Golden boy has panning in the can

By Tania Martin
FINDING that elusive pot of gold is not such a challenge for Dylan Calvert. The cockatoo teenager has a talent and passion for gold mining.
Dylan’s father, Tim, introduced him to gold panning when he was just nine years old. Since then Dylan hasn’t looked back and has won numerous gold panning titles.
“It’s like he took off like a rocket and hasn’t look back since,” Mr Calvert said.
Dylan, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, says gold panning is the one thing he can do that he can enjoy and not be disadvantaged because of his illness.
There are many things Dylan can’t do because of his cystic fibrosis but nothing gets in the way of his old panning.
For the past six years Dylan has competed in and won the Wedderburn Gold Panning Championships, in north-west Victoria. He also held the Australian gold panning title for his age group for three years from 2003 to 2005.
Dylan now holds the Australasian under 17 Gold Panning title and is hoping to one day compete in the world championships.
He had an invitation to compete in the world championships last year but was unable to attend because of his health.
Mrs Calvert says that over the years Dylan has had to learn to pull back from the competition because he has taken it too seriously.
“There has been stages where he is in tears of pain, his arms are burning but he has continued to push himself,” she said.
“We had to tell him to pull back, get his head together and not take it so seriously because it is supposed to be fun.”
Dylan says although he has won a lot of competitions he still has a lot to learn about gold panning. He hopes to continue gold panning which will help him in the future as he dreams of becoming a geologist.