Running it home

Students Jaylah Hancock-Cameron and Asha Martin returned from running in Tasmania last week at the All Schools Australia Championships. 

The conditions were damp and windy, but the speedy teenagers weren’t deterred.

Asha returned with a time of 14:29 for the 4k course, which was a personal best.

Her time saw her take 20^th position in her combined age group of 16/17 years and number five for her age.

Jaylah managed to get the course done in 14:01, for 5th in her combined age group and 2nd in her age.

Both contestants were running sub-4-minute kilometres.

Jaylah described the experience as “nerve wracking”.

She has been running since she was eight years old, and training seriously for the past 12 months. 

Asha has hopes of making the World Cross Country team in 2019.

If she makes it, she will be running in Aarhus, Denmark – where the weather may be a little colder than Tasmania.

To put the girls’ speed in context, the record holder for the World Cross Country 5km course, Letesenbet Gidey, of Ethiopia, completed it in 14:33.32. Asha only needs to sneak an extra kilometer in to beat that record.

In February, Jaylah also earned herself two State gold medals for convincing wins in the U16 800m and 1500m. 

Asha claimed a silver medal in the U18 3000m steeplechase and a bronze medal in the 1500m.

Both girls say they are looking forward to the upcoming athletics season.

Asha and Jaylah both train with talented athletics coach Andae Kalemusic.

The girls training schedule consists of running six days a week, twice a day.

If that wasn’t challenging enough, they have two days of hard training and strength training thrown in. 

Their nutrition plan is a little more relaxed – they say they eat “lots of everything, all the time”.