On track for top running advice
By Lachlan Christie, Year 5, Holy Cross School
WOW. 5S Holy Cross students recently got to meet a silver medallist from the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games.
Her name is Jill Boltz and today she coaches the Pace Project Running Group on Cairns Northern Beaches.
She has 35 children in her group and they train up to five times each week.
We asked Jill many questions about the race when she received the medal. It was the 10,000m, which is 25 laps of the track.
When she had about 13 laps to go, she hit the front. She didn’t, however, listen to her coach who had said not to get to the front too early, and with three laps to go, lost the lead.
Jill came second and won the silver medal. Was she disappointed?
At first she was, what might have happened if she had listened to her coach?
But these days when she thinks about it, she is proud of her achievement.
Jill also attended two Olympic Games and has held world records. Jill told us if we want to become a professional runner, we just have to believe in ourselves, set goals and try our best. And most importantly “never give up”.
Student Hayley Campbell said that this message will always stick with her.
As a kid, Jill never even thought about running at an Olympics or Commonwealth games. She really didn’t start running until she was about 13.
She also played netball but later found that running was probably her thing.
Jill told us nerves before a race were a good thing.
“I never realised that,” said Katelyn McGee, who runs for Marlin Coast Athletics.
Jill never saw herself as becoming a coach but she got started helping out the kids at Trinity Beach State School, where her children attended primary school.
One thing just led to another and now she is spreading her knowledge of running around the northern beaches with her Pace Project squad.