Three Meriden athletes have qualified to wear the green and gold and join Team Australia at the upcoming Oceania Athletics Championships to be held in Mackay in June.
Alexandra Richards and Ada Rand, both in Year 11, will join Meriden’s Sports Administrator, Ms Samantha Dale – currently Australia’s number one female long jumper, as part of the team.
To qualify, both girls competed at the National Athletics Championships where Alexandra Richards won silver in the Under 18 100 metre Hurdles, and fourth in the Under 20 100 metre Hurdles; and Ada Rand won bronze in the Under 18 1500 metre event.
Alexandra has spent six years competing in athletics and says, “I’m getting back into regular training, and I’m currently doing speed training to try to get even faster” in preparation for the event.
Ada has been running for eleven years and qualified for the 1500 metres event.
“At Little Athletics, I was always good at the longer races. Running the 1500 metres is a good mix of needing both speed and endurance,” said Ada.
For both girls, this is their first experience of qualifying for an Australian team. Both girls agree “this is a pretty exciting experience”.
“It’s always exciting to receive your first Australian team uniform,” said Ms Samantha Dale, who is hoping to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham later this year.
For Ada and Alexandra, the road to competing for Australia will involve training with their new team, and the opportunity to witness Australia’s top Open athletes as they compete in preparation for the World Championships and Commonwealth Games later this year.
Meriden’s Head Coach for Athletics, Mrs Nicole Boegman-Stewart, said “Competing as part of the Oceania region is a great opportunity for our young athletes to meet people from across the Pacific. We wish the girls all the best as they compete for Team Australia and represent Meriden”.
