Jaxon Paterson-Wright became the first boy to go back-to-back in the Zespri 4km Junior Dash crossing the line in 12:36
A breakaway victory by the first boy to snare back-to-back Zespri 4km Junior Dash wins was matched in spectacle by one of the closest ever finishes in the girls’ Zespri 4km Junior Dash at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon this morning.
Jaxon Paterson-Wright from Coorparoo in Brisbane was in a class of his own as he recorded a sizzling time of 12:36 and a 40-second victory over Lachlan Cornelius (13:16) and Harrison Turner (13:45). Paterson-Wright’s time was only seven seconds outside the race record set by Riley Cocks in 2010.
Australian cross country representative Chloe Randall from Cabarlah in Queensland pulled out all stops to run 14:22 and record a one second victory over fellow cross country specialist Emily Witt (14:23) and a fast-finishing Mia White (14:28).
The boys’ and girls’ honours in the Zespri 2km Junior Dash went to 10-year-old Gold Coast runners Matthew Lowe (6:53) and Kyah Anderson (6:58).
State primary school champion Lowe’s run was the second Zespri Junior Dash back-to-back victory of the morning, while Anderson’s run was particularly outstanding as she crossed the line second overall in the 800-strong boy’s and girl’s field.
This morning’s race program also included the Southern Cross University 10km Run and plenty of colour and characters in The Star Gold Coast 5.7km Challenge.
Tomorrow’s program will feature the ASICS Half Marathon starting at 6:00am, Wheelchair Marathon at 7:15am and Gold Coast Airport Marathon over 42.195km.
Chloe Randall took out the Zespri 4km Junior Dash in 14:22
The Star Gold Coast 5.7km Challenge
Men: Cody Shanahan (VIC) 17m19s 1, Lachlan Jones (QLD) 18m13s 2, Robert Swoboda (QLD) 18m14s 3, David Pinto (QLD) 18m35s 4, Max Whiteoak (QLD) 18m36s 5, Jayden Little (QLD) 18m41s 6, Kirk Shanahan 19m00s (VIC) 7, Jacob Allmaras (QLD) 19m09s 8, Blake Hudson (QLD) 19m11s 9, Corey Thornton (QLD) 19m13s 10.
Women: Courtney Scott (VIC) 20m08s 1, Amber Johnson (USA) 20m16s 2, Jamie McIver (NSW) 20m44s 3, Hannah Corson (QLD) 20m54s 4, Ebony Dodemaide (VIC) 21m07s 5, Maighan Brown (QLD) 21m43s 6, Alexandra Stevens (QLD) 21m46s 7, Brittany Donovan (QLD) 21m55s 8, Leah Simpson (QLD) 22m07s 9, Annabel White (QLD) 22m17s 10.
Zespri 4km Junior Dash
Girls: Jaxon Paterson-Wright (QLD) 12m37s 1, Lachlan Cornelius (QLD) 13m17s 2, Harrison Turner (QLD) 13m46s 3, Samuel Heeremans (QLD) 13m47s 4, Leigh Vesey (QLD) 13m53s 5, Flynn Pumpa (QLD) 13m55s 6, Max Hooper (QLD) 13m56s (VIC) 7,Will Cooper (NSW) 13m59s 8, Charlie Randall (QLD) 14m09s 9, Oscar Cornelius (QLD) 14m16s 10.
Boys: Chloe Randall (QLD) 14m23s 1, Emily Witt (QLD) 14m21s 2, Mia White 14m29s 3, Jayda Anderson 14m57s 4, Kloe Lockhart 14m54s 5, Kali Byres 14m57s 6, Hayley Kitching 15m09s 7, Trista Hockey 15m15s 8, Caitlyn Morse 15m17s 9, Bridget McCormack 15m23s 10.
Zespri 2km Junior Dash
Boys: Matthew Lowe (QLD) 6m53s 1, Dylan Smith (QLD) 7m01s 2, Caiden Macfarlane (QLD) 7m19s 3, Matthew McLachlan (NSW) 7m19s 4, Kody Hockey (QLD) 7m30s 5, Cooper Bagley (QLD) 7m46s 6, Casper Oliver (QLD) 7m48s 7, Howie Eastwood (NSW) 7m53s 8, William Dennis (QLD) 8m05s 9, Ethan Sneyders (VIC) 8m07s 10.
