Dubbo club riding high
THE legend of Dubbo Cycle Club just keeps growing.
The club battled a forced relocation and the creation of a new home while still winning state and national titles and being named the best cycling club in Australia.
The latest news is that four of its riders have been included in the Australian Cycling High Performance Network as Emerging Athletes.
Those honours are well deserved and the riders’ home city has already embraced them.
Kurt Eather, Danny Barber, Dylan Eather and Haylee Fuller are well known names locally – in the last three years, three of them have taken out the title of Dubbo’s Young Sportsperson of the Year – an incredible achievement as they’re up against competitors from every other sport played in the city.
The young cyclists were identified for the honour after factors such as performance, testing data, and other coach assessed considerations such as demonstrated hunger and ambition over the 2019 and 2020 period were factored in.
They were nominated by NSW Head Coaches along with coaches from the NSW Institute of Sport.
Dubbo is fertile ground for senior coaches and cycling officials to scout out emerging talent and as recently as the Dubbo Cycling Carnival in February, NSWIS assistant coach and former Olympian Michelle Ferris was on hand to watch the riders.
Danny Barber and Kurt Eather winning NSW Cyclist of the Year awards. PHOTO: CONTRIBUTED
The High Performance Network is coordinated by Sydney Olympic Gold Medallist Brett Aitken and he said he’s pleased to welcome the Dubbo stars into the High Performance Network pathway.
“An integrated development structure across the country is vital in ensuring the success of the Australian Cycling Team's overall performance strategy,” Mr Aitken said.
Talk about the cream of the crop – the four Dubbo cyclists are all current national champs in their chosen disciplines.
Kurt and Dylan Eather and Haylee Fuller prefer road and track endurance while Danny
Haylee Fuller taking gold in National Points Race. CONTRIBUTED
Barber is focussing on the track sprint events.
As part of the network the four cyclists are included in the NSW Institute of Sport cycling program.
It’s the second year in the elite program for Kurt Eather and Danny Barber, while Dylan Eather and Hayley Fuller will make their debuts.
Dubbo Cycle Club president Matt Gilbert said he’s incredibly proud of the riders.
“Fantastic to see riders reaching their potential after many months of very hard training and dedication,” Mr Gilbert told Dubbo
“Their selection confirms a step closer to a performance trajectory to the elite podium.
“We look forward to many successes in the future and offer congratulations on being selected.”
As well as the Dubbo four, Bathurst cyclists Kalinda Robinson, Emily Watts and Tyler Putsicha have also been included.
These seven junior riders all came through the WRAS (Western Region Academy of Sport) cycling program together and now make up an incredible 14 per cent of the emerging riders classified by Cycling Australia nationwide.
It’s a remarkable testament for the WRAS.
DUBBO’S young people will have the chance for life-changing programs at the city’s Police and Community Youth Club (PCYC) despite the restrictions enforced by COVID-S19 social-distancing measures.
The NSW government this week announced that a limited number of services to support health, welfare and education will return for vulnerable youth.
There’s been plenty of discussion about how the widespread suspension of services due to COVID-19 has made life a lot tougher for vulnerable youth in centres such as Dubbo, where they could normally turn to the PCYC when they need a helping hand.
This initiative will see some critical programs returned so young people who really need help can speak with someone they trust, be assisted with schoolwork, and eat a healthy meal in their day, while still maintaining a low transmission risk of COVID-19.
Popular programs such as Fit for Life, Fit for Work and Project Walwaay have been adapted to meet the government’s existing requirements for hygiene and social distancing.