AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND ATHLETICS RESULTS

UNIVERSIADE 2011- World University Games, Shenzhen

 

Day 3-4

Men 

400m FINAL

 

Sean Wroe (AUS) 45.93 SB – BRONZE

 

1500m FINAL

 

Hamish Carson (NZL) 3.50.56- (10^th)

 

20km Walk FINAL

 

Brendon Reading (AUS) 1.30.26  - (15^th)

 

Ian Rayson (AUS) DQ

 

FEMALES

 

400m FINAL

 

Caitlin Sargent (AUS) 53 .29–(7^th)

 

800m SEMI- FINAL

 

Kelly Hetherington (AUS) 2.05.27 –(4^th)

 

100m Hurdles

 

Shannon Mc Cann  (AUS) 13.87- (5^th) Q

 

Day 1-2

WOMEN

 

800m

 

Kelly Hetherington (AUS) heat 2 (2^nd) 2.04.92 Q

 

Holly Noack (AUS) heat 3 (6th) 2.06.30

 

400m

 

Caitlin Sargent (AUS) heat 5 (2nd) 53.46 Q

 

Anneliese Rubie (AUS) heat  2 ( 3rd) 54.86 Q

 

10,000m

 

Maria Danielle Trevis (NZL) FINAL (6^th) 35.05.19

 

MEN

 

100m

 

Patrick Fakiye (AUS) heat 1 (3^rd) 10.61 Q

 

Patrick Fakiye (AUS) Quarter finals (7^th) 10.62

 

400m

 

Sean Wroe (AUS) heat 3 (1^st) 46.98 Q

 

1500m

 

Hamish Carson (NZL) heat 3 ( 5^th) 3.43.55 Q

 

James Nipperess (AUS) heat 3 ( 9^th) 3.47.34

 

Malcolm Hicks (NZL) heat 2 (6^th) 3.50.76

 

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Time period spent in Europe?

9 weeks 

Base whilst in Europe?

Cologne, Germany 

What races did you target and how did they go? 

Huesden, Barcelona and Stockholm of which all did not pan out how I would have liked. 

Most enjoyable experience?

Hanging out with Craig Mottram, Mark Fountain and James Nipperess and meeting new people along the way. 

What was the lowest point? 

Realising I would not qualify for World Champs in Daegu

Lessons learnt during this European experience?

To try and replicate everything you would normally do at home so you can relax and have fun. 

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Time period spent in Europe?

I was in Europe from late June to early August, Roughly 7weeks and now in Shenzhen, China for World University Games.

Base whilst in Europe?

I was based in Teddington with the rest of the Melbourne Track Club athletes

What races did you target and how did they go?

I had a mixed bag of races and performances. The most notable performances came from the following meets:

·         Morton Mile, Dublin 4^th 3.58.19

·         Joensuu Games 1500m 1^st 3.40.09

·         London Diamond League Emsley Carr Mile 7^th 3.57.7

I ran two 800’s whilst in Europe. The first of which was in Nuoro, Sardinia. Unfortunately I was caught up in a fall 150m from the finish. The second race was at the Savo Games in Finland where I places 6^th in 1.47.6.

Most enjoyable experience?

London Diamond league

What was the lowest point?

After the fall in Sardinia I was finding it really tough, I have never had that happen to me before and I was in great shape for that race so I felt pretty shattered. You have to learn to take those things in stride though and move on to the next race.

Lessons learnt during this European experience?

To be honest I learnt a lot about training. Being in London was a real eye opener to the world of a professional athlete and the load of training you have to do to be world class. It’s great to experience that now as it should help me to build for next year, 2012. 

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The World University Games, it must be said, have seen grander days.

Once, the overlap between the Olympic Games and the Universiade (to give the WUG the title they officially adopted in Turin in 1959) was significant.

More recently, the pincer forces of growing professionalism (from the western side) and the break-up of state-supported sport (from all sides, but chiefly the eastern) have reduced the World University Games to the status of a second-tier competition. In athletics, many good athletes compete, but the best rarely do.

Not to denigrate second-tier competitions, mind you. Most of us actually love them. There’s a strong, and growing stronger, tendency these days to dismiss all but the peak championships as irrelevant, second-best, whatever.

