South-west athletes are benefiting from tuition from a coach that has mentored some of Australia's greatest runners.
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Phillip Molesworth, who has enjoyed coaching successes for more than 40 years, is mentoring Athletics South West Turbines (ASW) members.
He's also keen to help the Warrnambool Tri Club and Warrnambool Athletics Club (WAC).
As the former women's team manger at Ringwood Athletic Club he has worked with the likes of Australian Olympians Cathy Freeman and Lauren Hewitt.
Freeman, who won 400-metre gold at the Sydney Olympics, was actually the captain of his team and he met with her once or twice a week to talk about team structure.
Molesworth, who is based in Rainbow in northwest Victoria, intends to move to Warrnambool.
He will visit more once the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions allow him to.
The Athletics Victoria accredited coach who specialises in technique is currently sharing his wisdom through online articles.
"I see Warrnambool as a good spot to get involved," he said.
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Last year he visited his daughter Karen, who lives in Warrnambool, and reached out to ASW president Jeremy Dixon.
He was keen to get back into coaching after years away from being consistently involved in athletics.
"I'm missing it," he said.
"I've coached and worked with some pretty high-level athletes."
ASW, the south-west's newest athletics club, has plenty of talented youngsters keen to learn.
Molesworth wants to help them.
"I enjoy it a lot, I get a lot out of it," he said.
"Especially when I see someone improve out of sight in a couple of minutes."
He was impressed to see progress when he conducted some technique seminars with ASW members and other south-west athletes in late 2019.
"I went down there and ran some light sessions with small groups at a time," he said.
Dixon asked Molesworth if he'd also be happy to work with the tri club and WAC and the long-time coach said he was "happy to work with any of them".
The experienced mentor has top credentials having coached 5000m and 10,000m junior and senior Australian champions.
His coaching training involved a stint at the Australian Institute of Sport in the 1980s.
He also trained as an athlete under legendary Melbourne Uni Athletics Club coach Franz Stampfl, who recently was among the first group of coaches to be recognised with a World Athletics Heritage Plaque.
Stampfl guided Australian Ralph Doubell to 800m gold in the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
"I took note of everything he was doing with his athletes," Molesworth said of Stampfl.
Molesworth also trained with Doubell as well as Bill Hooker, father of Australian Olympic gold medallist Steve Hooker (pole vault).
One of his greatest successes is Andre Lambden who was in Australia's top 10 of all time for the 10,000m at one stage.
Molesworth has also coached marathon, road and cross country champions.
But Tamara Dingley turned out the "best talent I ever saw".
Dingley, from Ringwood North, set a new record for Victoria's 2000m as a 15-year-old.
She would go on to win 3000m and 5000m All American titles - a competition involving all of the Americas such as Mexico, Canada and the United States.
Right now, Molesworth is communicating with south-west athletes virtually.
He just published an article on the ASW website, which anyone can access, titled The loneliness of the distance runner.
The veteran coach is encouraging runners to make the most of the winter months.
"Now is the season to run up the kilometres and build on your cardiovascular endurance and set a new foundation for the next competition season," he wrote.
Molesworth will continue with his series of articles on different aspects of running.
He has a focus on "teaching people to run in a way that they're not going to injure themselves".
His next article coming out in the next week is about running shoes.
Then he'll write about running posture and why it's important.
The following piece will be about upper body strength and there'll also be one about running at the right tempo.
The final write-up of the six-part series will be about the distance an athlete should cover given their development.
Otherwise, he's encouraging ASW, WAC and tri club members to reach out to him so he can support them.
Molesworth, a historian and tour guide in Rainbow, has strong links to the south-west.
His grandfather, William Farnham Molesworth was a barrister in Warrnambool.
Farnham, as he was known, was born at Farnham Park at judge William Rutledge's estate - the judge being Phillip's great-great-grandfather.
Farnham teamed up with his brother Robert in the Molesworth and Molesworth law firm.
Meanwhile the athletics coach's grandmother, Ellen Molesworth, was born in Belfast which is now called Port Fairy.
She was a Smith and her descendants still live at the seaside town.
Dixon, a former New Zealand national champion runner, is thrilled to have Molesworth on board.
"We're really pleased and particularly for him to bring his middle and longer distance expertise to the region," he said.
The ASW president said he was also excited to share Molesworth's wisdom with WAC and the triathlon club.
"Part of what we're really keen to do, is support all clubs and their members down here (the south-west) with great coaches and coaching," he said.
As it happened, many of the attendees at Molesworth's sessions in Warrnambool last year were from other clubs besides ASW.
Dixon said the club was putting grant money towards getting more coaches trained to work alongside himself and Molesworth.
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