07.01.2010

Nation's best go the distance at Falls Creek

While for many the recent New Year holiday was the ideal excuse to kick back after a hard year at work there was no rest for Australia’s top distance runners, who used the break to get some rare air at Falls Creek ahead of the 2010 Australian Athletics Tour.

Over 200 athletes descended on the Victorian alpine resort last week for eight days of altitude training under the guidance of some of Australia’s greatest distance identities including Steve Moneghetti, Chris Wardlaw, Nic Bideau, Ken Green and Sonia O’Sullivan.

Headlining the camp were national 10,000m record-holder Collis Birmingham and Australian Flame teammates Marty Dent, Jeremy Roff and Youcef Abdi, as well as distance legend Benita Willis, world half marathon championships representative Jeff Hunt, Ben St Lawrence, Nicky Chapple, Bridey Delaney and Kaila McKnight.

Joining Australia’s elite distance community at the Falls Creek camp were 20 of the nation’s most promising junior athletes, including world youth championships representatives Jordan Wiliamsz and Kane Grimster, world junior cross country runners Chloe Tighe and Tamara Carvolth, and Elise Clayton, David Ricketts and Josh Johnson.

Athletics Australia national distance coach Tim O’Shaughnessy said the annual altitude camp was an important fixture on the summer program of many athletes ahead of the upcoming domestic season and world cross country trials in Melbourne on Sunday, January 17.

“The camp focused on getting our best juniors into a training environment - at altitude - where they could mix with and learn from our top distance runners and coaches and learn what it takes to be an elite distance runner,” he said.

“I’m really pleased the message of how to train is spreading to many of our runners.

In his last outing as a junior athlete Australian Flame representative Ryan Gregson was a welcome addition to the junior training squad.

“Ryan was a fantastic role model for the other juniors; to have someone who has run at the world championships be just like them gives them the belief that they can do it too,” O’Shaughnessy said.

National 5000m record-holder Craig Mottram will arrive at the Falls Creek camp this week as he continues his return to the track and launches his bid for selection to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October.

Next weekend the nation’s best distance runners will come together at Brimbank Park in Melbourne to vie for selection to the world cross country championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on Sunday, March 28.

Check out all the action from Falls Creek via the online gallery here.

Image courtesy Inside Athletics