Athletics Australia – News – McCann and Hogan ready to fire

The athletics community on the west coast is today celebrating the success of its own developing talent, with Shannon McCann (WA) and Cruz Hogan (WA) both delivering Commonwealth Games ‘B' Standards to win state titles just days before the Go for 2&5 Perth Track Classic this Saturday 22 February.

Joining the more than 60 athletes that have now recorded at least one qualifying performance for Glasgow 2014, McCann ran 13.26 to win gold in the women's 100m hurdles, while Hogan hurled 72.76m to take out the men's javelin in resounding fashion.

A two-time national champion (2012, 2013), McCann's performance saw the 24-year-old not only improve on the 13.40 she ran to win at the Hunter Track Classic last month, but also improve her personal best of 13.30 from the Summer Universiade in Kazan (RUS) last July.

Set to line-up alongside Olympic hurdles champion Sally Pearson (Qld) and IAAF World Junior Championships finalist Michelle Jenneke (NSW) at the first leg of the Australian Athletics Tour this weekend, McCann looks forward to having another opportunity to race on the bouncy new home straight at the WA Athletics Stadium.

"The track in Perth is awesome. I never knew that they could lay a new track in the way they have, with the new surface just laid over the top of what was there originally. Take it from me it is great to run on," McCann said.

"I'm very much looking forward to racing against Sally too. She is the best in the world that's for sure, and I'm hoping that with her next to me this weekend I can bring my time down once again and secure the A-Qualifying mark for Glasgow. If I am selected I am not going to go just to fill a lane and take home a tracksuit, I want to be competitive and to be competitive I have to keep bringing that time down and hopefully that's what happens in the next few weeks leading into Nationals.

"I am so determined to stay healthy and keep improving. I've had a few little injuries and other problems in previous seasons that have perhaps prevented performances like my run on the weekend and I want to make sure that I do all I can to avoid that, and then the option of being my best for the Commonwealth Games remains a possibility."

Hogan, who will celebrate his 20th birthday on the same day as the Perth Track Classic this Saturday, becomes the sixth Australian man to boast the Commonwealth Games ‘B' Standard after he threw 72.76m to win the Western Australian title on Sunday.

Ensuring that the men's javelin is now the most hotly contested event on the Australian athletics event schedule, Hogan joins the already qualified Matt Outzen (NSW), Luke Cann (Vic), Ben Baker (NSW) and Josh Robinson (Qld), as well as IAAF World Championships debutant Hamish Peacock (Tas).

Importantly for Hogan, though, is that his opening qualifier came from his first competition of the year and after a rocky summer of training that has seen niggling injury and a hampered training environment due to the track at the WA Athletics Stadium being replaced.

"Competition on the weekend was my first this year and it was great to get back out there. Athletes say it a bit, but I genuinely wasn't expecting to perform as well as I did and it's a big boost before the Perth meet on Saturday. It's given me motivation to have a real crack against the boys that are coming over, and just to trust that I have done the work to throw something that warrants the attention of other athletes in my event," Hogan said.

"I didn't expect it to go as well as it did because training has been a little bit up and down. I've had a couple of niggling injuries and the track over here has been being replaced for a while so we have had to train on grass which has been a little unusual.

"Since we have come back to the stadium things have turned around though. The surface is bouncy and it has been so much easier to throw a good session compared to before it was repaired and when we threw on grass.

A training partner of IAAF World Championships silver medallist Kim Mickle (WA), Hogan made the move to work with Grant Ward three years ago. He sees Mickle and her work ethic as an athlete as an inspiration, and believes he has dramatically improved as an athlete since changing his training program under the guidance of the Athletics Australia Coach of the Year.

"I'm very lucky to have a training partner in Kim. She's my idol when it comes to my athletics, that's for sure, and you can't fault the commitment she has to improving and being her best," Hogan added.

"Grant has been such an awesome influence on me too. My technique has improved so much since I began working with him three years ago and I am a stronger and more capable athlete. He's taken me from being a bit hit and miss to someone that can throw a Commonwealth Games Qualifier so I certainly can't complain."

The Go for 2&5 Perth Track Classic is the first of three events that form the 2014 Australian Athletics Tour, with the Sydney Track Classic and the IAAF Melbourne World Challenge to follow in March.

The confirmation of a plethora of international athletes including Felix Sanchez (DOM) and LaShawn Merritt (USA), as well as Australia's best including 20 athletes from the Australian Flame team at the IAAF World Championships, continues the custom of world-class athletics descending on Perth as part of a strong partnership between Athletics Australia and the Western Australian Government, through its event agency Eventscorp.

The partnership also includes hosting the Australian Junior Athletics Championships in 2016, after the event was taken west for the first time last year. The 2013 championship was the largest in history, with participation levels thriving in the ideal conditions at the Western Australia Athletics Stadium.

For more information on the 2014 National Athletics Series, incorporating the Australian Athletics Tour, please click here.

To purchase tickets to the Go for 2&5 Perth Track Classic, please click here to visit Ticketmaster Australia.

 

Athletics Australia – News