rode 33 laps in 24hrs. A great effort. Michelle said she had trained for a couple of years for this National Championship. Michelle completed 300 kms and over 3000 metres of climbing in 24hrs.
Michelle also won the gravel National Championship in Noosa. Michelle said this one was a big surprise. She had a dented rim and hence a flat tyre it took her about 20 minutes to get to the station to fix it. At this stage she decided just to have fun and do the ride. Michelle won the title.
A true local champion!
Our Previous Champions
The Daily Examiner headline
"Cyclists Win Medals Against the Odds"
In 1993, Grafton Cycle Club members Helen Greenway, Wendy Smith, Roz Donahue and Liz Wilkes formed the clubs first Women's Time Trial Team (coached by Dion Wilkes and trained by Steve Dougherty). A normal weeks training would be 400kms starting a 5.30am rain, hail or shine.
The team was competing in the NSW Championships at Calga. It was a 20km undulating course in far from ideal conditions - torrential rain and wind. The teams official time was 34minutes 40seconds. This was 2 minutes better than their previous attempt.
First and second were won by metropolitan teams and the Grafton team won the Bronze medal. The article says that Smith, Donohue and Brockington (Wilkes) had dominated the northern division cycling carnivals at Macksville, Casino, Coffs Harbour as well as the Grafton to Coffs Classic.