ABOUT
The name Cadel Evans is synonymous with Australian road cycling, with the Victorian riding to become the first Australian to win the elite men’s road race world crown (2009) and famously the Tour de France (2011).
However fifty years before Cadel became a household name, Jack Hoobin, another Victorian cyclist, was making waves across the cycling world, notably by becoming the first Australian to win the World Amateur Road Cycling Championship (1950).
In 2017, Hoobin will be posthumously inducted into the Cycling Australia Hall of Fame at the Annual Awards in Melbourne on 17 November.
Born in 1927, Hoobin began cycling as a four-year-old and soon began racing with the Cheltenham Club in Melbourne. At just eighteen years old in 1945, he enlisted in the Army near the end of World War II which saw him ride a daily 100km round trip from his home to the Balcombe Camp.
1947 saw the first glimpse of Hoobin’s potential as he rode to record times at the Victorian Amateur Cycling Union 50-mile and 75-mile races, before claiming the 100-mile , 125-mile and the ‘Sun’ Classic.
More wins and record times ensued in 1948, which saw Hoobin rewarded with a spot on the Australian Cycling Team for the London 1948 Olympic Games.
After meeting with the Queen-to-be Princess Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace for tea prior to the Games, Hoobin rode to highest placed Australian finish (sixth) in the 124-mile event.
Hoobin returned to Europe in 1949 and 1950 to contest the World Amateur Road Championships, but was plagued with illness and injuries which saw him tenth in 1949.
With a burning ambition to overcome the odds, Hoobin returned to Europe in 1950 and under the guidance of Alf Strom, he prepared by ‘riding quietly’ in the lead-up events so press and other riders could not assess his form.
At the 1950 Championships at Moorsledge in Belgium, 98 riders started the race and Hoobin was rarely noticed in the early laps. However he pounced in the final lap and hit the front with 100m to go and rode to victory by a length to become the first Australian to win the world amateur road cycling championship.
After his world title win in 1950, Hoobin returned to Australia and rode in the inaugural Sun Tour in 1952 where he finished third to the Rowley brothers, Keith and Max.
He withdrew in the 1954 NSW Tour of the West claiming "teaming" by several leading Victorian and NSW riders and never rode again before turning his attention to golf and played with distinction with the Huntingdale GC in Pennant Golf.
Hoobin passed away at the age of 72 in 2000, just weeks before he was to attend the Olympic Games celebrations in Sydney.
Hoobin Career Highlights
- 1950 World Amateur Road Champion
- 1948 Olympian (sixth in road race)
