Fifty years after sharing a Commonwealth Games podium, three cycling adversaries continue to share a laugh.
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In July 1970, Danny Clark was an unheralded Tasmanian teenager, thrown into the Australian team for some international experience and swapping the anonymity of George Town for the limelight of Edinburgh.
He returned firmly established on the world cycling map, en route to Olympic and world championship success having won a silver medal in the Scottish capital.
New Zealander Blair Stockwell, who Clark defeated in the semi-final, and Brit Ian Hallam, who proved too strong in the gold medal race, joined the precocious youngster among the medals and remain in touch with him half a century later.
"I am still in contact with both of those guys," Clark said, as he reflected on the achievement from his home on the Gold Coast.
"I go to Blair's bike shop in Surfers Paradise and talk to Ian in England on Skype.
"We still joke about it. I tell Blair he cost me a gold medal and I tell Ian 'you only beat me because Blair gave me such a hard ride'.
"It's fantastic to still have those friendships."
Clark's name has become synonymous with Tasmanian cycling success, held in the same regard as Michael Grenda, Graeme and Matthew Gilmore and more recently Matt Goss, Amy Cure and Richie Porte.
Born in Launceston, he would go on to win a silver medal at the 1972 Olympic Games and claim 12 world championship medals, including five gold, before eventually retiring in 1997.
But at the beginning of the 1970s, he was little known outside his municipality at the mouth of the Tamar.
The youngest rider to represent Australia, Clark had raced in South Africa for three months when he was 17 and earned selection to the Games by finishing second behind New South Welshman David Watson in the 4000-metre pursuit at the national titles in Melbourne.
But in his own words: "I was just a kid training on the road at George Town and had no idea what I was in for. It was like getting a big cake and eating it all at once.
"To come from little George Town, just making my first trip in a Tasmanian team was like Christmas for me. And when you go to a Commonwealth Games you get all these lovely clothes made for you and you're on the plane with all the other athletes.
"It's really exciting to get to see all the great runners and swimmers. It was a great experience.
"I was having great fun and Edinburgh is a beautiful city."
I was just a kid training on the road at George Town and had no idea what I was in for. It was like getting a big cake and eating it all at once.
- Danny Clark
Helped only by his late father, Terry, Clark's preparation was light years away from today's methods of sport scientists, strength and conditioning officers and nutritionists.
"In those days we had no training camps or anything like that so you just went back to Tasmania to train on your own.
"I did not know anything about specialist bikes or clothing and it was summer in Europe so all teams in the Northern Hemisphere had a track season while I was in Tasmania in the freezing cold riding club road races.
"I had no specialist training. I'd been riding fast times but had never trained for a pursuit. I remember getting on the rollers at home when it was raining outside and doing five minutes thrashing myself. That was my specialist training.
"I was training by riding the road between George Town and Launceston and back and on the York Park track in the summer.
"I was just riding my bike and excited to be at my first Commonwealth Games."
At 18, Clark was the youngest member of Australia's cycling team for Edinburgh and one of only two Tasmanians making the trip, along with Hobart badminton player Ross Livingstone.
Virtually unknown in the international arena, Clark announced himself by recording the fastest time of 5:07.17 in beating fellow Australian Doug Armstrong, of Victoria, in the 4000m pursuit heats - prompting The Examiner to declare he had "emerged as the new favourite" for the gold medal.
Beneath a headline proclaiming "Tasmanian big hope for gold medal", the paper reported: "Last week Clark was only expected to finish in the last five but today's ride made him Australia's top hope."
However, team cycling manager Howard Bergstrom issued a prophetic word of warning that the experienced Hallam was not to be taken lightly.
The British champion duly accounted for Armstrong in the quarter-finals as Clark caught Canadian Frank Ludtke with six laps remaining.
July 22, 1970, was to prove an action-packed, if weather-beaten, day at Edinburgh's exposed Meadowbank Velodrome.
Clark recorded a new fastest time of 5.06.2 to beat Stockwell by just three seconds in a thrilling semi-final.
The other semi was far more one-sided as Hallam cruised to victory over Watson, who the official Games report stated was "suffering from chest congestion". He later withdrew from the third-fourth place ride, thereby handing the bronze medal to Stockwell.
