Live Physical Performance show podcast
Hosted by: Brad Beer
Sponsored by POGO Physio
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I started running through school at the age of 13, while also playing soccer at the same time. The following year I decided to concentrate on running instead of soccer as I wanted to be responsible for the performance that was produced.
With each year at school, I steadily progress each year making district, region, state then winning a national junior medal and making the Australian world junior track and field team to Jamaica.
A couple of months after returning home from world juniors I moved to Canberra to take up a scholarship at the AIS.
Once I moved to Canberra my running really started to take off. I began to train for the 1500m, which I went from having a pb of 3:50 to running my current pb of 3:39. But unfortunately after 2.5 years in Canberra I started to have some injuries plus the distance running program getting cut saw me move back home to the Gold Coast to rebuild everything.
After the injuries I found it difficult to get my speed back to where I thought I need to have it so I moved up to longer distances as my body could handle the longer running better then the intense training of the 1500m.
Once I had made the decision to focus on running longer distances I progressively improved. I made my marathon debut in Rotterdam. My second marathon was the Delhi Commonwealth games where I finished second. Following Delhi. In 2012 i made my Olympic debut in the marathon finishing in 16th. In 2014 I won the Commonwealth games marathon in Glasgow, running my Pb 2:11:15
The start of 2016 I travelled to Cardiff in Wales to compete at the World Half Marathon championships. After falling just at the start line I did my best to run through the field and eventually finished in 20th position. While building towards the Rio Olympics I unfortunately injured my Achilles forcing a large modification towards training in the last couple of weeks. Despite the interruptions I still competed and finished 47th.
2017 was an important year following my injury I bounced back to record my 5th 2:11 performance for the marathon. Which ended up qualifying me for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and the opportunity to defend my title. Which I was able to do. In 2019 I decided to call time on my competitive career and transition into more of a traditional life while staying active.