MUA Champ

PHOTO Ernie Smith

Port worker Jim Gray, 50, is watching the road races in Athens with special interest. It could have been him racing for gold. The former boiler maker and deckhand, is also NSW Cyclist of the Year in his age group. What's more he got a gold medal in the nationals last year and a silver and bronze this year.

"I guess if I'd had the time and the money I would have competed internationally," he said. "I've been racing bikes since I was 15. My father was a cyclist. That's one of the reasons I got into it. I love it. I love to compete. It's good therapy. When you go for a ride you get rid of all your worries and all your woes."

Jim does velodrome and road racing. He also used to ride into work from Ryde to Balmain each day until he nearly got hit by a car. He now trains by riding around 200 kilometres each week up and down the M2 out through the western suburbs of Sydney.

But bikes are not Jim's only passion.

Jim became a seafarer, starting as a deckhand on one of the ferries after he was retrenched as a boilermaker at Cockatoo Island. He married into the waterfront. His father-in-law was a tug master at Fennwicks. Now Jim drives small tugs and launch vessels for Stannards.

"I love going to work," he said. "It's a great place to work, great people to work with and a good job. I'm a union fellow. I believe in the union."