About Ross Bush

Ross Bush was born on the 16th of February 1965.According to his family, Ross was a television watching couch potato, that was until he was inspired to get off the couch in his pre-teens and followed his elder brother Ian onto the bike.

It was not long before Ross talent and ability showed as he began to win races.As a junior cyclist Ross represented Victoria at the Australian Road Championships in Brisbane.In 1979-80 ,1980-81 and again in 1981-82 Ross won the Junior Track Aggregate at the Geelong Amateur Cycling Club.In 1981 he went on to also claim the Junior Road Aggregate.As a junior Ross went on to represent Australia at the Oceanic Games, bringing home 2 silver medals.

As a senior in 1983 he represented his state at the Australian Road Championships.Ross developed into a fine endurance road rider and this was evident in his 1990 road season where he took 4th place at the Victorian Road Title, 6th in the 100km Road Championships rode to 11th at the Australian Road Titles.

From his successful 1990 road season Ross was selected to race in the Sun Tour.That year Ross had the unique experience of riding as a member of the winning Mazda team which was lead by the General Classification winner Udo Bolts and also consisted of Harmut Bolts and Australian cycling legend, Dean Woods.

The following year in 1991 at club level, Ross broke one of Russell Mockridge's long standing records records by winning four successive scratch events.

In 1994 Ross showed that he was continuing to develop as a fine endurance rider by finishing a highly respectable 9th place in the Melbourne to Warrnambool Road Classic.

His transition to triathlon saw him compete successfully in many distances.His endurance led him to the Strongman event in Torquay and then the Ironman in Foster, a gruelling race consisting of a 3.8km swim, 180km bike leg and a marathon (42.2 km) run.He completed Torquay in 9hrs 55 mins and Foster in Just over 10 hours. Ross's ambition in Triathlon was to compete at Kona ,Hawaii in the Ironman event.

There were many other facets in Ross's life, in his work he was an Operating Theatre Technician at a Private Hospital, he organised the staff to participate in 4 Murray to Moyne rides to raise funds for equipment.On two of these rides, he rode the full 520km on 3 hours sleep.He was a party lover, a fun lover and quite a complex character, in the short 32 years he was alive he lived a lot.Some of the Geelong West crew could tell a few stories.

Tragically on January 31st 1998 whilst on a training ride Ross was killed by a drug affected motorist.

To honour his memory the Ross Bush Foundation was created and continues today to help up and coming local athletes achieve their goals and aspirations.

The Geelong Cycling Club continues to organise the Ross Bush Memorial Handicap Road Race in his memory.