COMMON HEALTH DREAMERS

Over the years the 'Commies' have presented many an athlete with a rare opportunity to ride on the global stage - with Birmingham 2022 on the horizon, James Shrubsall spoke to some of them

- James Shrubsall

KEITH JONES WALES

Brisbane 1982, Edinburgh 1986 | 6th road race

From the sun-drenched shorelines of Brisbane in 1982, to a rain-drenched dual carriageway outside Edinburgh in 1986, F Keith Jones's Commonwealth Games experiences have been nothing if not contrasting. "If you think about going to Australia, lovely sunny weather, and everything. Lovely coast," he says. "And then you come back to Scotland four years later, and it's up and down a dual carriageway in the rain."

In 1982 Jones was in his early 20s and in full-time work, but he was able to take some time out to focus on training as best he could for the Brisbane Games.

"I gave up work, basically went on the dole for seven or eight months, just to make sure I raced well and earned my place," says Jones, who had an extensive amateur career in the 1980s. These days he works as sales manager at Graham Weigh Cycles in Deeside.

Dividends Down Under

His full-time training regime clearly paid off, because in the Brisbane road race he won the bunch sprint for sixth place behind the leading break. He stayed on in the country too and won the KoM prize in the first-ever Commonwealth Bank Classic race shortly afterwards in Sydney.

"I can remember checking into the hotel at the end of the race with all the rest of the riders," Jones says, "and there's Linford Christie and Daley Thomson... all those sorts of people were in the same hotel- they'd obviously moved down from Brisbane to Sydney to have a look around."

It was an iconic location that wasn't lost on Jones either: "We raced over Sydney Harbour Bridge and finished at Pier One," he recalls. "I mean, how many races go over Sydney Harbour Bridge these days?"