On the gold medal ride, the report said: "The final of this event was a ding-dong affair, with each rider alternately gaining and losing the advantage, until the superior strength and rhythm of Hallam told in the final few laps with the gold medal going to England in the eventual fastest time of 5:01.4 with the plucky Clark earning the silver for Australia in a time of 5:04.9."
They were the two fastest times of the entire competition.
"Silver medal to our Danny" proclaimed The Examiner, reporting that Clark's "courageous effort" could not bridge the 30m gap opened up in the 11th lap.
Clark's recollection of proceedings added a few more details.
"The day was freezing cold and raining. It was an outdoor track and the weather was shocking. It was up and down the whole day," he said.
"I had to ride really hard to just beat Blair but in the other semi David Watson was sick as a dog and only rode to make Ian Hallam have a hard ride.
"Normally you have a huge break before the final but because of the conditions they called us back on 15 minutes later to ride it. I was laying on a massage table trying to relax when I was told I had to go back on. I had nothing in me, I was shattered.
"But looking back on it now, I think second was a fantastic effort when I did not know anything about international riding.
"To be thrown in and make the final at a Commonwealth Games against a pursuit specialist like Ian, it was an honour to come second to him."
Clark's Commonwealth Games experience didn't finish in Scotland, with the former George Town Primary and High School student set for a major shock when he returned home.
"I was absolutely knackered after a lot of travelling and all of a sudden we stopped just outside George Town and my dad said 'we have to do this, hurry up'. We moved into an open-top sports car and I had to sit on the back. I thought 'what the hell is going on?' but all the streets were lined with people. That was magnificent. I cannot tell you how exciting that was. I'm getting emotional thinking about it now. It was phenomenal having the whole town cheering me."
That bond with his home state would continue to play a strong role in Clark's career.
A year later a public appeal raised money to send the raw talent to Europe to gain some vital experience ahead of the world championships.
After preparing in Denmark and France, Clark opted to race the 1km in Varese, Italy, but a mid-race tyre blowout cost him any chance of success.
"I decided to race that not the 4km pursuit because I had developed a bit more speed. I thought I had a good chance so that was very disappointing with all the help I'd received. But that spurred me on to do well at the Olympics and I have the people of Tasmania to thank for starting me off in my career. I owe a lot to the Tasmanian people sending money into The Examiner to get me to Europe."
Clark, whose switch to the 1km time trial would yield an Olympic silver medal in Munich in 1972, is now a 68-year-old father-of-two enjoying the somewhat warmer climes of Queensland.
He retains fond and vivid memories of his introduction to cycling and the challenges posed by preparing in Tasmania.
"I was the youngest rider ever to represent Australia when I was invited to race in South Africa as a 17-year old," he said.
"I raced in South Africa and Rhodesia as it was called then, went on safaris - it was a fantastic trip. That was my first real experience out of Australia and helped me a little bit for the Commonwealth Games.
"I got picked for the Games in winter so just had to keep training in George Town. That's been a disadvantage to Australian riders for many years because most titles are held in August so it's very hard for Australians to stay home and train and then go and try and beat these riders in their best season. It does make a difference."
Apart from suffering seven broken ribs and a damaged lung in a freak accident while riding near his home in April, Clark still loves the sport which dominated his life and won't easily forget the event which catapulted him into the public spotlight.
"I've still got a fair bit of pain where the plates are but otherwise I'm OK. I'm not a young spunk any more but I'm coming along.
"In my office here I've got a photo of the podium from Edinburgh with Ian, Blair and me with our medals around our necks.
"It still feels like yesterday. Talking to you about it now, straight away all the memories just come out of a little box."
DANNY CLARK FACTBOX
- Olympic Games: silver (1000m TT) 1972
- World championships: gold - keirin (1980, 1981), motor-paced (1988, 1991), derny (1986); silver - keirin (1982, 1983, 1985), points (1981), motor-paced (1987); bronze - motor-paced (1990), points (1990)
- Commonwealth Games: silver (4000m pursuit) 1970
- European championships: omnium (1978, 1979, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988); derny (1985, 1986, 1990); motor-paced (1988); madison (1979, 1988)