¶ COLLIE has lost a connection with its past after the staging of the 82nd and final Tom Lowry Memorial cycle race on Saturday.
Collie Cycle Club president Mark Paget said a combination of factors led to the decision to call it a day, with it having become increasingly difficult to keep running the event.
“We’ve been thinking about it for five years,” Mr Paget said.
“Every year it has been getting harder. Traffic management has become more complicated and it’s the cost factor.
“It’s also getting volunteers. We really struggled this year, we just got enough.”
Mr Paget acknowledged that interest in road cycling as a sport in Collie and WA has progressively waned over the years.
With the final riding of the Collie to Donnybrook and Return Cycling Classic this year, WA will be left without a major road race, he said.
“It’s just one of those things, its season has come and gone,” Collie Cycle Museum coordinator Sue-Ellen Paget said.
The first ‘Lowry’ was staged in 1942, honouring the legacy of miner and trade union official Tom Lowry.
Mrs Paget noted that road cycling in Collie had once been a part of the town’s fabric, with many workers reliant on bicycles to get to and from work.
“A lot of working men’s towns, they had to ride to work,” she said. “If it’s a part of your job and what you do, it becomes a sport.
“In the 1930s, Collie really exploded as a cycling destination.
“At bike races in Collie there were bookmakers in the streets, whippet dog racing, log chops, foot races and football games. Collie has always punched above its weight in cycling.”
Mr Paget paid tribute to the Mining and Energy Union for its 82 years of supporting the event.