Debbie Woodman wanted to tell her cyclist husband, John, she was pregnant with the couple's first child.

“I was driving down to see him after work, because I knew he was going training, to let him know that everything was OK,” Debbie remembered this week.

“I met him coming up the road, we just stopped and talked.”

Early the next morning, October 1, 1986, John Woodman, 30, was killed while riding at Table Top, preparing for the coming Sun Tour.

On Sunday about 118 cyclists will contest the race that has honoured him since then, a three-hour road trip between Wagga and Albury.

For the first time John's daughter Jontelle, born amid a family's grief and named in tribute, will take part in the winner's presentation.

Jontelle, brought to the 1987 race as a baby, herself became a mother on July 14. with George John also continuing his grandfather's name.

“Oh that sounds so funny, grandfather,” Debbie said with a smile.

“He would have been just so chuffed to have a little grandson.”

John joined Lavington Cycling Club as a teenager and turned professional in 1976.

A member of the Sydney-based Gitane team, he rode six Sun Tours and also won NSW and Victorian road titles.

“We’d be away every weekend following the races, it was a good life,” Debbie said.

“I met John when I was only 13, we’d been together a long time, we’d been married seven years.”

John rode off scratch in the 1986 Wagga to Albury race, which had been revived after a 23-year break by the then Lavington Sports Club Cycling Club. Fellow riders that June day – when the handicapper barely gave the back markers a chance – included his good friends Greg Featonby and Ken Payne.

Tragedy struck within months.

“It devastated the club,” Greg said.

“It affected a lot of the boys who were close to John,” Ken added.

The cycling fraternity looked for an appropriate response.

“We got together and decided we’d do something,” Greg said. “And (the Wagga to Albury) was the biggest local event we had and he was the best local rider we had at the time.”

The first John Woodman Memorial Wagga to Albury Cycling Classic saw the handicaps just about spot on, with the scratch bunch catching the limit riders about 600 metres from the end. Debbie and Jontelle, who was born on Mother’s Day that year, were among the crowd and have witnessed many of the subsequent finishes.

Jontelle said she had often been asked to present prizes but had preferred to avoid the spotlight.

This year, though, with the race anniversary and the symmetry of two mothers, two babies, 30 years apart, she decided to say yes.

“It just sort of makes you think about how much of an impact my dad obviously had on the sporting community of the area,” she said.

That impact continues today and many people, like Greg and Ken, work hard to ensure the John Woodman Memorial goes ahead each year.

“There’s been people that have been connected with this race right from day one that still do jobs today,” Greg said. “You know, setting up the finish line, standing on corners, lead cars, organising sponsors, judging at the finish.”

Highlights have included Wangaratta champion Dean McDonald claiming the first win by a scratchman, Jay Sweet’s blistering race record that still stands and Albury’s Rob Young becoming the first local winner in 2002. The next year saw the race under threat when insurance concerns led to a NSW government ban on road racing.

Instead of Wagga to Albury, the John Woodman Memorial traversed a Chiltern circuit before negotiations allowed the original route to return in 2004.

As time passes, the line-ups alter but plenty of connections remain.

“There are guys now, they raced with John and their sons are all in it,” Greg said.

Trent Stevenson achieved a family goal when he won the classic in 2010, his father Geoff a friend of John’s who had placed twice in earlier races.

Ken said many riders returned time and again.

“Even people who’ve left the town, they try to make the effort to come back for this race because it’s so iconic,” he said.

And they intend it remains that way.

“Ken and myself, we’ve both got a passion about this race and cycling in general,” Greg said. “This is something we really want to keep going.”

Debbie said the strong support of family and friends helped her through the aftermath of John’s death.

Her pregnancy “was probably a godsend for me because it kept me going and I had very good reason to keep going”.

“It certainly grounded me, that’s for sure,” she said. 

Debbie stayed on the Border, eventually remarrying and having two sons.

While the 12 months after John's accident seemed a blur and the early race years were highly emotional, Debbie remains proud her late husband is still recognised through the memorial ride.

“It’s certainly a tribute to him, the sort of person he was,” she said.

And Debbie’s grateful a certain conversation could take place nearly 30 years ago.

“It gave me peace of mind to know that he knew that I was pregnant and that hopefully everything was going to be OK,” she said.