Toowoomba athletes shine
Runners claim medals at national competition
ATHLETICS: Two Toowoomba runners have shone alongside Australia’s best after producing personal best performances at the 2018 Australian Junior Athletics Championships in Sydney.
Lilly Hanssen and Carter Blades both ran their best times to earn national placings while training partner Jai Gordon suffered a hip injury in his under 16 100-metre heat but was still able to produce a personal-best time.
Hanssen finished tied for third in the under15 girl’s 400metre final.
Her time of 57.27 seconds sliced three seconds off her previous best effort.
Blades won bronze in the under-14 boy’s 400-metre final, running 55.63secs which was about three seconds inside his previous best time.
Gordon tore a hip ligament at the 70-metre mark of the his race, but was able to finish in a personal best 11.58secs.
Coach Amanda Toleman, who was unable to attend the titles and communicated with the athletes by phone, said the trio’s effort to post personal best efforts on the national stage was “massive”.
“Lilly and Carter have gone above and beyond to run three-second PBs and the effort of Jai to finish his run in a personal best after running the last 30-metres in a lot of pain says a lot about his determination,” Toleman said.
“They all work really hard and each of them has the potential to go a lot further.”