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VALE LIONEL COX |
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It is with great sadness that I announce the
passing of Lionel Cox.
Lionel passed away last night from pneumonia
at St Vincent's Hospital last night.
The world will remember Lionel as a Gold and
Silver medalist at the 1952 Olympic games in
Helsinki. I will remember him, as
indeed will the vast majority of the local
cycling community, as friend, mentor and
coach.
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Deepest condolences to Brad & Kelly
(pictured left) and other members of the
family Brett and Kirsty, on the passing of a
dad and grand dad. Right, Lionel at
his 70th birthday with love of his life,
wife Shirley, who sadly passed on a few
years back. Lionel had a hard exterior
and was often perceived as being a little
abrupt. Never around Shirley though as
she pulled him straight back into line.
Behind that abrupt facade however was a big
softie with a heart of gold and Lionel would
do just about anything for you. He
seemed to enjoy a bit of shock value and
always told it how it was. I still
remember his words to me, indeed I often
repeat them to younger riders (minus several
colourful adjectives), when I placed in my
first ever track race. |
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It was at Lidcombe and I had been doing lots
of training with Brad and Lionel at the old
Camperdown Velodrome (sadly now demolished).
After the race I went straight over to
Lionel and said, "Lionel, did you see that?"
He said, "See what" I said, "What do
you mean see what? I just got second
in the last race." He then exclaimed a
sentence that has stuck in my mind for about
the last 15 or more years: "Listen mate,
there's f"#ing first and then there's 'out
the f*#ing arse' " I knew he was
kidding. Again it was that Gruff
exterior. The outward facard that he
exhibited to the world. Inside however
I knew he was smiling as he was proud of all
of the "Camperdown crew" especially when
they were getting results.
Coming into
the bell lap I would always hear Lionel
whistle, this was the signal to go. It
was there EVERY race you went into.
Funny how a man so disinterested in a race
knew the exact moment that you should be
leading out a sprint. Joanne, whom he
always called "Cocko" (Joanne's maiden name
is Cox and I think he got a little pleasure
out of not referring to her as Buckton in my
presence), would tell me after he whistled
he would get all excited and say, "Here
comes the Camperdown train" |
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This is a picture that I
remember with fondness. Lionel holding
my daughter Kate for the 500m time trial at
State titles. I will be forever
grateful to him for the unbelievable effort
that he put into training Kate. Kate
will always remember that she perhaps more
than anyone else really got the Rolls Royce
treatment. Whilst Lionel trained all
the gang at the velodrome, he broke with
tradition in Katie's case and trained Katie
privately every afternoon after school at
his home at Maroubra. Lionel would sit
there in the backyard and put Kate through
her program on the ergo trainer. True
to form, when I would come to pick her up
after training he would abuse me (out of
earshot of Kate) for not picking her up
earlier saying, "I'm bloody training her.
I'm not f*#ing feeding her as well" I
went along with his bravado all the time
knowing that he loved having her there for
dinner. Shirley had already told me
that he used to ask Kate to stay for dinner
and ask Shirley to cook something nice for
Kate. Truth was that he loved
sitting down with Kate over dinner after a
training session. |
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Actually Lionel also held me up at State
titles and in those days I was a little
heavier and a little more unstable.
Anyway he lost hold of me for a minute and
the back axel nut of my bike took a nasty
piece out of his ankle. You reckon I
didn't cop it for YEARS after. He
would show people the scar and say, "Look
what the bastard did to me"
Joanne just brought my attention to some
comments being posted on facebook. One
from Simon Llewellyn typifies the Lionel Cox
bravado, a phrase that I can remember
hearing often myself, "I don't want to hear
your f*#*ing life story, just get on the
f*#*ing bike and pedal!" Good one
Simon.
Lionel was always there to assist not
only with the training but if we asked him
to be a guest presenter at the Presentation
night or the like, he was there.
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A cheeky grin from Lionel as he
presents Brittany Orr with Female
rider of the year |
Here's a couple of young faces.
Robbie Cater and Spongee Jenkins
receiving their awards from Lionel |
Lionel with the kids. Check
out how young Adriano is bottom
left. |
Pleasant company at the Presentation
night. |
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| Thanks Cocko,
well miss you mate and I hope their
are scars in heaven. |
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