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The Moorabool News – 21 June, 2022 Page 3
Aussie gamer By Lachlan Ellis A Bacchus Marsh man has been named in a squad of just 34 cyclists to represent the country at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, just a month after winning gold in Canada. The Moorabool News had 21-year-old Graeme Frislie on the front page edition (14 June) after he won the Nations Cup in Milton, Canada last month, and last week he took his career one step further, being named to compete in the Men’s Track Cycling Endurance event. Mr Frislie said he had “committed his life” to cycling since graduating from Bacchus Marsh Grammar school three years ago, and he was excited to see his hard work paying off. “It’s a pretty big honour to be selected in the team. It’s still a bit surreal, it hasn’t really sunk in yet and I don’t think it will for a while. But I’m excited for the opportunity and keen to get going,” he told the Moorabool News. “Over the past three years or so this is all I’ve really done with myself…it’s been day in day out training, eating right, focusing on my sleep and everything since 2019,” he said. “It’s been a culmination of the past four or five years of hard work that’s gotten me where I am now, so it’s good to see that pay off. A few months ago, the long squad got to try on all the formal gear for the opening ceremony… when I put on all the formal stuff, I felt a bit sick to my stomach, it still doesn’t really feel real.” Proud mum Shelley praised Graeme for his dedication, and said it was amazing to see
him rewarded with Commonwealth Games selection. “AusCycling made the official announcement on Thursday [16 June]…Mike and I are very excited. It just shows that Graeme’s hard work has paid off, and he and his team are getting some reward for all the dedication they’ve put in,” Ms Frislie said. “Because of COVID, they haven’t had the opportunity to travel and compete overseas, so it’s nice that they’ll have that now on an elite world level, that’s exciting.” Which event or events each cyclist will compete in hasn’t been finalised yet, but Mr Frislie’s victory with his team at the Men’s Elite Team Pursuit at the Nations Cup will hopefully put him in good stead to compete in the Men’s Team Pursuit at the Commonwealth Games. Track cycling events in the 2022 Commonwealth Games will be held at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London, from 29 July to 1 August. In the lead-up to the Games, the Australian cycling squad will head to Newport in Wales to train in a similar climate to what they’ll be racing in. Commonwealth Games Australia Team Chef de Mission, Petria Thomas OAM, said she was looking forward to watching the team’s efforts, and knew the team would be “working hard between now and the Games, ready to be bold, brave and brilliant in Birmingham”. “I wish them all the best for their preparations and competition, and hope they know we are all behind them,” she said.
Photo: Bacchus Marsh Grammar