Tommy Nankervis

CCCC President’s Profile…

// August 12th, 2009 // A Day Down Under

If you are a member of an Australian cycling club, and definitely the Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club, please take the time to read this little run-down on Mal…

Most people around the Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club know of Mal Sawford as the guy who organises our races. The idea of this small profile of Mal is to give people a bit more insight into what is really involved in his role of the Carnegie Club President. Mal used to ride and race a lot too, just like all the other members of our club, but he has kindly given up most of his potential racing opportunities to allow us to have even better racing opportunities.

Mal started cycling way back in 1990, when he was at Uni. He played hockey in primary school and high school, but decided to have a year off when he started Uni. Half-way through his 2nd year he realised how unfit and tired he was getting, and didn’t want to go for a run, so he jumped on the old 10 speed he used to ride to school and charged off around the block. In just 5 minutes he was stuffed! That feeling must have sparked a bit of passion, and inspired some research. He began to do a bit of reading about the sport through magazines the Uni used to have. He read the US Bicycling magazine, and found out that you’re not supposed to ride in the biggest gear all the time. He then for some reason, decided to see if he could ride into Uni – 25km.
Mal’s Dad had a better bike (alloy rims!) so he pinched that and rode in. The ride took just over an hour which was 20 minutes quicker than catching the train, so he started doing it 3 days a week. His Dad wanted his bike back, so he went shopping with a $600 budget, and ended up spending $1200!
The guy who ran the shop was a former track pro, Frank Daly (1971 Austral winner). Frank took Mal to VFL Park to have a go in the old criteriums there. He raced D Grade and got smashed – clip-less pedals were not so easy back then, and by the time he got clipped in, he was 3 corners behind! Mal got lapped but didn’t care.
The Christmas break was coming up, so over the break Mal learnt to use his pedals and won his next race, at Dunlop Rd. He was 20, and beating ‘little kids’ like Wokka (Warren Knevitt) and Luke Weir who were about 15 or 16. From there, Mal got hooked, and spent the rest of summer in D Grade. He did his first road race in C grade and won that, then followed up with 2nd in the next one, so was then moved into B Grade.
Mal did a couple of years racing on the road and in criteriums, before guys like Wokka finally convinced him to have a crack on the track. He thought it would be boring to go round and round in circles, but obviously not, because Mal can still be found at the Carnegie Velodrome on a Saturday afternoon through most of summer! It is at the track where I first met Mal, and I guess that is where my knowledge of his commitment to the club begins.

Mal in action at one of the Sunday Glenvale criteriums. He still goes ok for an old guy who barely trains…!

Mal first got involved in the CCCC committee as co-editor of a newsletter with Nick Groves, who was one of his good racing mates; they had a good little B Grade mafia going together. Nick works overseas now but his dad John Groves still races and helps out as race day treasurer all year round.
Mal and Nick did the newsletter for a year or so and then Mal got asked if he would take the Secretary’s job, which he did. He did that for a few years, and according to him, was never very good at the minute taking side of things, but saw that his work skills dealing with building and planning permits would be helpful dealing with getting race permits. This came at a stage when the requirements for running road races were rapidly changing from an old bloke with a red flag on each corner, to the full blown Vic Roads style traffic control we have to do now.
Mal also spent lots of time processing memberships for the ‘biggest club in the universe’! He claims it was really self interest, and was worried that if someone didn’t put their hand up to deal with the permits we might not have anywhere to race.
Mal was secretary for a few years under Bob Beattie and then Mike Clarke (Simon’s dad), and at an AGM a few years ago Mike pulled him aside and said he had to step down due to work commitments, and was nominating him to take over. Mal had about 5 minutes to think about it. No-one else seemed keen and he actually thought it might mean a bit less work, so he said he’d do it until someone good came along. He’s still looking!
Mal honestly can’t remember when he first became President, so you might have to ask Lorraine.

CCCC Board Members, and guys who have a huge role in making sure we all get to race in great races, Frank Cipriano, Mal Sawford, and Paul Mason.

As far as Mal’s racing career goes, after racing A Grade for a year, he did think pretty seriously about taking a year off and going to Europe to see how far he could get, but in the end he made the choice to keeping racing as something that was fun, and building a career. He says having enough money to eat all the time was a big factor in the decision making process!

Maybe I have to think long and hard about what I am doing now…! Haha, I have thought about it, and luckily I still love it, and have great support from my parents and friends!

Mal went from training 25 hours a week while he was at Uni, weighing under 70kg and being good in the hills, to 86kg and only being good at going down hill over a couple of years, when he first started working full time. He has since worked out a routine that got him back to club A Grade shape (as long as it’s not too hilly!) on not much training, while balancing work and family commitments.

Mal still gets a lot of enjoyment out of racing, but it did take a bit of a shift in thinking to go from trying to win races, to trying not to get dropped, but testing himself against the top riders is satisfying. Maybe don’t ask him if he’s having fun when it’s in the gutter at 50kmh and he’s 2nd last wheel, but once the race is over he always remembers it was fun!

Mal still finds enough fight to make it all the way up Baw Baw at race pace!

