Former Gunnedah-based man Kurt Eather has had many national and international cycling ventures this year, and achieved numerous top podium placings along the way.
The now Central Coast-based Kurt rode in fields of more than 100 riders in most races, with up to 140 in some.
While Australian honours have eluded Kurt, his team ‘Ccache x Bodywrap’ obtained an international licence to enable this team to race overseas in all Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) events against the Australian riders.
After competing in the Launceston Christmas carnival late last year, Kurt headed to Perth early in the New Year before taking part in the Oceania Track Championships in Brisbane the following month.
Still in February, he returned to Tasmania for the ProVelo tour where he won the first stage of a Criterium in Devonport before finishing in the middle of the field for the next few days.
Kurt was back home in March for the Harbour City GP at Sydney Motorsport Park over three stages, where he finished first in Stage 1, third in Stage 2, and 35th in Stage 3.
Whenever Kurt was home, he raced at Heffron Park in Sydney every Tuesday night. At the end of the season in late March, he finished second overall on 28 points while Scott Law was on 29.
Then it was off again for the tour of Taiwan for the five-stage event, where his best result was 15th out of 103 riders in the fifth stage.
Back in Brisbane for the Auscycling Track National Championships, Kurt won a silver medal in the team pursuit with his brother Dylan and teammates William Cooper and Cameron Scott.
Next was a gold medal in the elimination race and then bronze in the scratch race.
In early April, Kurt flew to China for the five-stage tour of Hainan where stage one was 90.34km before there were 178km, 212.6km, 190.8km and 181.7km races. His best result was 23rd out of 135 riders in one of the races.
Then it was off to Hong Kong for the International Track Cup where Kurt rode in the Australian team uniform.
He won gold in the elimination race in Hong Kong, before returning home for some rest and recreation.
In early June, Kurt was off to Japan where he came third in the elimination race, 10th with John Carter in the Madison, second in another elimination race, and 22nd in the scratch race.
At the start of August, Kurt travelled to Belgium to do some training and racing. He came 10th in the GP Willy Bulcke race, first in the Moorslede Criterium, 14th in Aarschots Criterium, 29th in Omloop Mandel-Leie Schelde, 41st in GP Gemeente Kortemark and 37th in Bordes Izegem Koers.
In mid-September, Kurt headed to China for the 11-stage tour of Poyang Lake. The shortest stage was 44.9km while the longest was 124.2km.
Kurt was over the moon when he won the seventh stage (108.5km) for his team.
Kurt finished the tour with three top-10 placings, having finished every one of the 11 stages.
In early October he travelled to Japan where he finished ninth in the Oita Criterium. He then rode in what he later described as the worst race he had ever been in, with only 39 out of 95 riders finishing the Oita Road race.
Kurt said “it was so very tough”.
Then it was back to China for the four-stage tour of Taihu Lake, where Kurt lined up with 138 riders. His best result was a 48th placing.
Following some time back home for a little rest and training at Dunc Grey, Kurt had his first race at Heffron Park in the new series there and finished A grade with a win.
Earlier this month Kurt intended to head to New Zealand for the SBS Bank tour of Southland, having been invited to ride for a New Zealand team.
Poor weather forecasts resulted in the tour being postponed, and Kurt instead competed at various NSW-based events where he repeatedly gained the top placing.
The first of these was at the Auscycling NSW Criterium Championships at Heffron Park (hosted by Randwick Botany Cycling Club) on November 1.
The second of these events was the NSW Omnium Championships at Dunc Grey Velodrome (Bass Hill) last Saturday, featuring a 30-lap scratch race, 30-lap tempo race, an elimination race and a 60-lap points race.
Then last Sunday, Kurt gained another top podium placing as he competed in the Central Coast Cycling Club’s Rob Hodgson Memorial Super Criterium.
Later this month Kurt will travel to the Victorian town of Bright for a couple of training camps, before he also competes in the Tour of Bright.
Kurt’s plans for the first three months of 2026 include an event in Adelaide, a ride from Melbourne to Warrnambool, a tour of the Philippines, an event in Sydney, and a tour of Taiwan.
