Viking girls a force
THEY’RE the “girl gang” who are dominating on the athletics track.
The Currumbin Vikings, spearheaded by a strong female contingent, excelled with eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals at the Queensland Athletics Championships in Brisbane on the weekend.
Currumbin coach Brett Robinson was particularly impressed with the efforts of Caitlyn Lythgo, who picked up gold in the under-18 400m, and Liv Matzer, who won the under-18 100m.
“Both girls don’t get the accolades that some of their training partners receive but they have worked themselves into a position to genuinely complete for medals at nationals in three weeks,” he said.
“She’s (Matzer) only been with us for one season and comes from a dancing background but she ended up running a personal best in the 100m.
“She was just about the performance of the meet for us. We’re very proud of the people who race for us.”
Jess Hall, who ran for the first time in 14 months after recovering from a stress fracture in her foot, won gold in the under-16 400m.
“It was pretty emotional for all our coaching and medical team as we had so many setbacks with her foot,” Robinson said.
“The best thing for us was not just seeing her out there winning but getting to see athletes like Ellie Beer and Britney Ingr celebrate hard with her knowing what she’s been through.”
Robinson was particularly impressed by his female septet who won 11 of the Vikings’ 14 medals.
“We’ve got an enormous girl gang at the moment and a large quantity of our girls made finals and won medals,” he said
Currumbin will now shift their focus to the national athletics titles starting on March 20.