Toowoomba runners win a place at national titles
ATHLETICS: Toowoomba student Alysha Camm is off to compete at next month’s Australian Junior Athletics Championships after scoring her first state victory last weekend.
The St Ursula’s College athlete will represent Queensland at the national titles in Sydney after scoring a break-through victory in the under-17 girl’s 800-metre race at the state junior championships in Brisbane.
Camm will also line up at the championships in the 1500metre event after improving her race time by 11 seconds in last weekend’s state final.
Her rise to national-level competition is a triumph for both Camm and her coach Gerrard Keating.
Keating is a former leading Toowoomba athletic’s coach.
He is now based in Newcastle and coaches Camm by correspondence.
The unique partnership sees Keating forward the Toowoomba runner with programs each week to work on.
The training routine is designed to keep athletes as injury-free as possible while improving their speed and technique. Another three Toowoomba runners also tasted success at last week’s championships.
Lilly Hanssen, Jai Gordon and Carter Blades, who all train with coach Amanda Toleman, each won medals.
Hanssen won silver in the under-15 400 metres and Gordon took bronze in the under-16 100 metres.
Blades won silver in the under-14 400-metre event.
The trio will now be a part of the Queensland team to compete at the national championships.