Usually this is done with more than a hint of self-justification and especially practiced in the main-stream media. If it’s not the Olympics or world championships – or Commonwealth Games, in Australian sports culture – you can justify ignoring it. Even Diamond League meetings are broken down into those which have Usain Bolt (in which case he cannot be ignored, and will always be the lead), and those that do not, and are just track and field meetings.

Thoughts on world university sport are uppermost in my mind at the moment because I am in China working for the news service at the Shenzhen 2011 Universiade. Ironically, my main role is to cover swimming, but I’ll have one eye on the athletics.

Back in the day, the World University Games were mighty significant. In some shape or form, they go back to 1923; in their current guise, to Turin in 1959. University sport was also the power-base for the late Primo Nebiolo who became president of the IAAF and, whatever criticisms were levelled at him, oversaw great steps forward such as the establishment of the world championships in 1983.

 The 1959 Turin Universiade marked the unification of post-war university sport. In the immediate post-war era, reflecting the Cold War politics of the time, the western and eastern blocs staged their own versions of world university competition.

Being university sport, there was a fair bit of overlap. Shirley Strickland set a world record in the 100 metres of 11.3 seconds at the 1955 World Youth Festival (the eastern bloc version) in Warsaw. In Bucharest two years before that, Dave Stephens met Emil Zatopek, the great Czech runner becoming something of a coach-mentor to ‘the Flying Milko’.

A strange combination, but it worked. Stephens broke Zatopek’s world record for six miles in Melbourne at the start of 1956. He was not at his best, unfortunately, when the Melbourne Games rolled around at the end of the year.

Through to the last 10-15 years, many of the world’s top athletes were supported through the university systems of their countries. In the US, the NCAA was the home of the elite, as there was no commercial sponsorship and no club system for the post-college athlete. In other countries, east and west, the universities sustained the talent, too.

 Thus, in 1977, Cuba’s great Alberto Juantorena set his second world record at 800 metres in the Sofia Universiade. His 1:43.44 stood until a certain Sebastian Coe ran 1:42.33 in Oslo two years later.

The next Universiade was celebrated in the high altitude of Mexico City, and celebrated was the right world for Italy’s Pietro Mennea.

Mennea, who would become the 1980 Olympic champion, ran 19.72, a mark which defied Carl Lewis and all-comers until Michael Johnson ran 19.66 at the US Olympic Trials in Atlanta in 1996.

In Kobe, Japan in 1985, Igor Paklin of the then USSR set a world record 2.41 in the high jump.

Even as it went into gradual decline, the Universiade continued to introduce great champions. Said Aouita made his initial mark winning the 1500 metres at the 1981 edition. Ten years later, a young Korean named Hwang Young-cho won the marathon at the Sheffield edition of the Universiade. A year after that, Hwang won a memorable battle up Montjuic with Japan’s Koichi Morishita to become the Barcelona 1992 Olympic marathon champion.

In 1999, Bernard Lagat won the 1500 metres; in 2001, a young Chinese named Liu Xiang won the 110 metres hurdles. Like Hwang, he soon graduated to Olympic champion.

An Australian also graduated quickly from university to Olympic champion. In 1967, Ralph Doubell joined a team of Australians travelling to the Tokyo Universiade. He won the 800, beating Europe’s best, Franz-Josef Kemper of Germany, in 1:46.7.

The following year, Doubell triumphed at the Mexico City Olympics, taking the gold medal in a world record equalling 1:44.3, a time which still remains the Australian record.

Other Australian champions over the years have included Sean Creighton (steeple) and Alison Inverarity (high jump) at Sheffield in 1991, Emma George (pole vault) in Sicily in 1997, Jane Jamieson (heptathlon) in Beijing in 2001, Eloise Poppett (now Wellings, 5000) in Daegu in 2003, and Sean Wroe (400) and Robbie Crowther (long jump) in Bangkok in 2007.

Australia had its best result ever at the most recent Universiade, in Belgrade in 2009, winning four gold medals – Tristan Thomas (400 hurdles), Madeleine Pape (800), Danni Samuels (discus) and the men’s 4x400 – to place second on the medals table behind Russia.

Through it all, it is refreshing to hear a story suggesting world university sport retains some links to its Corinthian roots. Over breakfast in Shenzhen this week I was told that a competitor just turned up with his kayak at the most recent world university flatwater canoeing championship, asking to compete.

He was accepted, too. I don’t know how he went, but I hope the story is true: it sure ought to be.

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Athletics Australia have agreed to a four-year deal with Western Australian Government to host both the Perth Track Classic and the Australian Junior Athletics Championships.