Girls: Kyah Anderson (QLD) 6m58s 1, Gemma Hooper (QLD) 7m19s 2, Misaki Kishimoto (JPN) 7m28s 3, Monica Heeremans (QLD) 7m50s 4, Gracie Turner (QLD) 7m50s 5, Ella Knox (QLD) 7m54s 6, Jorja Lockhart (QLD) 7m56s 7, Brogan Tomich (QLD) 7m57s 8, Grace Campbell (QLD) 8m26s 9, Penelope Gill (NSW) 8m32s 10.
Matthew Lowe claimed back-to-back victories in the boys Zespri 2km Junior Dash in 06:53
Zespri 4km Junior Dash
Boys – 1st place – Jaxon Paterson-Wright, 14-years-old (QLD)
On missing the race record:
“Definitely the goal was the record (12.29). I was eyeing it off last year. I was 10 seconds off it last year but I thought with a bit of training I could get it but I was just off today. Congrats’ to Riley [Cocks – record holder].”
On the race:
“On the way back it was a bit windy, but it was all right. This year was a bit harder than last year, but I feel like I did better this year.”
On competing at a future Commonwealth Games:
“Maybe in a couple of years; that’s the main goal.”
On what other sports he plays:
“I do a lot of interschool sports like volleyball, basketball and soccer, but outside of school, running’s my priority.”
On the Gold Coast:
“I love running on the Gold Coast. With the beach on your right, looking at all the highrises on your left, it’s awesome – and it’s a fast flat course, which is good.”
On his coach:
“The commentator is my coach, Brian Chapman; He’s a really great coach I love him.”
Boys – 2nd place – Lachlan Cornelius, 10-years-old (QLD)
On finishing second:
“I was hoping for second before the race. It was a nice race, racing against Jaxon.”
On his previous efforts at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon:
“Yeah, I didn’t go too well. I don’t know what I came but it wasn’t second.”
On how long he has been training:
“I have been training from basically the start of the year.”
Boys – 3rd place – Harrison Turner, 13-years-old (QLD)
On his feelings about the race:
“I haven’t had the best start to the season but I’m trying to get better and this finish proves I am.”
On where he runs next:
“I’m looking forward to States’ (championships) in two weeks and from there I want to go to All Schools for athletics later in the year.”
On the conditions:
“The wind made it really hard because it kept drying out my mouth.”
Kyah Anderson claimed the Zespri 2km Junior Dash in 6:58
Girls – 1st place – Chloe Randall – 13-years-old (QLD)
On the race:
“The first half of the race felt pretty easy, but as we turned the corner for the 250m mark I started sprinting and kept looking over my shoulder to make sure I was in the lead.”
On the final stages of the race:
“At the end I got really tired, but knew that I just had to keep pushing myself to make it over the finish line and win.”
On her next goal:
“I was hoping to beat my brother, but I didn’t, but there is always next year. The next event for me is State cross country so I will turn my attention towards training for that.”
Girls – 2nd place – Emily Witt, 13-years-old (QLD)
On her preparation:
“This year was a bit of a last-minute thing. I train all year round so I was ready for it though.”
On missing last year’s race:
“I competed two years ago but couldn’t last year because of a stress fracture, so I came back this year after not being able to run for a good couple of months.”
On her race:
“The track was great and it was a good run today.”
Girls – 3rd place – Mia White, 13-years-old (VIC)
On the race:
“The race wasn’t too hard and wasn’t too easy. It went pretty good.”
On her hopes for the race:
“I wasn’t aiming for anything overall, but I’m happy with the result.”
On what she will do next:
“I’m now planning on taking part in the national championships in Wollongong, with plenty of training.
On her more immediate plans:
“I’m going straight out for brekkie.”
The stars aligned for Victorian Cody Shanahan in The Star Gold Coast 5.7km Challenge.
Boys – 1st place – Matthew Lowe, 10-years-old (QLD)
On how confident he was of winning:
“Yeah I was going for the record.”
On how long he has been training:
“I started intense (training) when I was eight or nine years old.”
On what he had for breakfast:
“To be honest I didn’t (have anything), then dad got me a muffin from 7/11.”
Boys – 2nd place – Dylan Smith, 10-years-old (QLD)
On his race:
“I had a bad start, I had a small trip and hurt myself, so I had to really work in the middle part of the race and managed to come second.”
“I am really happy with my result, but also very exhausted.”