Mal says he really couldn’t do all that he does in cycling without the support of his wife Tammy. He’s had 4 bad accidents needing ambulance rides over the past 15 years (the 1st while riding to work when she was 8 months pregnant). They have an agreement now, and he doesn’t go out on his own much anymore; she wants someone with him to call the ambulance if it were to ever happen again…

Mal does his best to try and fit about 10 hours of training in each week. His current ‘training program’ is:
Monday – hour at the gym (getting massive) before work
Tuesday – hour spin class at the gym before work
Wednesday – day off
Thursday – hour ergo in the garage before work. He got a BT Ergo after the last crash, because he’s not allowed to ride in the dark anymore!
Friday – hour recovery ride on Beach Rd before work. If it rains, another day off!
Saturday – every now and then he gets to race in winter. If he’s helping run a CCCC road race he can go out early and do a couple of hours with a good social bunch of older guys including his Dad on Beach Rd.
Sunday – KFC club ride, usually 3 – 4 hours depending on family duties.

In summer, Mal races with the Vets at Sandown on Thursday nights, or with Footscray in Altona, depending on where he’s working. On Sundays he gets to race Glenvale after helping set up etc, and getting the races underway.

Mal spends roughly an hour or so at night on club stuff most nights, with a really late one every couple of weeks to process membership forms. He’s lucky with work, as he can take the odd call or email during the day while he’s driving between jobs. The online license thing has saved him heaps of time, so hopefully they can stop it crashing so often, so more and more people will use it. The CCCC have one or two committee type meetings a month as well to fit in. Mal says having really hard working people like Lorraine, Doug, Frank and Paul on the committee long term makes it much more manageable now, so does having basically self sufficient elite and junior programs that don’t need much direct hands on stuff from him.

For racing days, at Glenvale he’s there from 8 to 12, at Sandown it’s 5 to 8. In winter for Modella he’ll leave home at 11 to get there by 12, and usually leave at 5 so not home until 6.

Mal will try and spend most nights with Tammy and the kids, especially in winter, so he doesn’t feel guilty going to Sandown 2 nights a week all summer! He’s not around much on the weekends, so Sunday arvo is always family time. He says it was great having both of his kids come to Glenvale regularly last summer. Katie’s big thing is dancing, she trains 3 or 4 nights a week for that, which is pretty full on for a 14 year old, so she only ever rode her bike in E Grade with Mick, but she got pretty competitive and earned a bit of cash. Jo is 10 now, so hopefully this summer she’ll be tall enough to reach the pedals properly and will give it a go again. As long as they have fun, he hopes he wont turn into one of those pushy parents!

Mal’s family, Katie, Jo, and Tammy, in Paris.

Having given up his own chances of ‘on-bike’ success, Mal’s victories and results are achieved in other areas. He continually strives to make the CCCC as good as possible, and the Club has nowe won the Australian Club Premiership 3 times. Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club is the only Victorian club to have won it. The award was introduced in 2001, and is points based on performances by club riders at the different National Championships, road and track, junior, senior and masters. CCCC have won it in 2002, 2007 and 2008!

The Victorian award for Club of the Year is even newer and CSV select the winner. They judge it on membership, racing, communication, development, officials etc. CCCC finally won it in 2008, but missed out again this year. No club has won it twice yet, maybe CCCC will be the first.

The Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club now has over 650 members, up from 600 at the end of 2008, so we’re still growing. Numbers at road races have been growing this year, averaging around 100 now; still only half what the club gets at the summer criteriums, but up 25% on last winter. CCCC pretty much run the only club bunch races for city clubs East of Melbourne now too.

This award wouldn’t have been possible without the great time and effort Mal Sawford gives to the Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club – and all of the other helpers!

So there is a bit of a run-down on what it involves to be the President of Australia’s Number One Cycling Club! It is a very time-consuming job, so please take the time to appreciate all of the people who give so generously of their time, to allow us to do something we all love doing!

As with the other CCCC Master’s Profiles, there are a few regular questions that need answering! Mal told me when I asked him about writing this big profile that his turn was up next, so I thought I should still include the usual questions for him too.

FACTS
Masters Category: Masters 2
Resides: Aspendale, Victoria
CCCC Member Since: 1990
Preferences: Going to a race that someone else organises!
Nickname: At work; “Crash”, with Lorraine; “Scoop”
Occupation: Construction Manager
Coach: Is that what’s holding me back?
Favourite Race: Tour de France
Most Admired Professional Cyclist: Phil Anderson
Training Partners: Frank Cipriano and the Epsom Bunch

A few more Minutes with Mal Sawford:

Who has had the greatest influence over your cycling career?
Frank Daly had the biggest input in the first few years. Like a lot of people around the club, I have also had great advice from Mick Hollingworth and Hilton Clarke, but it’s Lorraine Collings who keeps me on the right track these days.

What is your greatest cycling achievement?
Competitively, probably top 10’s in both the road race and crits at the World Masters Games in 2002, making an Austral final or finishing the Warrnie in 1997, but more recently a win and a place in A Grade crits last summer in strong fields were pretty nice too. Without a number on, riding in the French Alps 3 months after breaking my pelvis last year, and finishing the Alpine Classic at Bright on the 45 degree day.

What are your goals for 2009?
A strong ride in the Teams Time Trial at Ballarat this year [Mal's team was 5th, even after getting stuck in a cow stampede]. And to smash Frank whenever possible!

When I am not cycling I like to?
Spend time with Tammy and the kids, hopefully earning enough brownie points to be allowed out on the bike again!

The oldest ever base jumper is 74 years old.