 

The deal, set in conjunction with Athletics Western Australia, will see the Perth Track Classic hosted on 11 February next year, and then again in 2013 and 2014. It also includes an unprecedented deal for the grassroots of the sport, as it becomes the first state ever to offer substantial financial support for the Australian Junior Athletics Championships and supporting pathway (2013 and 2016).

 

Dallas O’Brien, CEO of Athletics Australia, said: “We are delighted with what the Western Australia Government, through Eventscorp, has brought to the table, through this deal it has demonstrated its top to bottom support of the sport.

 

“The Perth Track Classic will be a wonderful opportunity for sports fans to see the stars of today, who will hopefully return successful from the world championships in Daegu and then be preparing for the Olympics next year, while the Australian Junior Athletics Championships will be an opportunity to see the stars of tomorrow.

 

“We appreciate the commitment of Eventscorp to the sport of athletics and it falls in line with the support already shown by the Western Australian Institute of Sport towards the pole vault and 400m.”

 

WA Tourism Minister Dr Kim Hames said the Western Australian Government, through Eventscorp, was proud to support both the Perth Track Classic and the Australian Junior Athletics Championships.

 

 “With the Perth Track Classic, WA audiences could see home grown heroes like reigning world, Olympic, and Commonwealth pole vault champion, Steve Hooker, and Commonwealth gold medallist, Alana Boyd, go head-to-head with their overseas rivals.

 

“And the junior championships attract the best athletes from the under 14, 16, 18 and 20 age groups and has become a must for any junior athlete who wants to go on to represent Australia,” Dr Hames said.

 

“Western Australia now boosts a comprehensive athletics calendar with last month’s announcement that the 2016 World Masters Athletics Championships will be held in Perth.”

 

Liz Parnov, who has just returned from the world youth championships in Lille with a silver medal in the pole vault, said: "It is such a bonus for me to have a really good quality open age competition and the Australian Junior Athletics Championships coming to my home track in Perth.

 

"The WA Government have been so supportive of athletics in this state, especially with our new track perfect for both vaulting and sprinting, so to now get the chance to do what I do best here is a real bonus.

 

"I won't go as far as saying that I am a guaranteed winner because the depth of talent in this country is really improving but you should never complain about a home ground advantage."

 

Next year’s Perth Track Classic will host over 250 Australian and international athletes and, as part of the Australian Athletics Tour, will offer an opportunity for Flame athletes to continue their preparations for London 2012. Meanwhile the Australian Junior Athletics Championships will see 1800 of the best 14 to 20-year-old athletes in the country arrive in the city in hope of demonstrating their potential, in 2013.

 

Highlights of last year’s Perth Track Classic included victories for several of the Flame team members, who are heading to the IAAF world championships at the end of the month.

 

Three members of the 4x100m relay team, Aaron Rouge-Serret (Vic), Liam Gander (NSW) and Matthew Davies (Qld), made it a one, two, three in the men’s 100m final, while Sally Pearson took a hat-trick of titles in the 100m, 200m and 100m hurdles. There were also victories for home favourite Kim Mickle (WA), in the javelin, and City Beach based Ben Offereins (WA) over the 400m.

 

Athletics fans in Perth can also look forward to the prospect of some sizzling world-class names. Last year’s Australian Athletics Tour saw double world championship gold medallist Bernard Lagat (USA) take to the track, as well as Kenya’s David Rudisha who has been unbeaten in the 800m since 2009. Former world-record holder Asafa Powell (JAM) is also a fan of the Tour, having previously competed in Australia.

 

For more information about the Australian Athletics Tour and Australian Junior Athletics Championships please go to athletics.com.au

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Dani Samuels (NSW) will be the first Flame athlete to enter the field of play at the 13^th IAAF world championships on August 27, when she begins the defence of her world title in the qualifying rounds of the women’s discus throw on day one.

 

Taking to the thrower’s circle in just the second event on the in-stadium program, the 23-year-old heads to Daegu (KOR) impressed by her build-up to date and unfazed by the pressures that come with being the most recent winner.

 

“I am as confident as I can be, training has been going really well and after competing a few times in Europe so far I can feel and see improvements in my throwing,” Samuels said.

 

“It’s fair to say that I haven’t been throwing really big yet, but my technique is sound and I just need to really start pushing my limits.

