DUBBO’S champion cycling coach Gus Dawson knows talent when he sees it.
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Dawson is the man who coached Megan Dunn to two Commonwealth Games gold medals and has also mentored a number of other cyclists who have worn the green and gold.
And now he believes three of Dubbo Cycle Club’s brightest young prospects have what it takes to make it at the top level after achieving a huge amount of recent success already this year.
Luke Ensor and Kurt Eather recently returned from the Under-15 and Under-17 NSW State Cycling Championships and both came home with a swag of medals while Adam Mitchell collected silver while representing NSW
at the Under-19s
Track Nationals at Melbourne.
On top of that, Ensor and Eather were this week named in the four-man NSW state team for the National Championships later this month and Dawson said there was no reason why they could not impress at that level as
well.
“Luke is an exceptional talent, he’s probably in the top two or three in Australia now,” Dawson said.
“Luke got five golds at state and was the only athlete, male or female, in under-15s or 17s who won the lot and it was a great all-round display of cycling.
“Kurt rode PBs and in the 2000m individual pursuit he took a staggering nine seconds off his best time and that was awesome.
“One of the other kids in the earlier rounds rode a time we didn’t expect and we had to set Kurt a task which we didn’t know if he could handle but he stepped up to the mark and took nine seconds off his time.”
Ensor won gold in every event in his age group, the time trial, standing 250, sprint, pursuit and the scratch race.
On top of Eather’s career best times he also collected bronze in the pursuit and scratch race.
This followed on from Mitchell competing at the Nationals in Melbourne, where he won a silver medal alongside Mudgee’s Josh Toovey, who trains at No. 1 Oval in Dubbo with the local club.
“It’s fantastic, we had Adam in the under-19 team and Josh Toovey from Mudgee trains here with us and they both came away with silver medals from the National Championships so it’s fantastic for a little club,” Dawson said.
Dawson said the most recent club night of competition on Tuesday was abuzz with excited competitors, boosted by the success of the three young stars.
A huge crowd turned out to see the Dubbo trio and Toovey congratulated for their efforts and be on hand to acknowledge the next in a long line of talented local cyclists.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to coach seven or eight who have represented Australia and I know what’s needed to get there and Vaughan Eather and myself coach them here, he does a fantastic job as well,” Dawson said.
“These kids never complain, they do that hard work and roll their sleeves up and they’ve got the results. It’s great for the club, the younger ones know that we’ve got kids in the club who have made it to that level and they lift the standard of the club, it’s a real culture here.”
Top quality cycling action will continue at Dubbo next weekend with the local club hosting the NSW Junior Track Championships at No. 1 Oval.
