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Happy new year all.
We hope you enjoyed the festive season and for those of you that have been in bushfire impacted areas – we hope that you are all safe.
Congratulations and thank you to the many clubs, volunteers, coaches, athletes and fans that were involved in the recent Westbridge Funds Road National Championships in Perth, Western Australia.
These big scale events provide an opportunity to showcase cycling and riding in Australia on a global scale and complement the many events that are being delivered by clubs at a local and state level in every discipline – weekly!
2026 will be even bigger year with Australia hosting the UCI BMX Racing World Championships in Brisbane in July, the UCI Track Nations Cup in Perth in March and the UCI Gravel World Championships in Nannup, delivered by Cycling Eventures, in October.
There are many important projects on the agenda for 2026, and we look forward to working in partnership with clubs to enhance the experience for all involved and most importantly grow and advance the sport.
2026 Club Forums
As we’ve been doing every year, we’re evolving the 2026 Club Forum program with the aim of improving impact and engagement. Forums provide a key opportunity to share information, debate and discuss the issues that impact all of us.
In the same breath as highlighting their importance, they’re also not the only way that we can engage. There will be continued regular education sessions throughout the year; invitations to participate in specific focus groups; Clubs are invited to give us feedback through the annual club satisfaction survey; and/or you can reach out directly to your State/Territory Operations Manager and they can help you navigate or connect with other people in the organisation. This Chair and CEO update will also provide information that’s important for clubs to be across.
In 2026, we’ll be kicking off the year by way of a series of smaller forums, with the AusCycling Chair and Board members that will be delivered on a state/territory basis and by discipline – these will complement the quarterly forums.
Dates and invitations will be circulated shortly! In the meantime, here are the dates for the four Club Forums – they’re not quite quarterly due to the timing of key project rollouts.
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Club Forum #1: 4 March – Project Ascent ‘32 Pathway Project: Wednesday.
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Club Forum #2: 1 April - Rollout of new membership products and platform
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Club Forum #3: 8 July - Topic to be set based on key club and strategic priorities closer to the date.
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Club Forum #4: 25 November - Year in review and 2027 priorities plans
In terms of the key projects or pieces of work that will be completed or started this year, over and above the ‘BAU’:
Clubs and Community
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Launch of the new membership products and supported membership marketing campaign – aimed to address concerns around membership and to grow membership through Clubs.
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Refresh coach education content – with the first update to the foundation course which will see more localised and flexible delivery.
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Establish ‘issue specific’ project teams to address key pain points:
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Risk mitigation to reduce the insurance burden on AusCycling;
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Piloting new participant event formats.
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Delivering various state government funded projects supporting club development, participation and volunteers – further information will arrive via our state/territory operations managers, where opportunities exist.
Pathways and Performance
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Rollout of refreshed Pathways Strategy (Project Ascent) – aimed to enhance the athlete pathway.
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Expand Development Academies to include Downhill (MTB) – more to come later this month.
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World Championships and Commonwealth Games performance outcomes – to ensure the sport meets its performance funding KPIs.
Major Events
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Enhance the impact and legacy for hosting major event, in 2026 this includes the Track World Cup and BMX Racing World Championships – aimed to build the profile of the sport, deliver commercial returns, support participation initiatives, build capacity in community (legacy) and enhance partnerships with all layers of government.
Technology, Data and Insights
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Rollout the new membership platform, aligned with the launch of the refreshed membership products – aimed to enhance user experience and provide better reporting.
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Consideration of event entry system options – aimed to enhance user experience, better integrate with membership platform and provide better reporting.
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Keep an eye out for the club satisfaction survey, which will be circulated in the coming weeks.
Pathways Review: Project Ascent 2032
As part of AusCycling’s review of junior selection policies and the Performance Pathway, we have been conducting a series of consultation workshops across the country to gather feedback on our future Performance Pathway strategy.
We are eager to hear constructive ideas and insights from as many clubs, coaches, riders and parents as possible invested in development riders (aged between 12–18).
In addition to the state-based roadshow visits held over the past three months, we are now hosting a national online consultation session for anyone who would like to:
Please feel free to forward this invitation to others within your networks who may wish to attend and contribute. They will need to register in advance.
Consultation details:
Club Affiliation
A reminder that annual club affiliation needs to be completed as soon as possible. If you are unsure what you need to do, please reach out to affiliation@auscycling.org.au and the team will assist.
Special General Meeting Request
Many of you are likely to be aware that a request for an AusCycling Special General Meeting was circulating late last year. Whilst there was nothing formally progressed, since that time, AusCycling has received two requests to access the member register (club contact list) for the purpose of circulating a request to support a call for an AusCycling Special General Meeting.
The requests were made for legitimate reasons under the Corporations Act, and AusCycling has complied with its obligations. This has included providing a copy of the club contact register including club name, president name and email address to the parties requesting. We anticipate that each party will circulate their proposals in the coming weeks for your club’s consideration.
Our preference will always be that we sit down to discuss the key challenges you’re facing as clubs or grievances you may have with decisions taken by the organisation. We do this in a few ways – either one on one or through the various Club Forums, on a state/territory by state/territory basis, or by discipline, if there’s a view that it will be more effective.
Finding solutions and making informed decisions together will always lead to better outcomes for everyone. |
