Marshall's medals from the pedals

There’s gold in them there heels.

Cyclist Lewis Marshall scored three gold medals and one silver out of four events at the State Masters Track Championship last month in Division 5 in a superb riding effort.

Setting a blistering pace at Chandler Velodrome, Marshall successfully defended his current title in the 200m Individual Pursuit after breaking his own record time in qualifying with a 2min.33secs ride.

“I won it last year at my first attempt and also set the state record last year,” he said.

“I won the 500m time trial where you go against the clock and gold in the scratch race."

Although not his forte, he managed a silver medal in the sprint, thanks to a fairly quick time against quality opposition.

“I posted a second in the flying 200 to the current world champion to qualify,” Marshall said.

Training two-three times a week on the Rockhampton track, and racing once a week, Marshall’s build-up for the Masters was excellent, but gruelling.

“It’s a pretty big commitment,” Marshall said.

And the training regimen won’t ease off with two major events coming up: the Nationals later this month and the World Championships in October in Manchester.

“The goal is to win the pursuit and points race at the nationals and then have a break and train for the Worlds,” Marshall said.

His cycling career took off in 2006 when he relocated from Longreach to the flatter ground of Rockhampton.

“There wasn’t too many good mountain bike trails there, so I bought a road bike, went riding in bunches and it built from there,” he said.

It didn’t take long for the first accolade to come along, as he improved greatly as miles on the bike piled up.

“I won the Charters Towers to Townsville race in 2007, as well as club championships,” he said.

“I’m also the state time trial champion on the road over 20km.”

“I enjoy the freedom, keeps the competitive edge going, and keeps you fit,” he said.

The 52-year-old is more than happy to serve it up to other riders much younger and his willingness to compete and win was forged during years of motocross competition across the state, before constant injuries became too much to bear.

“I never do things by half measure; when I do something I go full bore,” he said.

Rockhampton-based coach Cameron Jennings has been training Marshall for the past twelve months and has been focusing on getting more evenness in the cyclist's results.

“He’d get a good result every now and then, so it just about getting more consistency in his performance,” Jennings said.

“The hardest thing is getting him to pull up on the reins himself, otherwise he does too much.

“I wish junior riders had the enthusiasm and drive Lewis has.”

Marshall said Jennings’ input helped him achieve his goals, including the recent medal-winning performance at the States.

“Making the Nationals and qualifying for the Worlds, which I’ve done,” he said.

“The interval training, that’s the secret, not just going out and doing big miles.”  

Marshall feels there’s a huge demand in Gladstone for a velodrome or criterium track to help with training and tap into the latent talent in the area. And with Queensland Cycling toying with the idea of holding the state championships interstate on a board venue, which is much quicker than cement, the opportunity is ripe for picking, especially with industry and the expected population growth.

“There’s a lot of riders, a lot of people doing it socially and it would be great to get some organised rides here,” he said.

“I believe they should get a club going and they’d have more chance of securing funding.

“The demand’s here.”

Marshall competes at the National Masters in Sydney on March 24.