Teamwork to ensure Aussies go distance
IT’S normally not something associated with Australian marathon teams.
Collusion and team running is a luxury usually only afforded to the African nations but Lisa Weightman and Jess Trengove are planning on changing that at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
The Australian pair are in the gold medal frame and plan to help each other combat the Kenyan challenge in April.
Weightman, who turned 39 on Tuesday, won bronze behind a pair of Kenyans at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and is in career-best form, three years after the birth of son Pete.
Trengove, who took bronze in Glasgow in 2014, showed her class by finishing ninth at last year’s world championships.
They’re a formidable pair and along with less-celebrated countrywoman Virginia Moloney, intend to fly the flag.
“I imagine it would be wise to speak beforehand, just to feel as if we are working as a team taking on the rest of the Commonwealth,” Trengove said.
Weightman pointed to last year’s London Marathon, where they both set personal bests, as an example of how working together can lead to something exciting.
“We had a pacemaker in London for the first 10 kilometres, we were all in the first pack together with a few of the Americans we know,” she said.
“It certainly makes it easier if you jump on that bus for the first 10K and take it from there.
“If we all get to take care of each other out there it’s going to make it a much more pleasant experience.”