Canberra Telstra-A Meet

With ideal conditions, there were bound to be great performances. Sally McLellan impressed in the 100m hurdles and again in the flat 100m with 12.88 windy and a legal 11.25 respectively. Chris Noffke outclassed the AIS squad with another windy leap of 8.05m. Alana Boyd and Kim Howe had a close dual in the pole vault, both clearing a credible 4.45m and missing 4.60m.

My competition started well with a legal jump of 6.50m – my best season opener to date. The rest of my competition was inconsistent and I didn’t improve on my first jump. As my running improved on the runway, despite moving my run-up back, I found myself fouling or having to chop my strides to compensate making it very difficult to jump. I was given 2 attempts in third round as one of the officials started to walk out on to the runway during my attempt. The additional attempt was rushed and ineffectual but it’s the first time I’ve been given 7 attempts in a competition.

Commonwealth Games Heptathlon Silver Medallist, Kylie Wheeler, managed 6.43m to place second after posting good results in both the high jump and hurdles earlier in the day. Jacinta Boyd significantly improved on her Australia Cup performance to place third with 6.33m.

One of the great inclusions into the event was the use of music that athletes use to psych-up. I was fortunate enough to have a couple of my psych-up songs played during the event. The first time I was exposed to this was in a Long-Jump-only meet in Germany last year. The DJ would play your song while you were on the runway and it was LOUD and the baselines were pumping!! I think this is a great idea – I believe it is beneficial to the athlete and makes for a great atmosphere for spectators too.

My inconsistency is a representation of my training, only having done 3 run-ups session this season (whereas usually prior to my first competition, I would have had at least a dozen). With 4 weeks until State Titles, Gary and I will be continuing to focus on my speed and being able to maintain position at the board with that speed. By the Melbourne World Athletics Tour meet and Nationals, I’m hoping to be back up around my best.