DEAN McLaren created history last month when he became the first Casterton Triple Medallist after he won the Wal Smith Memorial Casterton 50.

The 44-year-old had previously won the Casterton 40 back in 1998 before winning the Casterton Wheelrace at the now defunct track at Island Park, before saluting in this year’s Casterton 50.

The Hamilton Cycling Club member battled against clubmate, Dean Menzel, in the final kilometres, winning by the narrowest of margins in a sprint finish.

McLaren said it was a special win that he will look back on with pride.

“It was a big win, the Casterton 50 is a state-based event and is an open event, then obviously as far as our district is concerned, it is one of our largest open events to win,” he said.

“From an emotional perspective, to win the Wal Smith memorial race is quite big,” he said.

“Wal was always around the club from the day I was born … the year I was born, dad was president and was for about 20 years.

“It would have been good to definitely have Wal there, but his sister, Betty, was there and that was really nice.

“I have been to a lot of the Casterton 50 races, then with Wal’s passing, I stepped up into the Wal Smith Cycling Foundation and was also race director for quite a number of years.

“It was only in the past few years that I stepped down from the race director role so I could ride the event again with the hopes of winning.

“So I am very emotionally attached to the race and the win.”

To share the moment with a close friend and competitor made it more special for McLaren, but Menzel has previously won the Casterton 50 and posed a big threat to his chances of winning.

McLaren said the pair kept calm throughout the race and knew they needed to work together to ensure they stayed out of danger.

“Dean Menzel and myself worked together at the end and when we got to Merino on the way out, it was just the two of us and we knew we had to keep working together to stay ahead of the bunch,” he said.

“I race locally with Dean and it was quite handy that we both knew how we worked and it was just keeping the emotions in check.

“It would be only a few centimetres (margin), there wasn’t much in it (at the finish line).”

McLaren went into the race with a better preparation, giving him confidence he could be in contention at the end of the race.

“The last couple of years I have been training for the Three Peaks Challenge and this year I came into the year fitter than what I have ever been,” he said.

“Leading into the Casterton race, I knew I was fitter and having trained for the peaks event, I would be in an ideal position for the hills between Casterton and Digby.”

McLaren’s focus now shifts to the Frank Long Memorial on May 28.