Oceania Athletics Championships

Three Woden Thunder athletes were selected as part of the Australian Team competing at the 2019 Oceania Championships in Townsville from the 25th to the 28th of June, and all 3 came home with a medal!

Duncan Miller crossed the line first in the U20 Men’s 1500m, winning the gold medal in 4:10.09 whilst Max Rosin took the bronze in the U18 Men’s 800m in a time of 1:54.84.  Jasper Sheehan ran the second leg of the U20 Men’s 4 x 400m Relay, with the team winning gold in a new Oceania Championship time of 3:17.71.

CONGRATULATIONS to Duncan, Max and Jasper (and their coach Des Proctor) on your performances!

Records Fall in Switzerland

It was a fabulous week of wheelchair racing in Switzerland! At the World Para-Athletics Grand Prix in Nottwil over the 24th to 26th May 2019, Woden’s Eliza Ault-Connell broke her own Australian and Oceania T54 800m record with a time of 1:45.08. She also set a new Australian record in the T54 400m, crossing the line in 53.37. To top off the Nottwil meet, she won the T54 100m in a time of 16.99.

A few days later at the Daniela Jutzeler Memorial Meet in Arbon, Eliza lowered her Australian T54 400m record to 53.24 and then broke her national 100m record by clocking 16.21.

Rolling on to the 2019 Swiss Nationals on 1-2 June and Eliza did it again! This time it was her T54 800m record. She sliced over 2 seconds off her Australian and Oceania record from the previous weekend with 1:42.35. Manuela Schär from Switzerland won the event in a new world record time of 1:41.83. Tatyana McFadden from the USA was second in 1:42.09 setting a new American record, with Eliza in third place. Interestingly, both Tatyana and Eliza raced under the (old) world record for this event too.

Great performances by Eliza – CONGRATULATIONS!

Boston and London Marathons

Congratulations to Eliza Ault-Connell  who crossed the line in fourth place in the Women’s Wheelchair category at the London Marathon on 28 April 2019 with a time of 1:50.02. Two weeks earlier at the Boston Marathon in the USA, Eliza also secured fourth in a time of 1:41.46.

The final result for both the London and Boston Marathons saw Manuela Schär (SUI) take first place, with Tatyana McFadden (USA) second, Madison de-Rozario (AUS) third and Eliza in fourth.

A great couple of weeks of marathon racing!

IAAF World Cross Country Championships

One hundred and twenty one women took to the tough course in Aarhus, Denmark at the end of March to contest the women’s open race for the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

Woden’s Leanne Pompeani ran the course in a time of 39.46 to cross the line in 45th place against a strong line-up of international talent. At only 22 years of age, it was a great effort from Leanne!

We look forward to seeing more of Leanne on the international stage in the future.

Oceania Melanesian Regional Championships

The Melanesian Regional Championships for 2018 were held in Port Vila, Vanuatu from 9th to 11th May.

Over 100 Australian track and field athletes joined athletes from Nauru, Kiribati, Wallis & Futuna, Tuvalu, Tonga, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, Fiji, Cook Islands and American Samoa for the three days of competition.

Congratulations to Woden’s Eloise Millington on her performance for the Australian U18 Team. Eloise competed in Triple Jump, winning silver with a jump of 12.16m.

Great effort Eloise!

2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Eliza Ault Connell on her silver medal in the Women’s T54 Marathon at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Eliza clocked 1:44:13 to cross the line second to Madison de Rozario who ended up winning the marathon in a time of 1:44:00. This gave Australia a 1-2 podium finish!

A fabulous effort from Eliza!