Australia’s ‘next generation’ of track and field talent were on full display in Sydney recently as more than 2000 junior athletes descended to compete at Sydney Olympic Park Athletics track from 14th to 18th March.
Nowra Athletics Club had a remarkable 13 athletes competing on the National stage.
In the steeplechase, both Jesse Buckham and Victoria Kennedy competed in the Under 18 2000 metres steeple event. Victoria placed 14th in her race in 8.30.86 minutes. Jesse, who is said to be retiring from steeplechase, ran his last steeple with a solid race, running with the lead pack for the majority of the race. He ran a handy 9 second PB finishing in 6.29.60 minutes placing him 9th overall which was 6 places up on last year’s result.
Max Buckham and Chelsea Pascoe both ran in the Under 16 steeplechase. Max competed for the first time at a National level and came away with a 5 second PB (6.39.42) and 6th place. Chelsea also ran a good race for her first National experience finishing in 8.25.05 minutes in 16th place.
Experienced steeple runner Hugh Dobson finished 14th in the Under 20 3000m event in 10.19.38 minutes whilst newcomer Alexis Charalambous finished 17th in her maiden National run in the Under 15 2000m event with a time of 8.43.27 minutes.
In the Under 18 400m hurdles, Nowra Athletics Club had 3 competitors. Alistair Clark was impressive in his heat, running a PB of 56.39 and qualifying 3rd fastest for the final. He then ran 57.47 in the final to place 4th in Australia! Lachlan Kaszonyi made his National debut in the hurdles, just missing the final, placing 9th overall in 59.62. After being plagued by illness last month Mikayla Check demonstrated her resilience when she placed a gutsy 10th in the female event, nabbing another PB of 69.62 in the process.
After bagging three State medals in February Lauren Percival returned to the track in the Under 15 sprints. Lauren ran in 4th in her heat of the 100m in 12.58 placing 9th overall. In the 200m she finished 5th in her heat placing 10th overall with a time of 25.98 seconds.
In the under 18 pole vault there was another great performance from our decathlon state medallist Cooper Thomson with a 7th place, clearing 3.60 metres.
In the field, Siwa Harvey-Aziz threw the discus 50.40 metres to place 5th in the under 18 event whilst Sam Taylor capped off his first year of athletic competition by making the final in the Under 18 long jump coming 8th with a leap of 6.42 metres.
These local athletes are to be commended for their performances and we look forward to watching their progress in future athletic competitions.