Well
done to our 'Nationals 7' - Josh Phillips, Luke
Gorman, Paul Loader, Daniel Francken, Gus Wong, Hannah Gibson and Jess
Vernon. For those of you who don't know, these 7 qualified to
represent NSW at the Australian
Junior Athletics Championships held at
SOPAC between 14th and 18th March. For the majority this was their first time ever at a Nationals event. Just qualfying and
getting that far is a brilliant acheivement in itself. Junior Sriders are on the map!
To be
honest, as might be expected for a first time, we had some ups and downs - literally. However, this is the first time
competing at such a level for most, so next year will be even better.
Friday's high was Hannah Gibson winning bronze in the 17
girls 2k steeplechase in a time of 7.16.65. She also posted further personal
bests of 10.37.67 to finish 5th in the 3k and 4.50.14 to finish
9th in the 1500. So Hannah had a great 'Nationals'. Gus Wong was disqualified (like his mother
before him!) in his 2K steeplechase - you will have to ask him for details :)
Daniel Franken ran some blistering times
as ever with 10th place finishes in the 16 boys 3k in 9.23.62 and
1500 in 4.17.49 (not PBs). Paul
Loader ran well in his 2K steeplechase, but Luke Gorman set the fastest time in the club with
a 6.52.33 clocking in the 15 boys 2k steeplechase to finish 5th. In
the 14 boys, the 'stylish' Josh
Phillips (as the commentator calls
him) finished 6th in the
800m. He, very unfortunately, fell quite badly in the 2K steeplechase and cut his knee
wide open - he left the track in a wheelchair and, very sadly, had to withdraw
from the 1500 on the last day and will also miss his Little Athletics state
events this weekend - really sorry about that Josh. He is not put off and
intends to do the steeplechase again next season. I will not mention names here,
but some were caught out by the fact that for Nationals you have to check in 1.5
hours before your event, not the usual 1 hour, so were scratched from the race -
we won't do that again!
GO STRIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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