There was much excitement – and rain – during the recent Australian Athletic Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre. The 2017 National Championships were held from 26.3.17 to 2.4.17 with a strong representation from Nowra Athletics Club within the NSW team.
Once again Jye Edwards proved his outstanding talent by taking out the Under 20 1500m in a blistering time of 3.50.02 minutes. NSW Athletics reported that since Jye’s recent PB moved him to number seven in 1500m in Australian junior history he was the favourite for the under-20 title. Jye opted to lead most of the race. He said “I didn’t want to leave it to a lap or two to go,” and despite a strong field was able to hold on to take out the win. This was Jye’s first track national title, and one very well deserved after consistently performing across the season.
Jye also competed in the Opens 1500m event later in the competition, placing 4th in his heat and qualifying for the Opens final but unfortunately injury forced him to withdraw from the final.
Jaylah Hancock-Cameron is certainly another athlete to watch out for and one that is perhaps on the pathway to being a future Commonwealth Games competitor. Jaylah came away from the National Championships with two silver medals. Jaylah won her heat of the Under 16 800m, progressing to the final where she clocked 2.13.49 minutes for silver. In the 1500m Jaylah ran a PB of 4.31.97 minutes for her second silver medal.
Fellow training partner Rhys Flood also stood on the podium after claiming a bronze medal in the Under 15 2000m steeplechase event. Rhys clocked a massive 19 second personal best of 6.53.85 minutes to take the bronze.
Both Jaylah and Rhys train with Anda’e Kalemusic in the “Limitless Track Team” in Bateman’s Bay. There were five athletes from this one team competing at the Championships which is an impressive feat.
Rumer Williams was one of these athletes and she recorded a 9 second PB in the Under 20 3000m steeplechase to place 5th whilst Asha Martin placed 12th in the Under 18 3000m and 9th in the 1500m. The final athlete from the talented Bateman’s Bay group was Byron VanDyk who qualified for the finals in both the Under 16 800m and 400m. Byron ran a PB in the 800m and finished 5th in the final in 2.01.43 minutes and placed 6th in the 400m final.
Cooper Thomson started his multi event journey 18 months ago under coach Mel Mustapic and has persevered through the many challenges an event such as the decathlon offers to become a national silver medallist. Cooper blitzed the running events placing 1st in the 100m, 400m and 1500m and improved on previous performances in the throwing events to be rewarded with overall second place in the Under 17 Decathlon. In addition Cooper placed 10th in the separate Under 17 pole vault clearing a height of 3.20m.
Alice Hamlen also pole vaulted, recording a PB of 2.40m to place 10th in the Under 15 event.
Hannah Stone competed in her first National multi event placing 11th in the Under 16 heptathlon whilst Harry McGill competed strongly in the Under 20 1500m finishing 17th in 4.05.40 minutes.
The steeple chase seems to be a popular event, particularly for those training with Team MNG (aka Mel And Glen Mustapic). Alex O’Brien placed 9th in the Under 15 2000m steeple in 7.13.59 minutes.
Jesse Buckham clocked an impressive 14 second PB to place 14th in the Under 17 2000m steeplechase whist Hugh Dobson recorded a massive 28 second PB finishing 6th in the Under 18 steeple event.
There were a number of hurdlers representing the Nowra Club at the Championships including Jenna Bentley who placed 4th in her heat of the Under 17 400m hurdles with a 2 second PB. Shenay Edwards also competed in the 400m hurdle event in the Under 18 group. Shenay finished 4th in her heat, qualifying for the final where she ran 66.09 seconds for 7th place.
Clark clearly favours the 400m hurdles too, competing in the Under 17 event. Alistair qualified for the final with a PB of 57.65 seconds and went on to finish 7th in the final. Meanwhile training buddy Zoe Chater hurdled in both the Under 16 200m hurdle event and the 90m hurdle event. Zoe easily won her heat of the 200m and went on to place 4th in the final. In the 90m she finished 4th in her heat, just missing out on qualifying for the final.
Troy Whittington ran well in the Under 20 5000m event, finishing 22nd in 16.37.08 minutes whilst sprinter Nic Woolley ran in the highly competitive Opens 400m placing 8th in his heat with a time of 50.67.
In the field Siwa Harvey-Aziz showed his strength with a 47.15 metre throw in the discus to place 5th in the Under 17 event. In the female event Annette Peace placed 12th with her throw of 34.77 metres whilst youngster Jai Holland leapt his way into 8th position in the Under 14 long jump with a jump of 4.55m.
Persistent rain throughout the entire competition certainly didn’t hamper spirits and it was phenomenal to see such a large representation of local athletes competing at this National level. The results from such a small Club as Nowra Athletics is so positive.
A huge congratulations to these athletes on their fantastic performances.