Athletics Australia – News – HUNTER: Olympians Watt & Gregson to headline action

The National Athletics Series will launch with a bang this Saturday, 2 February, as five Olympians, including silver medallist Mitchell Watt (Qld), eight Paralympians and seven reigning national champions take over Newcastle (NSW) with a bounty of their rivals for the Hunter Track Classic.

Watt’s start at the meet will be his first appearance at a National Athletics Series event since he won his inaugural Australian title with an 8.44m jump in Melbourne (Vic) two years ago.

The youngest ever Australian to medal at an IAAF World Championships when he won bronze in 2009, Watt has also delivered bronze at the IAAF World Indoor Championships and two silvers from the 2011 IAAF World Championships and the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The Australian record holder in the men’s long jump, Watt will this weekend compete off a shortened run up of ten steps as he launches an Australian campaign that includes the men’s 100m in Adelaide in two weeks time and the men’s long jump in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne.

Watt said: “From London to now I have been building the length of my run up to a complete stride for later this season. At the moment I am off ten steps, it’s my second week at that length, and in a few more weeks I will move to the full run up and Sydney will be my first competition for that.

“I’d love to come away with a jump of 7.50m off ten steps. If I then jump perfectly off a full run up a jump like this could translate to about 80 centimetres further. Getting that right is the hard part and I will work toward that in the coming months and across the European season.”

Watt’s fellow London 2012 startersin Tim Leathart (NSW), Anthony Alozie (NSW), Benn Harradine (Vic) and Ryan Gregson (NSW) join him on entry lists for the Hunter Track Classic.

Sprinters Leathart and Alozie will start in the men’s 100m, Commonwealth discus champion Harradine will compete on home turf in the men’s discus throw, while Gregson will headline the men’s 800m.

Gregson is the national 1500m record holder and his most likely rival this weekend will be national 800m champion Johnny Rayner (Vic). The 22-year-old is the stadium record holder across two laps, and hopes that this event will launch a strong domestic campaign in his preferred metric mile.

Gregson said: “I’m expecting to be near the front this weekend because I will be using it as a means of setting myself up for strong runs in the 1500m later this season. I find that if I run the 800m in about a 1:47 then I can more easily deliver 1:53 for the first two laps of the 1500m and that is what I want to find.

“The main races for me this season will be in Sydney and Melbourne. Having the Selection Trial return to my home town is great, because it allows my family to come along and that pumps me up to run well.

“I’ve honestly had a three or four month block of training that has been similar to the one before the 2010 season when I set the Australian record. My past two years have been hampered by injury a bit, but this time round I am ready to go. The move to Ballarat with Collis (Birmingham) and Brett (Robinson), as well as a solid base of work at Falls Creek, means that I have been running with guys that push me every session and that’s been really important in establishing a foundation for a big year.”

In what will be a first for track and field in Australia, and arguably the world, the Hunter Track Classic is also set to showcase some of the best local and international wheelchair racers as part of a unique Team Pursuit event.

An adaptation of an event regularly featured in track cycling, the race will be fought out across 2000m. Ten athletes will take part including Paralympic gold medallist Richard Colman (Vic), local favourite Christie Dawes (NSW) and London 2012 medallists Matt Cameron (Qld), Nathan Arkley (SA), Angie Ballard (NSW) and Rosemary Little (NSW).

The Hunter Track Classic is the brainchild of Australian Flame marathoner Scott Westcott, and this year’s instalment, the fourth, is set to be the biggest on record.

Westcott said: “The biggest thing for me is that we have a pursuit race for wheelchair athletes that features so many Paralympians. It is without doubt an Australian first, and could be a world first. It is a really exciting concept that the crowd will love and something close to the heart of people from the area with people like Christie Dawes and Kurt Fearnley based in our region.

“The middle distance contingents are also strong, and being a distance runner myself this is close to my heart. I’d love to see Ryan (Gregson) break his own stadium record in the 800m, and the fields are on the whole pretty strong.

“We always try to be innovative at our meet, and this year we are pumped about having the Olympic silver medallist in Mitch (Watt) in the long jump. We are going to bring the crowd in quite close to give them the best possible experience and that will hopefully make for quite the jump off.”

For further updates on the Hunter Track Classic, please follow these links.

–        Paralympians set to turn Classic into Wheel Deal
–        Watt set to light up Glendale
–        Newcastle ready for Track Classic 2013
–        Ladies lead the charge in sprints

To purchase tickets, and for more information including entry lists, please visit www.huntertrackclassic.com.au

NATIONAL ATHLETICS SERIES
The National Athletics Series, incorporating the 2013 Australian Athletics Tour, is an eight-stop nationwide tour that sees international athletics descend on every state.
The Australian domestic season also features the 4th Australian Junior Athletics Championships, to be held in Perth (WA) for the first time and the 91st Australian Athletics Championships & IAAF World Championships Selection Trial in Sydney (NSW) for the first time since 2006.

20 Jan 2013 IAAF World Cross Country Selection Trial – Canberra (ACT)
2 Feb 2013 Hunter Track Classic – Newcastle (NSW)
16 Feb 2013 Adelaide Track Classic – Adelaide (SA) – click here for tickets
16-17 Feb 2013 Aust. Junior Combined Event Championships -Adelaide (SA)
23 Feb 2013 Briggs Athletics Classic – Hobart (Tas)
24 Feb 2013 Oceania & Aust. 20km Race Walking Championships – Hobart (Tas)
9 Mar 2013 Sydney Track Classic – Sydney (NSW) – click here for tickets
12-17 Mar 2013 Australian Junior Athletics Championships – Perth (WA)
16 Mar 2013 Perth Track Classic – Perth (WA) – click here for tickets
23 Mar 2013 Queensland Track Classic – Brisbane (Qld)
6 Apr 2013 Melbourne World Challenge – Melbourne (Vic) – click here for tickets
11-14 Apr 2013 91st Australian Athletics Championships & IAAF World Championships Selection Trial – Sydney (NSW) – click here for tickets

 

Athletics Australia – News