 

“I don’t see being the reigning world champ as a burden or anything like that, I am aware of my ability and will compete with belief in myself and knowledgethat I can go out there and do it.”

 

Samuels in 2009 was the world university discus champion (62.48m) only weeks out from the main event. She went on to became the youngest world discus champion in history and Australia’s first ever IAAF world championships throws gold medallist with a then personal best of 65.44m.

 

“Everything in the year of Berlin just went to plan,” Samuels continued.

 

“I spent about ten weeks overseas, similar to what I am this year really, and consistently pushed my personal best. The competition experience I had at world university games in Belgrade was ideal and I couldn’t have been more buoyant by my form.”

 

“It was there that I learnt how important it is to stay relaxed and just let ithappen, that’s how I felt in competition then and that’s how I want to feel this time round.”

 

This year, Samuels has been runner-up (61.98m) at the Samsung Diamond League in Shanghai (CHN) after claiming her seventh Australian discus title to automatically qualify for the Flame team in April. Arriving in Europe in early July, she has since placed third at the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix with a season best of 62.33m and fifth (60.59m) at the Monaco Herculis before victory (60.04m) this past weekend at the Ninove Memorial Meet.

 

“2011 has been similar to 2009, I’ve spent just over two months overseas and unlike last year I’ve stopped trying to travel back and forth because it just wears you out too much,” Samuels continued.

 

“My competitions to date have been strategically chosen and realistically I think the decisions we’ve made have been ideal, I’m full of energy and ready to go.

“I’m so lucky to have my coach Denis (Knowles) here with me too, it’s such abonus to have him with me the whole time. In a technical event you need that pair of eyes that you can trust, who can watch from different angles to provide advice and positive reinforcement when I need it.”

 

According to Samuels, competition in Daegu is fierce. There are three athletes clearly standing in her way of a consecutive title currently, with the NSWIS scholarship holder keeping a keen eye on their form.

 

“Nadine Muller of Germany is the current Diamond Race leader and a real chance, she’s thrown 66 metres this year and she’ll definitely be in the mix,” Samuels said.

 

“You can never discount Yarelis Barrios who so frequently throws out near 65 metres and Chinese thrower Yanfeng Li is also in great contention having hitting well beyond the 67 metre mark last month.”

 

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By Lara Nicod

 For 23-year-old Lauren Boden, it was all surprises last week, which started with an early birthday present on Tuesday with being announced in the final Australian team for the World Championship for Daegu in South Korea in the 400m Hurdles and 4x400m team.

 
Following the news of making her first World champ team Boden celebrated her 23^rd birthday with her coach Matty B and fellow Australian team member Melissa Breen, who was also recently selected in the Australian 4x100m team for Daegu.  Capping off this thrilling week, Boden managed to run a personal best over 400m flat in Nivone, Belgium on Saturday, bringing her PB down to 53.31.

 

 Having accumulated multiple B standards over the season Boden and her critics were more then surprised over the news of her gaining selection in the recent World championship team.  At the beginning of the season Boden explains athletes were told they were having to run an ‘A standard’ to be eligible for the World champ team however with the discretionary of selectors Boden, Ryan Gregson, Henry Frayne and Robbie Crowther were added to the final team this week. Thrilled over the prospect Boden is excited over the opportunity to represent Australia in her first world champ team which she says ‘ I am going to make sure I give 100% in achieving my goals at this competition’.

 

 

To follow Lauren Boden and fellow team member Melissa Breen’s journey to the world championships which starts on August 27^th- September 4^th follow there blogs on http://laurenboden.com/ and http://melbreen.com/.

 

Other results from Australian and New Zealand athletes that joined Boden in lapping up the cool summer rains of Nivone in Belgium on Saturday were the following:

 

Brendan Cole -400 H (1^sT) 49.86

Hamish Carson  (NZL)- 1500m (8th) 3.44.48

Hayden McLaren (NZL)-1500m (13th) 3.56.99

Melissa Breen -100m (1st) 11.49

Rochelle Coster (NZL)- (6^th) 100m 12.33

Dani Samuels- Discus (1^st) 60.04

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Australian track and field stars Mitchell Watt (QLD) and Craig Mottram (VIC) have added a splash of green and gold to the winner’s list in London (GBR) this morning, with the duo taking out the men’s long jump and men’s 5000m respectively at Round 12 of the Samsung Diamond League.

