Johnny Rayner RT Journal: A Blessing In Disguise

Hey RT readers,

For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Johnny Rayner and I’m a 20 year old 800m runner from Victoria. In my first blog for runnerstribe I would like to let you in on the last few years or so of my sporting life that ultimately forced track and field to be my sport of choice. 

From a young age I have been heavily involved in both athletics and footy (AFL for all those up north). When I got to my mid teens I was fortunate enough to have won an U17 National 800m title and a National title while playing for Vic Metro. It soon became apparent though that I would not be able to continue juggling both sports if I was to make it to a high level in either. At the time footy was my first love so I decided to give it a 2 year crack, which would bring me to the end of my participation in the TAC cup under 18 competition. I made a promise to myself that if I was not drafted by an AFL club within these 2 years I would return to athletics. In the first of the 2 years I played ok, as a bottom ager, but sustained a stress fracture in my back which put me out for the year. Even so, I was receiving interview calls from AFL clubs and the prospect of being drafted was becoming more likely. As it turned out I was not selected in the 2008 draft on the basis of concern for the injury cloud that was over my head. This did not faze me however as I still had another year to be selected and the positive hype that surrounded me as a bottom ager would surely carry through to the next year. How wrong I was. In 2009 I played the best footy of my life, averaging 25 disposals in a team that really struggled. On stats alone I was ranked very highly in the competition, as a midfielder, yet I did not get the interview requests from AFL clubs that I got the previous year. Before the 2009 draft, I participated in the Victorian equivalent of the Draft camp in Canberra. At this camp, my results placed me as one of the top athletic players in the competition yet still there was no attention from the AFL recruiters. As draft day approached I became less and less expectant of being selected even though I had ‘ticked all the boxes’. When draft day came and went – and my name wasn’t called out – I was confused and somewhat angry as to why other players were selected and I was not. All hope was not lost however as I had secured a spot to do some pre-season training at St. Kilda FC before the rookie draft. This turned out to be a great experience but did not end up getting me selected (perhaps a good thing after all the turmoil that footy club has faced over the last few years). 

At this stage, my 2 years of trying to manufacture an AFL career were up. I had numerous offers to play VFL football and many more people saying “Johnny, stick at it...you will make it if you persist” but I stuck to the promise I made myself 2 years prior and returned to athletics – a decision that payed off very quickly.

This brings us to December of 2009. I spoke with my coach of 10 years, Gregor Gojrzeweski, and we realised the fact that I just did not have the time to gain the fitness required for my pet event, the 800m, by junior nationals in March. On the basis of this, we decided to pursue the 400m for a year with the ultimate goal of returning to the 800m the following year. After 4 months of 400m training nationals came around. I had not competed in any serious athletic competitions for 3 years now but the scene was still very familiar from all those years ago at Sydney Olympic Park. I drew an exceptionally tough heat and was forced to run a massive PB of 48.2 to place 4^th which just got me into the final. In the final a few days later I ended up coming 4^th which secured me a spot to represent Australia in the 4x400m in Canada at the 2010 World Junior Championships. This came as a massive surprise to me after only 4 months of solid training. 

The lead up to Canada was tough. Sprint training in the Melbourne winter is not fun and on top of this my coach needed to head overseas for a large chunk of our preparation stage. The trip to Canada was an awesome experience. It was fantastic to see how a competition is run at a IAAF world level. It was a shame however that I tore my hamstring in a time trial only 5 days out from the main competition. I tried all I could to get up and run but in the end it was better for both my team and I that I did not take my place on the start line. Watching the boys race was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life but it is now a memory that I use to motivate myself to get to that level once again. 

After returning back to Melbourne it took around 2 months off for my hamstring to fully recover.  I could finally begin somewhat of a winter preparation in September 2010.

In my next blog for runnerstribe I will give an outline of how my season 2010/11 unfolded as I tried to return to the 800m after a 5 year hiatus from the event.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my new sponsors SiS and Runner’s Tribe.

Till next time