REPRESENTING the nation is a dream many sportspeople hope to achieve, but Mount Gambier’s Elliott Jones has done it twice and will add Australia to the list.
Having represented England and Scotland in cycle speedway as a young gun, Elliott will return to the track after 10 years, this time wearing green and gold.
He was recently selected as part of the Australian Cycle Speedway World Cup veterans team set to compete in Adelaide this November.
Born in England, Elliott was introduced to the world of cycling at just 12-years-old while living in Norwich with his mother.
“I had a hard upbringing as a kid and I played school football (soccer) but we couldn’t afford the proper boots, so I would play in my runners,” he said.
“I was pretty good, I always played in defence and loved it.
“I remember we were playing a match and we were losing so my teammates kept calling out to Mr Watson – I’ll never forget his name – to bring me on the pitch, but he benched me because of my runners.
“I was so angry and because I was a bit of a rebel I refused to take the school minibus and walked from one side of the city to the other.”
It was during his walk home he stumbled across some cyclists in a nearby park.
“I remember walking through Eaton Park and I spotted these riders so I sat down to watch,” Elliott said.
“I never got any trophies or prizes when I played football and on this day there must have been a cup race on because I watched them receive trophies at the end.
“That’s when I thought ‘I wouldn’t mind doing that’.”
Elliott’s love affair with bicycles started early and was only heightened once he hit the track competitively.
“A push bike was my kind of freedom as a kid, I would just disappear for hours riding around and honestly I was a bit of a loner, but the bike was my escape,” he said.
“I think that is what gave me some form of natural ability once I started racing.”
With plenty of potential and willingness to learn, Elliott joined Eaton Cycling Club, where his competitive career began.
“It was a family run club and they treated me like a son,” he said.
“I remember my first bike was a rusty old thing my mum had paid 25 pounds for and they painted it up for me and I was stoked.
“The opportunities which flowed from that club were amazing, people would take me to races and finals to compete and without them I would never have got there.”
As a rough young rebel, Elliott said getting involved with cycle speedway was life-changing.
“Back then, cycle speedway was a good sport to get the kids off the street and that’s what happened, they got me off the street and on a bike,” he said.
“Through people supporting me, I was able to capitalise on the opportunities which came my way.
“I raced three or four British finals, which is pretty good for a kid like me.”
Elliott was selected for the Young England team at 13, which was when he met members of the Australian team, some he is still in contact with today.
He said he began racing for Scotland in his late teens after swapping for his mother.
“I swapped from England to Scotland for my mum because back then if you had parents with Scottish, Irish or Welsh heritage you could swap teams,” he said.
“I debuted with them at around 18-years-old and rode for them for the remainder of my career.”
Over the years Elliott collected a number of titles and competed in championships across the globe, including Australia.
However, the sport is not for the faint of heart.
Cycle speedway crashes can be extreme and result in life-threatening injuries.
Having raced for many years, Elliott experienced his fair share of collisions on the track.
“I still remember the biggest crash I ever had, I was sitting in second place and I tried to line up this guy to slip into first, but he slipped in front of me and my front wheel clipped his back,” he said.
“I went over the handlebars, flew up in the air, took a massive chunk out of my shoulder and hit my chin on the kerb.
“It was definitely one of my worst crashes and I was convinced I broke my jaw at the time … and I still have the scar on my chin.”
• Elliott Jones’ story will be continued in next week’s installment of Painting A Picture (Thursday’s edition).
