Goulburn to Sydney Classic

Historically, the route started in Goulburn in the Southern Highlands and followed what is now known as the Hume Highway to Sydney. There have been various changes to the route over time, reflecting the changes to the Hume Highway and the finish point has varied from Ashfield Town Hall 1902–1913; Enfield 1920–1922, 1924–1936; Merrylands 1923; Lidcombe 1937–1941 & 1946–1952; Sydney Sports Ground 1944; Wiley Park velodrome 1945; Bankstown 1959–1962; Liverpool 1974–1994; and Camden 1995–2012. The race was run in the reverse direction finishing at Goulburn and starting at Enfield in 1953–1958; Milperra 1963–1972 and Hoxton Park 1973

Finish at Enfield

In 1890 Captain Mark Long set the record for the then 137 miles (220 km) in 18½ hours.[16] There were a flurry of attempts in the early 20th century, with the successful attempts being Charlie Orr in 10hrs 38',[17] P Allssoff 10hrs 28,[18] C Melrose 10hr 22½',[19] G E Green amateur record 11hrs 2'[20] and Somerville 9hr 45'.[20]

Littlechild, in winning the 1902 race, beat Graeme's 1896 race record to Ashfield and then continued on to the GPO in 8hrs 20' 30" to eclipse Sommerville's record.[21]

The record to the Sydney GPO does not appear to have been broken since the 1930s, with the professional record being 6hrs 57' 56" set by Frankie Thomas in 1932 as part of his ride from Canberra to Sydney.[22] The amateur record was last set at 5hrs 47' 4" in 1937 by Charles Winterbottom.[23] Since 1937 any speed record attempt on public streets in NSW required the approval of the Commissioner of Police.[24]

There have been so many changes to the road surface, road alignment,[25] distance, direction and finishing location that trying to identify a race record is an exercise in semantics. The following however are some of the more notable times. In the professional ranks, Don Kirkham's time of 6hr 19' to Ashfield in 1911[3] was not eclipsed until Percy Osborn's ride of 6hrs 2m 50s in 1927.[26] Osborn's time of 5hrs 56' 40" to Enfield was the first race time under six hours. By 1935 the race time to Enfield was reduced to 5hrs 2' 31" by Joseph Buckley NSW and H P Veitch Victoria in a dead heat.[27] The first to get under five hours was Kerry Hoole in 1965 from Milperra to Goulburn in the first of his four consecutive fastest times.

In the amateur ranks, Ern Pedersen's time of 6hr 24' 30" in 1913 [6] was second only to Don Kirkham's professional time in 1911 and was not beaten until 1927 when Richard Lamb continued on to Ashfield.[26] The first amateur under six hours was Edgar Johns in 1930 with a time of 5hrs 46' 10" [28] Just five years later Charles Winterbottom had lowered the race time to 5hrs 05' 13" [27] in the second of his three consecutive fastest times. The first amateur under five hours was David Watson in 1969 with a time of 4hrs 57' 20" for the Milperra to Goulburn route.[10]

In the open era, Brett Dutton set the fastest time of 3hrs 40' 34" to Liverpool.[10] With the Camden finish, including a lap of razorback, the fastest time was that of Richard Lang in 2009 in 3hrs 45' 31" [29]

Women did not compete in the Goulburn to Sydney prior to 1980. When women's races were run, they were over shorter distances, such as in 1947 there was a race Camden to Sydney, won by Miss J Whiteley and the fastest time was Mrs O Herd [30] Women did however set records on the course at the time of running the event, with Lillian Thorpe setting a time of 9hr 52' in 1932.[31] Edna Sayers lowered the record to 7hr 41' 5" in 1933,[32] and to 6hrs 11' 30" in 1935[27]. In 1936 as part of her record-breaking ride from Canberra to Sydney, Edna Sayers set a new record for Goulburn to the Sydney GPO of 7hrs 43' 8".[33] In 1980 one women from Canberra and one from Turramurra entered the amateur event, with Shaine Mulholland being reported as the first woman to finish the course, with Mishka Davies second..[34] In 2000 there was a separate women's race, won by Nathalie Bates.[35] In 2008 were able to enter the open event. Women wanting to enter the event needed to be graded C and above and needed specific approval as the race exceeded the UCI maximum distance for women.[36] The first female was Oenone Wood who finished 43rd overall.[37]