Athletics Australia – News – American in accent but Australian at heart, Areson is ready to go

American in accent but Australian at heart, Jackie Areson (Qld) will get her chance to don the green and gold for the first time at the IAAF World Championships later this month.

Selected to compete for the Australian Flame in the women’s 5000m, the 25-year-old competed in the 3000m at the most recent IAAF World Indoor Championships for Team USA but has longed for her opportunity to compete for her mother’s homeland since taking up the sport as an adolescent.

“I don’t even know where to begin describing how I got to here. I have been involved in athletics since I was about 11 or 12, and it progressed through high school and college from there. I always had this dream of running at an Olympic Games or something similar so it is pretty amazing to know that I am getting closer to becoming one of those people living out there fantasies,” Areson said.

“I know people say this but I did always want to run for Australia. Even in middle school I was determined to make an Australian team and it probably would have come a little earlier had I not listened to the people around me. Coming through college you take the advice of those that look after you and they said that it would be tough to do, and perhaps not the best decision for my athletics which to me made sense at the time, but since the process started happening in the past year or so it has been amazing. It all sort of got finalised about two weeks out from the American trials and it has been a real whirlwind. To now be in the green and gold is awesome.”

Areson is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and she lives in Houston (USA). A finalist at both the Pan American Games and the IAAF World Indoor Championships, her claim for selection to her first Australian team came after she ran a personal best of 15:12.09 in the women’s 5000m at the Paris-leg of the IAAF Diamond League last month.

“I went to the World Indoors with the American team last year, and that was great. It was such an experience to get out there to compete against foreign athletes because on so many occasions you sit in your bubble not knowing what’s out there,” Areson added.

“Having said that I will probably take more out of the few international races that I have had this year. The Diamond League events have been fantastic and despite my slightly disappointing run in London they have given me good confidence. To run a personal best in Paris was such a great result, it was just one of those races where the girls were good to go and you don’t even feel like you are working for a result like I had.”

The Australian Flame’s entry list in women’s middle distance events also includes open age major championship debutant Kelly Hetherington (Vic, 800m), London Olympian Zoe Buckman (ACT, 1500m) and national champion Lara Tamsett (NSW, 10,000m).

On the men’s side of the draw, Ben St Lawrence (NSW) headlines the Australian in action, with the Oceania and Australian 10,000m record holder set to compete in both the men’s 10,000m and the men’s 5000m.

“The 10,000m has always been my main focus and it is first race which is great. I am at this stage pretending it is the only race I have, I’ll put all my energy into preparing for that and then once it finishes I will go into recovery mode and work closely with the medical team to get me back up to run the 5000m heat. It’s going to be a challenging task so we will see how it goes, but if I pull it off it will be great,” St Lawrence said.

“I’d like to line up in Moscow in good health and form. It’s hard in my events to suggest a time or place because we know that tactics can play such a massive part to the way the race plays out. That being said, I have been really happy with where I am at and should it be a quick event I think that in the 10,000m I will be able to go somewhere near my Australian record which would be awesome.”

Clocking 27:37.55, St Lawrence won the men’s 10,000m at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto (USA) in late April to confirm his automatic selection in the event as Australian champion. Basing himself in Australia for the few months that followed, the Sydney-sider went onto win the Launceston Ten road race in Tasmania, before making his pilgrimage to Europe in July and crossing the line in an IAAF World Championships A-Qualifying time of 13:10.83 at the KBC Nacht de Atletiek to earn his selection for the men’s 5000m.

“I suppose you can say Palo Alto has been good to me. The two times I have run there the conditions have been perfect, with no wind and mild temperatures, plus we have come straight down from altitude after some good training to race the next day. There are always a great bunch of guys running around the A-Qualifying mark and that makes the race competitive which pushes everyone. I ran an Australian record there in 2011, and won with an A-Qualifier this year so it is fair to say that I will be back looking for a run next year too,” St Lawrence added.

“The race in Huesden was my first track event since running in Los Angeles months ago. Since then I have spent the time at home in Australia, running a couple of road races and cross-country relays, and because of that when I got there I was a bit unsure of how things would go. I knew that training had been going well so I decided just to have a crack for my PB and I went pretty close which was great. Again it came down to the race being a part of a really good meet, full of really good athletes which is fantastic.”

St Lawrence will be joined in the men’s 10,000m by Australian half marathon record holder Collis Birmingham (Vic) and IAAF World Junior Championships representative Brett Robinson (ACT) will start alongside him in the men’s 5000m.  Alex Rowe (Vic) will battle it out in the men’s 800m, with further information on the road to Moscow for Rowe available here.

The Australian Flame team is now together at the Australian Flame Team Camp at the Tonbridge School in Tonbridge (GBR). The team will remain here until Tuesday 6 August, before travelling to the host city of Moscow for the IAAF World Championships.

Competition commences on 10 August, and continues through until 18 August 2013.

For more information on the Australian Flame and the IAAF World Championships, please follow this link to athletics.com.au.

 

Athletics Australia – News