Honour for Walsgott
Horsham athlete Ella Walsgott is a triple-threat determined to take her passion to new heights.
Fifteen-year-old Ella has been named vice-captain of the Team Vic Triathlon Team for the School Sport Australia National Championships on May 3 to 6.
The announcement followed Ella’s success in the final Sprint Triathlon of the 2018-19 2XU Series at St Kilda, where she placed second overall.
Her mother, Katie Walsgott, said Ella often woke up at quarter past five in the morning to train and worked two jobs to self-fund her travel and attend national events.
“The nomination was totally unexpected and quite an honour,” she said.
“She is committed to her training and a good mentor for younger athletes. I am quite proud of her.
“She has had a coach in Melbourne for three years but doesn’t have one-on-one coaching very often, so she does a lot of isolated learning.
“She was recently saying she thinks it is a real achievement that she has gone to nearly every state and territory in Australia with her sport.”
Mrs Walsgott said Ella had high hopes to take her passion out of country and compete in world championships in the future.
“She would actually qualify for world championships this year if we nominated her, but it is very expensive and her
coach said it may not be the best thing right now because of school and the fact she will be competing against 19-yearolds,” she said.
“But maybe in a couple years we can work towards it. If we get sponsorships and the like as she keeps improving that would help.”
For now, though, Mrs Walsgott said Ella was just excited for National Championships because it gave her opportunity to mix with like-minded young athletes.
“There aren’t any other junior triathletes in Horsham, so she is in her happy place when she is with her team.”