→←News→The boy who races everything: meet the intrepid Cooper Dunlop
The boy who races everything: meet the intrepid Cooper Dunlop
Aug 21, 2024
He may only be 15 years old, but Cooper Dunlop can say he’s tried it all.
The West Australian teenager loves racing bikes. All kinds of bikes.
Road bikes, track bikes, downhill, BMX, cyclo-cross – if it has two wheels and pedals, you can bet he’s raced it.
BMX beginnings
It began in 2012, in his hometown of Mandurah, WA. That was the year of the London Games, and the Dunlops had just seen Australia win its first BMX medal.
“It all started when mum and dad were watching the Olympics,” Cooper told AusCycling. “I was four years old, and the BMX was on. So, they put me into BMX.
Cooper, circa 2018, with BMX stars Kai and Saya Sakakibara. (Photo: supplied)
“We were watching Sam Willoughby. It pretty much just started from there.”
Once his wheels started rolling, they never stopped: this year, Cooper will compete in his 10th consecutive BMX racing state championships (his best result so far has been runner-up).
BMX, however, was only the first step. After receiving a mountain bike for Christmas, by mid-2019 Cooper was regularly competing in gravity enduro, which soon led to downhill.
“Mountain biking just started out with some mates. Then, we did a couple of races. I won a few races, so I stuck with that,” Cooper explained.
He names Crankworx Cairns as one of his favourite events. Last year, he won the pump track challenge there.
Shredding a berm at Crankworx Cairns. (Photo: supplied)
“Crankworx, that was sick, I loved Crankworx so much. The trails are nothing like WA,” Cooper said. “And the people, the attitude everyone had over there was so cool. It’s so fun, and so nice, anyone will help anyone out.”
But the winter of 2023 marked a major turning point, setting Cooper on a new course.
Loving the Lycra
It was a particularly rainy season, and when ride after ride, session after session was cancelled by wet weather, Cooper looked elsewhere for his cycling fix.
Enter: the velodrome.
“It was the middle of winter, and he was getting antsy as he just wanted to ride, and everything was always being rained out and too wet,” recalled Cooper’s mother, Michelle.
“I saw a post on Facebook for a come-and-try track session’, which very quickly became every week.
“He applied for the WAIS and AusCycling talent ID program, which was held two months after this, and made it through to the track development program.”
Different bike, same huge smile. (Photo: supplied)
With a roof over his head, Cooper forgot the rain and fell in love with track cycling. His Lycra era had begun.
He took to it like a duck to water, winning the state sprint championship at his first attempt, and placing in the top 10 at Track Nationals.
“I think it’s the speed and the adrenaline rush you get when you’re so close to everyone,” Cooper said about his newfound addiction. “And the G-forces in the corners.”
Naturally, track led to road cycling. And then – why not? – Cooper also tried his hand at cyclo-cross.
He was egged on by AusCycling’s operations coordinator, Toby Brown, who challenged Cooper to race every available discipline under an AusCycling licence.
Mixing it up in a bunch sprint. (Photo: supplied)
Cooper duly won his first CX race, a round of the Numbat Cup in Perth.
The endurance side of the sport has unlocked another dimension for him.
When asked to name his favourite discipline, Cooper said, “I don’t know, it’s out of three. All the Lycra-wearing, I can’t choose the one I like the most: track, road and cyclo-cross.
“It’s something different and very fun. It’s hard, and you’ve got to have this mental game with yourself. A game you’ve got to play in your head to not blow up with your legs mid-race.
“Or, if the pain’s too much in your legs, you’ve just got to keep going. I think that’s what I love about it.”
Just having a go
Like many young cyclists, Cooper dreams of riding the world’s biggest races, following the West Australian footsteps of Sam Welsford and Luke Durbridge, or his idols, Mathieu van der Poel and Mark Cavendish.
“Big picture: Tour de France. Hoping for that,” Cooper said about his goals.
“If not, hopefully in the TP with all the other boys. Like the Olympics or the world tour in the velodrome. Doing all the scratchies, points, and eliminations. Or the cyclo-cross world tour, like Van der Poel does.”
Not bad for your first track championships. (Photo: supplied).
Off the bike, Cooper has soaked up plenty of challenges: last year, he underwent heart surgery after being diagnosed with SVT, an irregular heartbeat caused by faulty electrical systems in the body. The flying teenager hasn’t looked back since.
“I just tried to forget I had it, and just kept riding, and lived my day on,” Cooper said.
“The hardest part was the two weeks of recovery that I couldn’t ride any bikes!” he adds with a laugh.
Michelle, a disability support worker, and her husband Jared, a fly-in-fly-out worker, have had to be as adaptable as their son. After all, they’re the ones driving him to the SpeedDome four nights a week, and taking him across the country for national championships.
“With BMX, my husband and I were both heavily involved with the club, and have always been volunteering, so our whole world was that for a number of years,” Michelle said.
“And then, he was going more into downhill, so then we helped – vice-presidents and registrar and social media and everything for WA downhill for the last four years. Now, for him to completely pivot in the other direction – instead of doing downhill, he’s now uphills and Lycra.
Mum and dad are by his side every step of the way. (Photo: Toby Brown / AusCycling)
“My husband and I, we still sit there and go, ‘What’s happening, what is this world?’ We don’t know it. We’re out of our comfort zone.
“But we’re just following Cooper’s lead. He gets up in the morning – he hates mornings, but if he’s got a ride, he’s up at five without too much prompting … he’s got the biggest smile on his face.”
A smile on his face, family by his side, and pedals beneath his feet: the first 15 years of Cooper’s cycling life have already been exceptional. Wonder what he’ll try next?
Cooper rides with:
Feature photo: Toby Brown / AusCycling
- Written by
- Ryan Miu
- Disciplines
- BMX Racing, Cyclo-cross, Track, Mountain Bike, Road