On Saturday night members and friends of the Mount Gambier Cycling Club gathered at Jen’s Hotel for an evening meal and the opportunity to induct Matthew Opperman and John Cranwell into life membership in the presence of Australian Olympic Track Cycling coach, Tim Decker.
Following the citation for their services, read by club President Sarah Riddoch, Opperman received his life member medallion from Alan Dowdell, while Cranwell was welcomed by Barb Dowdell.
Both recipients were commended for their community spirit over a number of years, with Cranwell receiving special accolades for his willingness to do the less-enjoyable jobs around the club like cleaning the toilets.
Also present at the meal were fellow club life members Alan and Barb Dowdell, Rob Mann and Ray Bilney.
They were also thanked for their continued service to the club, before the floor was turned over to Decker.
The informal Q&A session with Decker included some questions about the recent Olympic games in Tokyo as well as the process of recognising and developing talent within cycling.
He was generous with his responses and provided good insight to the processes involved in track cycling at an elite level.