Girls – 1st place – Kyah Anderson, 10-years-old, (QLD)
On her preparation for this race:
“I’ve been running since I was six and I love it. I do long distance training so this was short, my favourite is five kilometres.”
On how she feels about winning:
“Second overall and first girl feels really good. We might go out for dinner to celebrate.”
Girls – 2nd place – Gemma Hooper, 10-years-old (QLD)
On how she enjoyed the race:
“It was a good race, but I am really tired.”
On what she will do next:
“I really want to relax, but next up for me is the state cross country championships and I will run three kilometres there.”
Men – 1st finisher – Cody Shanahan (VIC)
On how he felt during the race:
“It was a really tough one because I was out there on my own with a really rough headwind.
“I really wanted to beat my training partner’s time, but I just missed out because he ran 17.03 last year and I just ran 17:19, but I’m still pretty happy with it given the conditions. I really wanted to push myself and see how fast I could go.”
On what’s next:
“I’m really looking forward to the national cross-country championships in August and just really want to continue running really well.”
Men’s – 2nd finisher – Lachlan Jones (QLD)
On his goal for the race:
“To be honest with you I didn’t really have a goal, even finishing this race.
“We’re all triathletes in my squad, so we just wanted to get to 5km as quick as possible really and after that just see how we could finish.
“I’m happy that we got the 5km – we finished that last 700(m) pretty strong.”
On his time:
“I’m pretty happy considering we went through 2km in sub-six minutes, so we started off pretty strong and I’m happy that we could bring it home in a quicker time as well.”
On what is next:
“I’ve got about two weeks until we’ve got state cross country. I’m in a team with my school Emmanuel College, so I think this is kind of an event I guess to see how we’re shaping up for state cross. I think we’re all sort of in shape, so that should be good.”
Men – 3rd position – Robert Swoboda (USA)
On how the race went:
“Better than I expected that’s for sure, I just wanted to finish, I’ve never ran a 5.7 kilometre before, so low 18 is good for me.”
On what’s next:
“Some other 5km is next for me, I’m here for the down under sport; there’s about 250 of us here competing in different running events and sporting competitions.”
Victoria’s Courtney Scott took the tape in The Star Gold Coast 5.7km Challenge.
Women – 1st position – Courtney Scott (VIC)
On how the race unfolded:
“I went out hard, just to see how long I could hold on for and I managed to win, so I’m super happy.”
On whether she had goals for the race:
“No, not really. I didn’t really know who else was going to be in the race. I thought I’d just go hard and see where I finish. I was hoping top three and I came out with a win.”
On her preparation:
“I train for athletics and cross country, so all year round I’m competing and training.”
On the Gold Coast Airport Marathon as an event:
“I love doing fun runs, because there’s not as much pressure. But it’s a great set up; it’s the first time I’ve done it and I’ll be back again next year.
“It’s like five degrees in Ballarat in Victoria and it’s like 22 degrees here, so I’m pretty stoked with that.”
On her plans while on the Gold Coast:
“To go shopping and hang by the beach.”
Women – 2nd position – Amber Johnston (USA)
On the race:
“I am pretty thrilled. I just came out here to have some fun today. I tried to put minimal expectations on myself, but I am really happy with the race.”
On her effort:
“I try to start controlled. I have been running a lot of 1500m races lately, so this is the first long distance I have done in the past year. I just wanted to start controlled and make sure I didn’t push myself too hard at the beginning.
“I wanted to be around my time from high school, I haven’t really run any long distance events since then, so I would have been happy just to be around my high school best, which I did, so I am thrilled.”
On what’s next:
“I am just looking to do some recreational running now, some fun road races really.
“I am just here visiting from Florida, visiting friend, and I got roped into doing a race. Now I will just continue enjoying my holidays down under.”
Women – 3rd position – Jamie McIver (NSW)
On how she felt in the race:
“That felt really good considering I’ve had a calf niggle in the past week and only decided to race yesterday.
“I looked at last year’s times before the race and was confident of a top five finish. Then I was running well and just kept overtaking people. It was great. I love the Gold Coast and the heat – I enjoy fast road races.”
On her result:
“I’m actually overwhelmed finishing third and exceeded my expectations. My race plan was to go easy and conservative and just see how I felt. But I had more pace than I thought I would and actually got a personal best m time.”
On what’s next:
“Now I’m going to focus on training for the national cross country event later this year.”
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