Hawthorn Cycling Club

Hawthorn Cycling Club (HCC) is one of Melbourne's largest and most inclusive cycling communities, bringing together around 500 riders of different ages, abilities and cycling interests. Based in Melbourne's inner east, the club offers everything from recreational bunch rides and skills development through to criterium, road and track racing, with a growing community around gravel, cyclocross and mountain biking as well. The club has existed in various forms since the 1940s, originally operating as part of the Hawthorn Citizens' Youth Club before becoming an independent cycling club in July 2011. Cycling in Hawthorn itself has an even deeper history, with generations of riders training and racing in the area and several internationally successful cyclists connected with the club. The club's spiritual home is the Hawthorn Velodrome at Patterson Reserve, a 330-metre outdoor track at 153 Robinson Road. The velodrome is used by HCC for junior and senior training and competition but remains available for recreational cycling outside exclusive bookings, making it a valuable community cycling facility as well as a club venue. HCC is particularly well known for its Teardrop Summer Criteriums, raced on the Yarra Boulevard circuit in Kew. The 2025–26 series ran every Wednesday through summer, offering Open A–D, Women's A–C and Junior A–B grades. Safety is a major focus, with ride marshals, corner marshals and professional first-aid support forming part of the race setup. Road racing continues through winter via the Northern Combine, with Hawthorn one of the participating Melbourne clubs. The annual HCC Trophy Race doubles as the club's road championship and is held at the Broadford State Motorcycle Centre. Juniors also have the opportunity to tackle Alpe d'Buffalo, a three-stage Victorian Junior Road Series event combining an individual time trial, criterium and the climb up Mount Buffalo. Junior development is a major part of HCC. Its current program trains at Hawthorn Velodrome and is open not only to Hawthorn members but also juniors from other clubs. New riders are specifically invited to come and try before committing, providing an accessible pathway into structured training and eventually racing. The club also helps deliver rounds of the Victorian Interschool Cycling Series, including racing at the Teardrop circuit. Hawthorn also has an especially strong women's cycling program. Women@HCC includes skills sessions covering areas such as cornering, track riding and MTB, regular social rides, an annual women's training camp and dedicated racing opportunities. The club runs women's grades throughout almost the entire Teardrop criterium season rather than simply combining women into open fields. A standout event is the Hanging Rock Handicap, which HCC describes as Australia's biggest grassroots women's cycling race. Launched in 2019, the approximately 64km women-only road handicap is deliberately designed to accommodate riders ranging from relative newcomers through to Elite racers, with the handicap format giving riders of different strengths an opportunity to compete together. The club also carries an impressive competitive heritage. Ian Browne, Olympic tandem gold medallist at Melbourne 1956, was a Hawthorn rider, while Ron Baensch represented Australia at Olympic and World Championship level. Perhaps the best-known former Hawthorn rider is Phil Anderson, who became the first Australian—and first non-European—to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. Importantly, you don't need to have racing ambitions to belong. HCC specifically includes training rides, recreational riding, social activities and cycling camps, with its stated focus on creating a welcoming community around a shared love of riding. Whether you're looking to find a social bunch, introduce a junior to cycling, learn new skills, try your first criterium, ride the velodrome, get into women's racing or progress towards serious road competition, Hawthorn Cycling Club provides one of Melbourne's most comprehensive cycling communities.

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