College honours Sara with a street
Milena Stojceska | July 21st, 2009
Sara Carrigan opens the street named in her honour
GOLD medal winning Olympic cyclist Sara Carrigan will always remember her years at Somerset College … now the college will be able to remember her.
The Somerset alumni member, who first began cycling in year 9, attended the annual Founders’ Day ceremony yesterday at which the college named a new road in her honour.
Sara Carrigan Court was filled with hundreds of excited past and present students for the opening.
Ms Carrigan said she was blown away when the college asked her if she ‘would mind’.
“They asked me if I would mind — I had to contain my excitement,” she said.
“This was where I first learnt to cycle, so to have it named after me is just amazing.”
The Mermaid Waters woman is studying business at Griffith University and has been busy with her own cycling school ‘Go for Gold Cycle Bunch’ since retiring last year.
She missed her 10-year reunion last year because she was competing in the Beijing Olympics but she was happy to see her high school heroes again.
“It’s been a while since I was last here
but it’s great to be back and see the people who introduced me to cycling,” she said.
Ms Carrigan was one of 15 students selected for an intense 10-week talent identification program in 1995.
“I didn’t even know what a road bike was before Ray Jackson and Graham Wand showed me the ropes. I didn’t know the whole cycle world existed,” she said.
Headmaster Craig Bassingthwaighte said this year’s event was one of the biggest.
Students celebrated the Founders’ Day tradition yesterday with activities including an all-age swimming relay, tug-o-war competitions in Towers Quad and the courtyard dash.
