Margaret McLachlan

Margaret McLachlan is a pioneer in women’s cycling, renowned for her record-breaking endurance feats in the 1960s. Despite facing institutional barriers - she was banned from competition by the NSW Amateur Cycling Union, which did not permit female racers - McLachlan defied the odds and set four significant records.

As a 21-year-old in 1966, she completed the Sydney to Melbourne ride in 58 hours and 33 minutes, breaking the existing record at the time. She also set records for the Canberra-Sydney (12:05:19) and Sydney-Newcastle (6:14:30) routes, and in 1968, she established the first Australian women’s one-hour unpaced record, covering 32.84km.

Despite her achievements, the NSW Amateur Cycling Union, under then Secretary Charles Manins, restricted McLachlan’s licence in 1966, before issuing a full ban in 1967.  

“The thing is none of the riders complained, it was only the officials. They said they didn’t need a reason,” McLachlan recalls of the discrimination she faced.

“Charlie Manins, many years later, he died, it was in the 1980s, it was after they announced it [women’s cycling] was going to be in the next Olympics. So that’s when they started letting women race – in 1980. And they had a memorial Charlie Manins race at Hurstville Oval, and they had a women’s race on the program. How good was that! He would have been turning in his grave,” McLachlan laughed.

“I just wanted to race because I loved it. And it was motivation for me to do the record attempts because I thought that would prove to them that I’m able to do it, but instead of that they said, ‘This publicity is bad because more women will want to join, and we can’t have that.’ That’s when they banned me altogether.”

McLachlan didn’t let what she calls “bureaucracy” stop her and found ways to ride, her feats covered by the press.

“Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club said, ‘You’re not allowed to race with us but we’re racing on a public road, so if you happen to be on the road at the same time there’s nothing we can do about.’ I still raced with them; my name just couldn’t get in the results,” she recalled.

McLachlan’s contributions to cycling extended beyond her personal achievements. In 1980, she co-founded the NSW Women’s Cycling Commission, advocating for greater opportunities and recognition for female cyclists.   She also became a level one coach and commissaire.

In a testament to her trailblazing efforts, which stemmed from a fateful encounter with a boy, McLachlan was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2000.

“I met this boy ice-skating, and he took me to watch a bike race. I thought, ‘That looks good,’ and he said, ‘Would you like to try that?’ I said, ‘Yes, but I haven’t got a bike.’ He put together a bike for me, and I finished up marrying him,” McLachlan recalled.

The 81-year-old to this day trains at her home in Cooranbong on bike frames that her late husband, John McLachlan, built.

“I wish he was alive to see all this happen because it wouldn’t have happened without him. I would never have got into cycling I don’t think without meeting him,” she said.