COCKBURN Little Athletics members are used to going up against other local kids, but competing against some of the best on the world stage was a whole different experience.
Phoenix Park Little Athletics Club’s Conor Larranaga Boyle and Jandakot Little Athletics Club’s Lochlan Bloomer, Brandon Hodges and Keanu Gilbert all won medals at the recent State Championships, earning them a place on the WA team competing against the best under-15 boys from Malaysia and Singapore.
A blistering 51.6 second run in the 400m race saw Conor take out the gold medal by just 0.01 of a second, which he followed up the next day with a silver in the 4x400m relay team.
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READ NOWLochlan and Keanu returned home with a bronze medal in the high jump and triple jump respectively, while Brandon ran fifth in the 200m and fourth in the 4x100m relay team.
Keanu said given it was his first year doing athletics, he was “extremely happy” with his medal. Lochlan said he was really proud of his high jump effort, as he was just 2cm off his personal best, while Brandon said he was “very proud to have been able to compete in Malaysia and to represent WA, Cockburn LAC, my club Jandakot and myself”.
Conor said he was really excited when he found out he would be competing in Malaysia and it was a great sport for others to take up.
“I was over the moon with excitement as a new opportunity for me had arisen,” he said.
“Athletics offers the opportunity to enable each athlete to develop each individual’s talent, though the fact that the athletes remain in the same groups for the remainder of athletics means they can build healthy and strong friendships with others.”
The four athletes were nominated for Community Newspaper Group’s Local Sports Stars competition in the Junior Sports Star – Team category for their results in Malaysia.