Zoe Riikonen: RT Journals

With only three weeks to go until the big race, (Australian Junior Championships 11`-14^th of March) it is set to be a big one! I am very excited for these championships as they are also selection trials for the World Junior Championships in Canada.  I am looking forward to the opportunity to racing my fellow competitors at this major meet, since I didn’t compete at the National Championships in December last year.

Recently I decided to run two gift races for something different and a bit of fun. The Australia day gift race was over 120m on grass track at the Gold Coast. I thought it would be a good speed workout. I progressed to the final on a handicap of 6m and placed 3^rd. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience so I decided to enter another one two weeks later, which was part of the Brisbane Classic at the QE2.  The 400m handicap was men and women combined with everyone starting in lane 1 and no block starts.  It was pretty tough with approx 10 competitors in each heat and only two to go through to the final and the next fastest.  I unfortunately did not make it through to the final, although neither did any of the women.

At the Queensland State Championships on the following weekend (13^th & 14^th Feb) I competed in the 400 and 200. There was some great competition in both events and I enjoyed being back competing with my Queensland colleagues. I placed 3^rd in the 400m (which was a close finish) and placed 4^th in the 200m. At the moment I am feeling mentally good, and I know the next few weeks I will have to put in 110% into training to see the results.

Note: In the lead up to the Australian Junior Championships, I will be competing in the Glynis Nunn Shield (ed: Zoe placed 2nd in the 400m in 57.60s and also ran 12.78s for the 100m and 25.80s in the 200m) and possible the Garry Brown Shield as well. I will be looking to compete at most meets in the lead up to Sydney to be in the best competition form. The weeks are going past fast, so the plan is to stay injury free, look after my body and keep healthy.  

I am looking forward to the next challenge!