Gold rush for next generation of Coast stars
THE next generation of Gold Coast athletes have sparked a gold rush at the Australian Little Athletics Championships, delivering six national titles in front of a Runaway Bay home crowd.
Competing against the country’s best young athletes over two days, under-13 Coast competitors Dylan Devine (boys’ 400m, 800m and 1500m), Jayda Anderson (girls’ 1500m racewalk), Kris Hayward (boys’ 1500m racewalk) and Dianne Waight (girls’ 200m) emerged as stars of the future.
Dianne also claimed a silver medal in the 100m, while Jayda (6:42.31) and Kris (6:32.43) broke meet records en route to victory.
The race walking pair have been working with respected coach Steve Langley for the past two years, with Kris following in the footsteps of older sister Katie, the Australian Junior Championships 10km record holder who will compete in China this week.
“I’m really, really happy for them,” Langley said.
“I knew they’d do all right but for them to do as well as they did, that was unexpected. (I’d hoped for) top three but for them to win it and do it in a championship record time, that was the cream on top.
“Kris is a natural at it. He’s just watched his sister, Katie, for so long. Jayda has come from a running background and has always done reasonably well in the walk over the last few years but she’s worked really hard and been really focused to get where she is now. “She’s put a lot of effort in.” Gold Coast Little Athletics’ Ryder Ah Fook narrowly missed the podium in the boys’ under-13 800m and 1500m, finishing fourth in both events.
“The Queensland girls’ team were fantastic and (Dylan) was pretty amazing,” Langley said.