The experience of recently representing regional Australia at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Fiji has inspired local athlete Scarlett Southern.
Scarlett competed in the 400m and 800m finals, placing sixth in both, and the 4 x 400m mixed relay final, placing third.
Coming home with a medal was exciting for the 17-year-old, but so was the experience of representing her country on the big stage.
“The whole experience has inspired me to keep pushing. I had such a great time, made new friends and the atmosphere was amazing, it was so much fun,” Scarlett said.
“The first day I raced I was pretty nervous but I decided to make the most of the opportunity and I told myself it is what it is and I just gave it my best shot.”
She also learnt how to deal with a few challenges, including illness, humidity, eating rice for breakfast lunch and tea, and of course, the weather.
“About a week before I left for Fiji I got sick so I just tried to focus on training, recovery and laying low. I made it to the finals and while I didn’t get a PB I am happy with the way I performed,” she said.
Scarlett said her times were consistent and she was half-a-second off a personal best in the 400m, finishing in 58.83 seconds, and a second off a PB in the 800m.
She only found out she was competing in the relay the night before the race.
“The relay was held after the 800m final so I only had 40 minutes to recover,” Scarlett said.
“When it was my turn to run and I received the baton, we were coming last and I managed to get us up into third and we were able to hold that position and medal.”
Scarlett said it wasn’t a bad effort for the team considering she and the other female runner had just competed in the 800m final and one of the male runners was a 3km specialist.
“I have no idea what our split times were but there was less pressure and it just felt really good to race,” she said.
Scarlett said she really enjoyed the experience of the 800m event, even though she didn’t get a PB.
“There is a lot less pressure in the 800m because you don’t have to come out of the blocks. Over winter I will be looking at my training, pacing and tactics to keep on improving,” she said.
Returning home, Scarlett was keen to catch up with her coach Laurie Edmonstone, who is based in Echuca.
“He was so excited for me and he wanted to show my medal to the younger kids to inspire them,” she said.
Scarlett said she wouldn’t have progressed as far as she has without the love and support from her family, friends and, of course, Laurie.
“The school was also emailing Mum to see how I was going — I am just so appreciative for all the support I received,” she said.
And now with the trip behind her, Scarlett said she would start to ease back into her winter training program and begin working on her speed and endurance, ready for the new racing season.
“The whole experience has taught me how important it is to be adaptable, although I do believe regional athletes are already pretty resilient anyway because we don’t get things as easy as city athletes,” she said.
Scarlett said she would continue to keep working hard and see where her athletic journey takes her.