RAYMOND Terrace Athletics Club has unearthed a real find in 12-year-old cross country and race walking prodigy Audrey Russell.
The dual NSW junior representative is basking in personal glory after winning gold in the 1500m Race Walk at the recent NSW Juniors State Athletics Championships at Sydney Olympic Park.
In a monumental performance, Audrey led from the start and clinched the title by a staggering 30 seconds in a personal best time of 7:06.47.
Her gold medal was capped off by her selection in the Little Athletics NSW 13yrs team to compete at the Australian Little Athletics Championships in Adelaide over the Anzac Day long weekend.
The dedicated Russell has captured the imagination of keen athletics judges with her endurance and running skills this season, much to the delight of her coaches, club mates and officials.
It has been a whirlwind of competition and success for Audrey, not only in race walking.
Last year started off with her being named Junior School Captain at Hunter Valley Grammar School followed by her first Primary Schools Sports Association (PSSA) championships for Cross Country in the 1500m category.
She currently plays for Newcastle Olympic football team in the Under 13s Youth Premier League and has been a member of the Hunter Academy of Sport for triathlon this season.
Raymond Terrace Athletics Club secretary Deidre Hall told News Of The Area that Audrey is “an inspiring young athlete who has a big future with many opportunities to look forward to.”
“Her favourite event is the cross country but if it’s hot, she loves the 3km walk,” Deidre said.
Audrey first started race walking when she was seven in the 700m and has been competing in the discipline at State Little Athletics since then, increasing her ranking and improving each year.
She hones her walking skills once a fortnight with her coach at Glendale and this week travels to Western Australia to represent the NSW team at the School Sports Australia Triathlon Championships.
Audrey gained state selection after qualifying third in the Junior Girls category at the All Schools Championships last month.
She’ll then return to Perth in coming days for the Athletics Nationals Championships where she’ll represent NSW in the 3000m race walk, competing up an age group.
In a tremendous feat, Audrey twice posted qualifying times in Sydney and at the Country Championships where she finished second in the Open event in January.
“It was the first time she had competed in those championships and she rose to the challenge” Deidre said.
Other Raymond Terrace club athletes to impress at the NSW Junior State Championships were Zane Edwards (16 yrs 200m sprint) and Conor Matthews (Under 20s triple jump), who both produced personal best performances to claim silver medals.
By Chris KARAS
