2024 Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics Championships were held at SA Athletics Stadium in Adelaide from Thursday 11th to Friday 19th April 2024.
Nowra was represented by 3 U20 athletes and 8 juniors. Once again, an amazing achievement for a small Country Club to have 11 athletes competing at a National level.
Will Dyball competed in the U20 800m, putting in a surge at the finish line to put him across in 1.54.14 to secure the 9th qualifying place in the final. Will then finished 7th in the final with 1.55.63. Will backed up the following day in the 1500m where he finished 22nd overall with a time of 4.00.38.
Amelia May also contested the U20 800m and 1500m. In the 800m, Amelia clocked a SB of 2.13.69 for 11th place. In the 1500m Amelia was 4th in her heat with another SB, crossing in 4.31.04 to qualify for the final. Amelia ran well in the final to finish 11th in 4.33.52.
Harrison Baxter equalled his PB in the U20 5000m with 15.33.82 in 14th place in the B race, putting him 30th overall over this distance.
In the Junior Championships Nowra had 3 athletes hurdling around the track. Alisha Mustapic ran a SB of 1.05.96 in the Under 18 400m hurdles for 4th place in the heat, putting herself through to the final. In the final Alisha ran well to clock 1.06.87 and finish in 8th place, although she was the 7th Australian across the line (3rd place was a New Zealand athlete). Tom Brookes also competed in the Under 18 400m hurdles, and clocked a SB of 1.00.71 for 15th place. Harry Thomson contested the Under 15 200m hurdles where he finished 5th in his heat in a time of 30.74, just slightly off his PB of 30.67. Harry’s time placed him 13th overall. 
In the steeplechase events, there were 4 Nowra athletes. Emily McLaren clocked 7.53.02 for 12th place in the Under 17 event whilst Hamish McLaren was 15th in the Under 18 event with 6.37.62. In the Under 15 event, Evie Binney ran a gutsy race to finish 7th in 7.57.43.
Nic McGill had a fantastic run in the Under 17 steeplechase event with some highly talented athletes. The channel 7 commentary team summed it up well when they described the race as “an action packed affair at the front”. McGill took the lead with 2 laps to go and looked strong as he started to string out the field. In the final lap, William Pereira from Tasmania (who was last year’s National champion) passed Nic in the back straight and it became a battle between the 2 champions. Nic put in a sprint finish chasing Pereira to the finish line, but Pereira beat him to the line, claiming back to back titles and a championship record of 5.55.98. Nic did himself and his Club proud to claim the silver medal in an 8 second PB time of 5.56.41. 
Nic then backed up in the 3000m where he put in another grand effort to clock a 2 second PB of 8.44.43 to finish 8th.
Airlie Stevens competed in the Under 14 800m where she finished 7th in her heat in 2.27.60, placing her 19th overall. Airlie also contested the 1500m where she ran a PB of 5.04.54 for another 7th place in her heat, and 20th place overall.
Congratulations to everyone that competed at Nationals. Your hard work and dedication has paid off and we commend you for your wonderful achievements.