19.02.2008

Peacock does the math right

Seventeen year-old Hamish Peacock is an athletics development success story. Better still, his book is still being written.

Hamish’s athletics career began like many, on a Saturday morning at little athletics.  It didn’t take long for him to realise he had a knack for throwing, beating most kids he came up against.

“I was about the same at javelin, shot put and discus until I was 15, when I started doing better at javelin,” he said.

Since then, the strawberry blonde member of Eastern Suburbs Athletic Club has set over 50 state records, won countless medals at Australian Championships and a silver medal at the World Youth Championships in Ostrava last year.  

Adolescent throwers can put on weight but, remarkably, Peacock has lost nine kilograms in the past six months, putting it down to a good training program and hard work.

“In javelin, it isn’t about being big and strong, as much as it is being flexible and fast,” he said. “I was 105kg at World Youths. Now I’m 96kg and much fitter.”

It seems to have paid dividends also, as the TIS scholarship holder has performed numerous qualifiers for this year’s World Junior Championships at six different meets, a pleasant pain for Athletics Tasmania statisticians.

Almost every time he competes, the Tasmanian record books are re-written.

It’s quite the family environment that Peacock is surrounded in. His father Evan (pictured) has evolved as one of the country’s foremost throws coaches, guiding Hamish and younger brother Huw each step of the way. Huw himself is the Australian under-16 hammer and shot put champion. Hamish quickly shuts down any chance of a rivalry being talked up.

“It’s not that much of a rivalry, as we throw different implements. I’m happy for him when he breaks any of my state records, but any that he does break were soft anyway,” he jokes.  

Both boys have phenomenal abilities at the shot and discus, which they both do for ‘fun’. And enjoyable it is too, with Hamish the Australian under-18 shot put champion and Huw, the under-16 Australian shot put champion. Both under the watchful eye of father Evan.

Given the Australian All Schools and Youth Championships have been in Sydney for the past few years, it’s little wonder that it is the favourite place for Hamish to compete. He is quick to add “in Australia that is”, implying the arena at Ostrava in the Czech Republic is his favourite place of all, given that is where he won his World Youth medal.

Over the years, many athletes have been known as ‘good trainers’, but unable to perform when it counts. For Hamish, it’s the complete opposite. Countless times he has performed under pressure when it counts, including his last round victory-clinching throw over close friend and rival Jamal Indris in the shot put at December’s Australian All Schools and of course, that final throw in Ostrava that put him on the dais.

“I like the pressure,” he said. “When there is none, you can’t perform. It’s not just pressure, it’s opportunity, giving you the chance to show your opposition what you’re made of.”

Picture being a thrower for a moment, in a major competition. You’re stuck out on the infield, often for hours, trying to focus on your performance. Yet surrounding you are behemoths out there to perform better.

Little wonder the expression ‘sport is 90% mental’ has been whispered a few times. For Peacock, his concentration level expands beyond that however “nothing really puts me off. I find all the grunting by the other guys funny more than off putting.”

Hamish Peacock also has talents beyond the track. Going into year 12, he is well on his way to enough tertiary entrant points to study engineering, which he is thinking may be the path for him, given maths and science are his subjects of choice.

Which raises the question, has he ever got the calculator out to see where he can crunch some equations to improve his throwing?

“Yeah, we plotted some graphs at home one day to see if we were improving, but it’s really just a matter of working hard and throwing further.”

And that, he is doing.

By Richard Welsh

Hamish Peacock will compete in Thursday’s World Athletics Tour meet in Melbourne, where he will take on some quality senior opponents. Click here to purchase tickets