AusCycling inducts Mike Victor and Lionel Cox to Hall of Fame at 2024 Track Nationals

Mike Victor and Lionel Cox were announced as the newest inductees to the AusCycling Hall of Fame on Saturday night at the 2024 AusCycling Track National Championships in Brisbane.

Victor and Cox are the 60th and 61st inductees to the AusCycling Hall of Fame.

Victor was on hand with family and friends to celebrate his induction into the Hall of Fame before racing began on the second night of the 2024 TrackNats, with the presentations led by AusCycling Board of Directors member Lee Brentzell and event commentator Matthew Poyner.

Cox's posthumous induction was received by his son Brad.

The two new inductees are the newest additions to the revamped multi-discipline AusCycling Hall of Fame, combining mountain biking, track cycling, road cycling and BMX. BMX Hall of Famers will continue to be recognised in ceremony by the Australian BMX Hall of Fame. They join Liz Hepple, Iddo "Snowy" Munro, Donna Rae-Szalinski and Don Kirkham as 2024 inductees.

Lionel Cox

Lionel Cox in 1953. Picture: Stuart William Macgladrie/Fairfax Media

Lionel Cox joined the Marrickville Cycling Club as a 15-year-old, but raced without any success and had so many falls that his mother insisted that he give the sport away.

She allowed him to resume again two years later, giving him a new bike for his 17th birthday.

On his new bike, Cox won every race he contested as a junior, including the state junior sprint title.

Working in the fruit markets to build up his strength, he entered the senior ranks in 1948, winning the New South Wales sprint crown, finishing second in the Australian mile title, and fourth in the sprint.

Incredibly, he went through the 1951/52 New South Wales track season without a single defeat.

When the Olympic team for 1952 in Helsinki was named, Cox was number six on the priority list and his chances of actually racing appeared to be almost nil.

However, Lionel arrived at the Olympics and formed a partnership in the tandem with Russell Mockridge, which would be one of the most remarkable in Australian cycling history.

In the tandem, with Mockridge as pilot and Cox as stoker, the Australians improved with every ride through the heats.

Against the favoured South African pair in the final, the Australians bounded to the front at the gun, matched their opponents' every move and kept them high on the track. The tactics were successful and Mockridge and Cox took the Olympic gold medal by inches.

Lionel then went on to ride the individual sprint. Rather than the one-on-one sprinting that we see today, at the 1952 Olympics it was three riders on the track in the final for one race in a winner takes all format.

It was Italy’s Enzo Sacchi who collected the gold medal, Lionel took the silver, bronze went to Werner Potzernheim of Germany.

After the games, Cox raced with startling success on the European circuit and competed in the 1953 and 1955 world championships.

He also represented Australia at the 1954 Vancouver Commonwealth Games before turning professional in 1956.

Lionel went on to coach at Camperdown and then Tempe, guiding riders to state, national and international success.

In 1993, he was inducted into the Sports Australia Hall of Fame. And in 1999 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to cycling as a coach and a competitor.

From humble beginnings, Lionel Cox became an Olympic champion.

Mike Victor

Mike Victor was inducted into the AusCycling Hall of Fame by AusCycling Board of Directors member Lee Brentzell at the 2024 TrackNats in Brisbane. Picture: Mackenzie Sweetnam

Mike Victor’s story is one of a lifelong commitment to cycling and a commitment to helping others pursue their dreams.

He started this as the junior delegate, to the Queensland Amateur Cycling Association, from 1957 to 1959.

As a rider, Mike was an international level cyclist representing Queensland and Australia, but it’s as an administrator, predominately in voluntary positions, where he made his biggest impact.

He officiated at two Olympic Games, nine Commonwealth Games and seven UCI World Championships.

He was also the president of the Australian Commonwealth Games Queensland Division for 20 years.

Beginning with his role, from 1979 to 1983, as Secretary of the Queensland Amateur Cycling Association (QACA), Mike was instrumental in transforming QACA from a voluntary sporting body into a professionally run organisation.

He also had two stints as president of Cycling Queensland, the first from 1998 to 2000 and 2010 to 2018. In between those two stints, he was president of Cycling Australia, from 2000 to 2009.

Throughout the 1980s, Mike played a key role in amalgamating three Townsville cycling clubs to get council support for the construction of the Idalia Velodrome, which opened in 1993.

Significantly, he also played a big part in the creation of Anna Meares Velodrome at Chandler in Brisbane.

In 2005, Mike was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for his services to cycling as an administrator, technical official and event organiser.

Across almost seven decades of service to cycling, Mike has certainly delivered on his promise to his brother.