Endeavour Hills rider Jack Cummings, 12, is taking the cycling world by storm.By Marc McGowan
ENDEAVOUR Hills cyclist Jack Cummings recorded stunning results in the Cyclesport Victorian Junior Championships at the Wangaratta Sale Yard Complex on the weekend.
Cummings, 12, picked up the silver medal in the under 13 road race and a bronze medal in the under 13 time trial.
It took Australian cycling royalty to knock Cummings off in the road race, with Shane Kelly’s nephew, Hamish Kelly, winning the event.
“I was nervous because I thought he (Kelly) might beat me by a fair bit, but it ended up being a fight to the line,” Cummings said.
“He got me by about 30 centimetres.”
It was yet another successful event for the English expatriate, who only started racing last October.
He won the Junior Criterium at his training base Casey Fields and recently qualified for the Victorian School Championships by winning the regional heat.
Cummings also managed a third-place finish overall in the Tour of Ararat, which comprised four races – a time trial, a criterium, a road race and a handicap.
He has an impressive cycling pedigree, with his father Mick representing England as a junior.
“I thought I’d just try it out and do as best as I can,” Cummings said.
It appears his father has passed on more than cycling ability, as the Mazenod College, Mulgrave, student also excels in Australian Rules football after being a state-level swimmer when he was younger.
Cummings won Mossgiel Park Football Club’s under 12 best and fairest last week and finished third in the league best and fairest vote count.
He represents the Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club and rides up to 90 kilometres in any given week, although he has tapered off a bit during the football season.
While Cummings still harbours hopes of making it to an elite level in football and cycling, it is the latter he is most passionate about.
“You get to meet people from all over Victoria and when you go for a ride, say to the Dandenongs, it’s a really nice view,” he said.
Cummings is also keen to tackle track cycling, something he is yet to experience. The format has some similarities to road racing but also offers different challenges.
One of these challenges comes in the form of the ‘elimination’ event, where the last competitor to cross the line on each lap is out.
His father, after an extended absence from the sport, is back racing for Carnegie Caulfield as well and a rivalry is building between the pair.
Mick generally races in a higher grade than his son but their paths have crossed regularly.
“At the end of the summer dad was getting better and moving up the grades,” Cummings said.
“But a few times I beat him – it got him pretty angry.”
