Born in New Plymouth, New Zealand in 1955, Wayne crossed the Tasman in 1978, and soon made his mark in road and track cycling in Victoria. After breaking the record held for 19 yrs by his hero Russell Mockridge for the fastest time in the Melbourne to Warrnambool, he headed to Europe and signed with Boule d'Or in Belgium, working for sprint king Freddy Maertens. Wayne had many wins back in the eighties including two Australian Professional Road Championships.
In 2005, after eating way too much for Christmas dinner, he set some goals, lost 12kg in just five weeks of training, and fronted up for the 2006 New Zealand Masters Games in Dunedin after a 20 year break from cycling. He won two golds and a silver medal. One of those gold in the road race in a two-up sprint finish against UCI World Time Trial Champion John Alabaster and the other in the criterium around the Octagon, overcoming Ray Robinson and Kevin Thompson in the 50-59 age group. A couple of hours later he fronted up for the Cup on Wheels criterium, mixing it with some of New Zealand’s bright young stars and after a very flattering introduction by the race announcer, he managed to finish within the main bunch.
Since then, Wayne has won his age group in MTB and road racing, moved from Masters to C grade, skipped B grade, had one A grade race and been handicapped on break for the Gore-Invercargill race. After finishing New Zealand's gruelling Tour of Southland in November 2006, he took second behind Greg Henderson in a bunch sprint for the Kelvin Hastie Memorial.
These days Wayne and wife Susan are your hosts at Bright Velo, Australia's first bike hotel. Wayne gives on the bike training to individuals and groups. Join him for guided rides, personal or group training, and in January on the Bright Alpine Ride for fearless cyclists from around the world.
Palmares
In his career as a professional cyclist 1978 – 1988, amongst other things, Wayne
§ Held the record for the 265km Melbourne to Warnambool race for 10 years in a time of 5hrs 36min, breaking Russell Mockridge’s 19 year record.
§ Won the Australian 200km Road Championships twice and was runner-up once
§ Won the Melbourne to Bendigo
§ Won the Midland tour
§ Won the Footscray tour
§ Won the Peninsular tour
§ Won the Tour of Tasmania
§ Won the Tour of the Hunter Valley
§ Rode nine Sun Tours 5 stage wins, tour leader and overall 4th
§ Won the Auckland cup
§ Third overall place in the Dulux tour
§ Third stage placing in the Tour of Germany
§ Finished four major European classics, Tour of Flanders, Liege-Baston-Liege, Gent Wevelgem and best placing was 16th in Amstell Gold
§ Fifth stage placing in the Tour of Catelonia in the Pyrenees mountains
§ Bordeaux-Paris 576km 20th in thirteen hours
§ Raced three professional world championships, including Prague, Czechoslovakia, where his Boule d'Or team leader Freddy Martens became World Champion
§ Won the Launceston Six-day with fellow Kiwi Paul Medhurst
§ Silver medal in the Australian King of the Mountain Championship (195km)
§ Twice silver medallist in Australian pursuit against world champion Steel Bishop
§ Australian Cyclist of the Year 1986 most consistent in the top three
Riding for Shane Sutton and Danny Clarke, who placed first and second in the US Championships, he finished
Wayne came out of retirement in 2006. Some results since then:
§ Won his age group in the Taieri Mouth Coastal Classic MTB, November 2005
§ Won his age group in the Haggis Basher MTB, December 2005
§ Placed 6th in his age group in the National MTB Series XC race at Dunedin
§ Fourth place and fastest master at Greenfield in January 2006
§ Won C-grade scratch race at Henley in January 2006
§ Placed 5th in his age group in the Dunedin Masters Games five-stage cycling tour on
4-5 February, winning one stage
§ Gold medal 2006 Dunedin Masters Games - Men’s road race in a two-up sprint finish with
John Alabaster on 8 Feb
§ Gold medal 2006 Dunedin Masters Games - Men’s criterium on 12 Feb
§ Silver medal 2006 Dunedin Masters Games - Enduro MTB event on 6 Feb
§ Finished New Zealand Professional Tour of Southland in November 2006
§ Second to Greg Henderson in Kelvin Hastie Memorial November 2006
§ Won his age group and finished 10th overall in MTB Gutbuster in 2006Wayne is still ranked number 12 in the New Zealand 1869-2006 top cyclists list