An interview with Scott McGrory

Back to serious training...

By Karen Forman
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Karen interviews Scott
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Winning Australia's Bendigo Madison on March 10 has proven to be a great start to training for the road season for Scott McGrory.

The 31 year old, originally from Wodonga on the Victorian-New South Wales border, intends to start training "seriously" for the upcoming road season this week and he says his 200 laps around the 400 metre almost flat Bendigo track, got things moving nicely.

"Until the end of April I will be on the road with Mapei (he is having his second year with them) and aiming to get any result I can on the road heading to the Commonwealth Games, theWorlds and the Six Days," he said. "My six days partner Matt Gilmore, from Launceston (Tasmania), who is in his first year with Mapei, is aiming to beat his father's record of 12 six day victories. He's at eight now."

McGrory had his last race in San Sebastian on February 9 (which he and Gilmore won). He had returned to Australia over the four-week Christmas break after the last four sixes, a bit of an unusual step for him.

"Normally we don't get a big enough break to come home so we go somewhere in Europe, but this time I had the opportunity to come home and it has been great," he said. "I have had the opportunity to do a few things, raise my profile and spend some time in Port Douglas with Donna. It is really my only opportunity to have a break before the Commonwealth Games."

He said because of the long break, his fitness wasn't at its peak, which made it difficult to compete in domestic events such as the Bendigo madison.
 
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Racing hard
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"There is a lot of pressure on Aussies who race overseas to do well when they are home, but it's actually our off-season," he said. "Like Stuart O'Grady, like Robbie McEwen, we are expected to come home and do well. I've just been rolling along but because of this event I have got onto the bike a couple of weeks sooner than I had expected."

Despite enjoying the lifestyle of living overseas (which he has done since 1996), McGrory says he would like to race at home more often.

"The trouble is that we are in the best condition in the middle of the European season, not when the events are on here," he said. "I feel Brett is a bit different because he is living here."

None the less, he fully intends to return to Australia to live one day.
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Winning combo
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"I have to think of the big picture," he said. "I am keen to keep going for at least five years; definitely the Olympics in Athens are there for me for sure. Just trying to convince Brett to go that far is the thing, now he has decided to remain in Australia and race here..."

"We want to keep him...it's a proven team. If you take 20 guys who are all physically fit with the same physiology, it is the two guys with the experience who win. It would be hard to get a new guy."

McGrory isn't sure what he'll do when he does retire, but race promotion sounds like it will be one of the major options.

He isn't all that happy with the domestic track scene, he says.

"We're in a bit of a rut. Bendigo is fantastic but the others... I think a lot of people in cycling have a lot to answer for, because nothing new is happening. The six days in Europe are the pinnacle of tradition, but they change every year and they getting bigger. There were 135,000 people at Bremen last year.

"I think people get stuck in their ways...and we need to be looking at new ways of doing things to get cycling back on track in Australia again."

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