Forty years ago, Max Rainsford was preparing for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Today, he buckles up his seatbelt and hits the road to drive young Tasmanians to school.
Beginning cycling at the age of seventeen when the local bike shop owner encouraged him to take up racing, he quickly rose to prominence, winning local and national titles.
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However, Max’s journey wasn’t always so smooth.
“In my first year I came third in the 1000 metres at the National Championships, and I thought I was great,” Max says, “but the following year I only came seventh and then I didn’t do too well at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games trials.”
Despite the setbacks, Max trained with the support of a local coach to improve his skills. His efforts paid off when he won his first national title in 1983 and after success at the Olympic trials secured a spot on the Australian team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Placing 14th at the games with illness affecting his performance, he went on two years later to win bronze at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games.
“Only about 400 people represented Australia in the Olympics, which is not very many out of our country of over 20 million. I look back on it now and I’m proud to have achieved that and been part of it,” he says.
Max in the velodrome at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
While Max continued to race professionally, he also embarked on a career in sales in the motor industry. Twenty-two years later, he decided he needed something different.
When the unexpected opportunity to become a bus driver came his way, he embraced it.
“Kinetic has supported me to go from a car licence to a bus licence,” he says, “now I have my licence and I absolutely love it.”
Driving school buses in Tasmania’s north, Max now relishes his role in the local community.
“I really enjoy driving the buses and getting to take the kids around,” he says.
“I’m a people person so I have a way of talking to the kids and staying friendly with them so they’re all good on-board.”
As he reminisces on his time as a cyclist, Max says that staying fit and on the move over the years has helped him stay focused in anything he chooses to do.
“I’m watching the Olympics coming along and this year it’s forty years since I went. I don’t like each Olympics ticking over because it’s another four years of my life passing but I’m the youngest 61-year-old you’ll ever meet!”
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