 

Arriving in Crystal Palace as the new Australian record holder, Watt’s form has continued with the 23-year-old soaring a meet record 8.45m (w: +1.4) to win his third Diamond League event this year. Opening with a foul, the 2011 Australian champion Watt took a winning lead in round two before passing, jumping 8.22m (w: +1.0) and passing again in rounds five and six.

 

Watt now lays claim to the four biggest jumps this year thanks to 8.44m leaps inShanghai (CHN) and at the Australian Athletics Championships, his national record 8.54m (w: +1.7) from Stockholm (SWE) last week and his winning mark at this event.

 

Watt said: “To be honest my mind wasn't really focused on the comp today, I am just looking ahead to worlds. To jump an 8.40 again is good but I want to win gold in Daegu.”

 

“It’s great to be consistent though, I've jumped over 8.40m four times now and I’ll need to do at least the same to win the title. I actually think 8.60m will win and I'm confident I can do that.

 

“My goal this season was to jump 8.50m and I've done that. Now I've won a few Diamond League events and becoming world champion will close out the year perfectly.”

 

It was a battle of the Brits for the minor places as national record holder Chris Tomlinson and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Greg Rutherford jumped 8.30m (w: +2.2) and 8.19m (w: +0.8) for second and third respectively.

 

Watt now holds an impressive lead in the Diamond Race with 12 points, while African champion Godfrey Mokoena (RSA), who struggled for 6th (7.93m, w: +1.5m) today, sits second on six points.

 

On track, Mottram’s performance was commanding with the national 5000m record holder making light work of his rivals to cross the line and win in 13:23.97.

 

Joined in a lead pack of three by pace maker Titus Mbishei (KEN, DNF), who remained in the race for almost four kilometres, and Briton Chris Thompson (4th, 1:34.31), Mottram sat comfortably on the shoulder of the Kenyan for the opening 3000m. Thompson moved to the front to head through 4000m in 10:47.96 before the Australian put his foot down to break away and win by almost the length of the straight.

 

Mottram said: “I’ve got a lot of work to do, but I’m back and able to train and I’m out here racing so it’s moving in the right direction.”

 

“I was just hoping to get some practice for Daegu. Semis at majors can be tricky races - slow early and then fast - a little bit like tonight. I wanted to do what I’m going to need to do to make the world championships final. Everything else is a bonus.

 

"Just to come and run at Crystal Palace again is great and if I make the final at worlds that will be fantastic. If I don’t I will get going again and look to London.”

 

In other Australian results:

-         Collis Birmingham (VIC) placed third in the men’s 3000m (7:54.04),a non-Diamond League event, while compatriot Ben St Lawrence (NSW) was 7th in 7:52.96

-     Seventeen-time Australian champion Tamsyn Manou (VIC) crossed the line in 2:01.97 for second to Jana Hartmann (second, 2:01.97) of Germany in an invitational women’s 800m. Heading through the bell in 58.35, Manou entered the straight alongside the eventual winnerbefore being narrowly edged out for victory.

-     Clocking 8:27.88, Beijing Olympics finalist and IAAF world championships bound Youcef Abdi (NSW) placed 5th in the men’s 3000m steeplechase. Willy Komen (KEN) won the event in a time of 8:21.40 and was joined on the podium by Brian Olinger (USA, second, 8:23.36) and Mohammed-Khaled Balebbas (FRA, third, 8:24.63).

-     Katy Parrish (VIC, T38, third) and Jodi Elkington (ACT, T37, 8th) stopped the clock in 15.00 (w: -1.1) and 15.55 respectively in the women’s T36/38 100m for athletes with cerebral palsy. The event was one of two events for athletes with a disability on day one of the Aviva London Grand Prix with further competition to continue tomorrow.

 

In other Aviva London Grand Prix results:

-     Diamond Race leader Olha Saladukha (UKR) took out the women’s triple jump with a best mark of 14.80m (w: +0.8). Kazak Olga Rypakova was second (14.49m, w: +0.8) and Dana Veldakova of Slovakia third (14.48m, w: +0.9, SB).

-     German Christina Obergfoll continued her strong Diamond League campaign with a meet record throw of 66.74m to win the women’s javelin throw, with Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova (CZE, 66.41m) taking second.

-     Local favourite Jenny Meadows clocked a season best 1:58.60 to win the women’s 800m ahead of current world lead Kenia Sinclair (JAM, second, 1:59.16).

