Cyclingnews Special Report

Top finds in Australian talent search

By Karen Forman In Sydney , March 7, 2002

Forget the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker - how about taking a downhill skier, an Olympic rower, and a rock climber, putting them through a couple of months of intensive training, then giving them the opportunity to become the next great Australian women's sprint champions?

That's what the Australian Institute of Sport and Cycling Australia, with support from the NSW Institute of Sport and ACT Cycling, have set out to achieve with their Women's Sprint Cycling talent search initiative.

The AIS has spent the past few months seeking out women aged between 18 and 28, with four or more years' training background in a sport other than sprint cycling, in the hope of tapping into a perceived natural potential as sprinters and strengthening Australia's female sprinting coffers.

And, if initial testing is any indication, the AIS has found some gems. After testing 63 applicants in Canberra, five in Bathurst, five in Dubbo, six in Wagga Wagga, 19 in Wollongong, 14 in Newcastle and 103 in Sydney, they have found some girls who can vertically jump between 55 and 60cm (one was over 60cm), nine who were more than 16 on the peak power 10s (w-kg) scale (one was over 18), and some outstanding results in the peak power 10s (w) and average power 30s (w-kg and w).

The plan was to choose the top 26, with four reserves, give them eight weeks of intense training (which yes, included putting them on a fixed wheeled track bike AND a velodrome, steeply banked, for the first time) then letting them loose in a specially created event to be held during the Australian track cycling championships starting on April 20.

If all this talent seeking, combined with a tough weeding-out process and the intense introduction to the actual sport sounds a little bit, err, Soviet Union, then nobody seems to be complaining.

In fact, the AIS is quite proud of what it sees so far (two weeks into the intensive programs being run concurrently at bases in Canberra and Sydney) as quite a successful initiative. After all, it was just looking for women with the right stuff ("explosive" leg power characteristics such as good vertical jump and good maximal cycling sprint power, who were persistent, committed, and willing to rise to a challenge).

The real test, however, will be when the women chosen for the program, who range from 16-30 years and hail from a wide variety of different backgrounds (from international class athletes, to a mum with two kids), contest their 500 metre time trial at the nationals, hoping to break the magical 40 seconds.

That's the time that has been set as the benchmark, bearing in mind that Rochelle Gilmore (whom the AIS claims as a talent search program find) won the NSW State title in 37 odd seconds). The world record, for the record, is 34.6.

So far - despite the fact the girls only climbed aboard track bikes for the first time last week - things are looking good. National talent search coordinator, Dr Jason Gulbin, while not willing to name the "finds" of the program just yet, told Cyclingnews.com yesterday that after just one week some of them had posted a 40.8.

"Obviously we are trying to get them to break 40, that is our short term focus," he said. "The signs are that we should do that. The times already... a couple would be top 10 New Zealand champions. If we can get the girls under 40, we will be within spitting distance of having elite level riders."

Isn't it a big ask, bearing in mind these girls have never been near a track bike or velodrome before? Dr Gulbin suggests not.

"That's why we have then doing a 500 metre time trial and not a sprint," he said. "Obviously it is not possible to do a cat and mouse at this stage. It would be unfair to throw them to the seasoned, skilled veterans at the nationals at this stage.

"Certainly it was a bit of an eye opener when they saw the velodrome at Narrabundah in Canberra . . . when they saw the banking, but they come from sporting backgrounds, sports like inline skating, downhill skiing, athletics, and some other sports which we probably didn't think had explosive characteristics, like Olympic rower, which you would think was more endurance, triathletes, rock climbers, netballers, basketballers and hockey players.

"So, they are keen sport players and we have got fairly high expectations of the group. This is not a PR exercise. We're looking at the next Olympic games."

The question is there to be asked. If we already have the likes of Olympian Michelle Ferris, the Meares (Kerry and Anna) sisters from Queensland, Rosemary Hubbard and Olympian Lyndelle Higginson, why do we need more? Is this a suggestion the AIS is not happy with what is already there?

Dr Gulbin says not at all. "You need special attributes for the sprint, and our problem is a combination of lack of depth and not enough talent being introduced.

"We thought, let's try to increase the competition depth for our existing riders so they have got more to work against, as well as introduce new blood into the sport.

"I think cycling is not a typically accessible sport for women, who traditionally go into softball, netball, hockey, basketball. And there are not a lot of velodromes in comparison to field sports. And, not a lot of role models, perhaps. I think, too, sport goes in a popularity cycle. At the moment skateboarding is really popular and I could imagine aerial skiing is going to be super popular at the present time. A while ago it was triathlon and inline skating...

"Quite some time ago, track cycling was a pretty prevalent sort of sport but now there are a lot of other things to do. To over come this, we can continue to do the work of the talent search program...search and nurture. We have had some fantastic results already... Rochelle Gilmore, Alison Wright, Rosalie Hubbard, Alayna Burns have all come through talent id."

Certainly, the results of the testing were in some cases outstanding.

"It was what we were hoping for," Dr Gulbin said. "I guess we truly didn't know what we would get, particularly given that we were seeking athletes of a certain pedigree, knowing that pedigreed athletes can transfer across. Perhaps a couple were a little bit better than expected."

Originally, the selectors had set the age limit at 18 to 28, thinking that even at 28, a woman could still have a possible 10 years in the sport. One woman tested at 47 - and almost made it in - and the 16 year old who was selected, tested as well as the older women.

"She is going to be exceptional. She is not even strength trained and has no background in high performance sport. The only thing that has given a boost is the fact her father rode in the kilo in the Commonwealth Games in Auckland."

The question is, what happens after the nationals, when the program is finished and the money presumably runs out? Do our brilliant new discoveries find themselves like riders without horses?

"That will depend on the quality of the talent, but obviously we are trying to support them as well as we can," Dr Gulbin said. "Perhaps there are some potential AIS associate scholarship holders amongst them. A lot of girls are very keen to continue post nationals. So obviously during the (track) off season, there will be road training to do.

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