-     James Kirani of Grenada set a new world lead of 44.61 to win the men’s 400m.

-     Jamaican Yohan Blake won the men’s 100m, a non-Diamond League event, in a season best 9.95 (w: -1.6), while his fellow Jamaican Nesta Carter (10.01) was second and American Michael Rodgers (10.04) third. 

Competition continues at the Aviva London Grand Prix tomorrow as Beijing Olympics silver medallist and three-time 2011 Diamond League victor Sally Pearson flies the Australian flag in the women’s 100m hurdles.

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Current world leads Sally Pearson (QLD) and Mitchell Watt (QLD) will start as favourites at Round 12 of the Samsung Diamond League this weekend as London(GBR) plays host to the last major track and field outing ahead of the 2011IAAF world championships.

 

Set to be joined by six of their Flame teammates and a further five Australian athletes with a disability, the duo arrive in Crystal Palace laying claim to new national records after Pearson clocked 12.48 (w: +0.7) in the 100m hurdles last month and Watt soared 8.54m (w: +1.7) to take an easy victory in Stockholm (SWE) only days ago.

 

Eric Hollingsworth, Athletics Australia High Performance Manager, said: “It’s great to be here in London for the Diamond League just weeks out from the main event in Korea.”

 

“The start lists are stacked, and Sally and Mitch head in after fantastic European build-ups this year. For them this should be that last confidence boost ahead of the world champs.”

 

“We'll head to the Tonbridge School in Kent on Monday for one of two simultaneously run training camps, the other being hosted in the Daegu athlete village itself, and 12 months out from the Olympics that’s exciting. We’ll be based in the same place ahead of the Games next year and the opportunity to get the athletes in, using the facilities, understanding the setup bodes well for all involved.”

 

With 2008 Olympic gold medallist Irving Saladino (PAN), reigning world champion Dwight Phillips (USA), African champion Godfrey Mokoena (RSA) and new British national record holder Chris Tomlinson also taking to the runway, Watt’s competition arguably includes most athletes that will challenge him at the IAAF world championships. All five athletes boast personal best marks well beyond eight metres and all five featured on the 2009 world championships start list.

 

Pearson’s start in the 100m hurdles provides the triple Australian Athletics Championships gold medallist with the chance to compete as she will in Daegu, across multiple rounds. She will be challenged by new British national record holder Tiffany Ofili-Porter and Americans Danielle Carruthers and Virginia Crawford, both of whom have competed against Pearson in her three Diamond League wins.

 

Joining Pearson on track are Collis Birmingham (VIC), Craig Mottram (VIC) and Ben St Lawrence (NSW) in the 3000m, Youcef Abdi in the 3000m steeplechase, Tamsyn Manou (VIC) in an invitational 800m and Ryan Gregson (NSW) in the Emsley Carr Mile.

 

Birmingham, Mottram and St Lawrence face stiff competition from European 10,000m recordholder Mo Farah (GBR), while Abdi and Manou will line-up after clocking season best performances of 8:16.41 (3000m SC) and 2:00.78  (800m) respectively. Australian 1500m record holder Gregson’s rivals include Nick Willis (NZL), Bernard Lagat (USA) and Augustine Choge (KEN).

 

Also competing in London are Australian athletes with a disability Jodi Elkington (ACT, T36/38 100m), Katy Parrish (VIC, T36/T38 100m), Scott Reardon (ACT, T42/44 200m), Jack Swift (VIC, T42/44 200m) and IAAF world championships bound Richard Colman (VIC, T53/54 1500m).

 

Hollingsworth continued: “The 2012 Paralympics are also high on the Athletics Australia agenda and to see five starters this weekend is great.”

 

“Competition here marks the end of an almost month long trip for athletes as they push for selection next year, and for Richard Colman it’s a great competition opportunity before starting in the T53 400m in Daegu later in the month.”

 

Elkington, who has cerebral palsy, made her international debut at the IPC Athletics World Championships in January where she placed 4th in the T37 400m and 8th in the T37 100m, while Beijing Paralympian Parrish is continuing her returnfrom injury after being forced to withdraw from the Christchurch-hosted event earlier this year.

 

Reardon and Swift also made their international debuts at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships. Swift, who competes in the same leg amputee category as Oscar Pistorius (RSA), starts this weekend after clocking new personal best across 100m and 200m in the past fortnight.

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Hi Runners Tribe,

Firstly, I would like to thank SiS and Runner’s Tribe for your support and for this fantastic opportunity.

I am an 800m runner living in Hobart; Tasmania can be cold, wet and windy but it is an incredible place to be a runner (as long as you have a large stock of warm, dry clothing).

I started running cross country and distance (3000m and 2000m Steeple Chase) in high school under the guidance of Albert Johnson; an incredible man who taught you as much about yourself and life as he did about running. Thanks to Albert’s coaching and mentoring skills I grew to love the challenge distance running provides.

Due to health issues Albert retired from coaching and I soon found my way to a small squad headed by Brendan Hanigan. Brendan boasts an 800m PB of 1.45.03 ranking him 4^th fastest Australian of all time 800m (recently dropping a place to Jeff Riseley). The squad quickly grew with some young (and not so young) talent forming the ‘Hanigan’s Heroes’.

With this change in coach and squad also came a change in my event focus. I found myself getting faster and stronger with Brendan so I started competing in more 1500s and eventually made the change to 800m.

Racing 800m took my body a couple of seasons to get use to and I soon regained my childhood nickname of Spew Boy (given to me by my sisters as a result of my weak stomach as a kid). When I got some 800m specific training and racing under my belt I dropped 6 seconds from my personal best and found myself finishing 2^nd at the Tasmanian track and field titles in 2008 and 2009 and 1^st in 2010.

In late 2009 after some injury issues I finally ran another PB at a local interclub, the time I ran got me selected to run at the Zatopek Classic in 800m. This was my first ‘big’ 800m race and it showed as soon as the gun went. I positioned myself poorly and felt like a dear in headlights. Everything I had learned I forgot and I ended up blowing up and finishing 7^th. I returned to the Zatopek stage in 2010 determined to run better than the year before but again found myself spat out the back finishing second last.

After Zatopek 2010 I travelled to Falls Creek for a couple of weeks with a group of Tasmanians. I was full of motivation and ready to train the house down until half way through the first session I popped my ankle on a stray rock. I decided I didn’t want to let this get in my way so I kept training (not a good idea). Two days latter I popped the same ankle again on a recovery run but again I didn’t listen to my body and trained out the week doing the biggest week of my life with 97km.

I went straight to the physio when I got home and the news wasn’t good, I again found myself on the sideline for a couple of months. I didn’t let this stop me, I got on the bike and kept the work going, eventually I was allowed to run in straight lines and a few weeks later I was back on track.

After a couple of weeks solid training Brendan and I decided it was time for a good race so I went to Melbourne to race at Box Hill in my first Vic Milers Meet. My training squad let me know it was a good event and it didn’t disappoint. The first lap I was tired and went straight to the back, down the home straight in the first lap I was really annoyed that I had put myself in this position again so I made a big move at the bell and just kept kicking, I have never felt so fast. I ended up negative splitting a PB 1.50.2. I was finally in good shape and full of confidence for the upcoming 800m at Tasmanian State Championships.

I drew the fast heat and qualified second fastest feeling fresh. The final went exactly to plan, I sat 3 back until 500m to go where Grant Page made a big move for the front I was straight onto his shoulder and stayed until 100m to go where I managed to kick away and win. An hour and a half later I anchored the OVA ‘Southern Saints’ 4x400m relay team to victory for the 7^th year in a row.  

State Champs didn’t mark the end of my season as it normally does. I decided after running a PB at Vic Milers I was going to have a crack at Nationals. My preparation was a little interrupted with horrid weather and my training partner Nathan Morey tearing his Planter during a particularly tough Saturday session but none the less I went to nationals full of confidence and ready to break 1.50 for the first time.

I was mentally ready this time and positioned myself well in the middle of the field and was sitting pretty with 150m to go but I just couldn’t find that extra gear when the front guys started kicking. I finished 5^th in 1.51. Not the result I was after but I was finally happy with the way I ran the race.

I knew after the race I was never going to match it with those guys until I got some base fitness and put in some hard work. With this revelation came the decision to drop my other sporting love hockey to focus on building a solid winter base.

I am now halfway through my first full winter and the body is holding up well. I am feeling stronger each week. Two weeks ago I ran a PB in my squad 3000m Time Trial so everything is on track.

Until next time, a helpful quote to get you through the grind that is winter training “The mind is the athlete; the body is simply the means it uses to run faster”.

Cheers, Tom