Above and right: Kaitlin Adamson is aiming for the stars after a great performance at this month’s Australian All-Schools and Youth Athletics Championships in Sydney.
By Marc McGowan
CRANBOURNE teenager Kaitlin Adamson is harbouring dreams of representing her country, after a promising debut at this month’s Australian All-Schools and Youth Athletics Championships in Sydney.
The 13-year-old sprinter finished 14th in her pet event, the 400 metres, running the second fastest time of her burgeoning career.
“It’s really exciting,” the Year 7 Cranbourne Secondary College student said.
“It was a great experience to represent Victoria in my athletics and I was pretty happy with how I did.
“My goal is to represent Australia in the Commonwealth or Olympic Games – that would mean a lot.”
Adamson, who runs for the Cranbourne Little Athletics Club, qualified for the event through state competition by beating the qualifying standard of 62.34 seconds for the under-14, 400 metres, which is electronically timed.
“I was just doing a competition called the Victorian All-Schools and I had to get under a certain time to qualify – I did and made the team,” she explained.
Adamson easily broke the mark by posting a time of 60.78 and it was a testament to her stringent training schedule of four sessions a week.
“We do drills and lots of stamina training. I started because I liked running and athletics and keeping fit,” she said.
“It’s fun to meet new people every time you run. My favourite event is the 400 or the 200.”
Her parents are tremendously proud of their daughter and her mother, Kim, shed some light on where Adamson’s athletic ability comes from.
Kim is the track-and-field and rankings coordinator at Cranbourne Little Athletics Club.
“Both of us (Kim and husband Terry) are proud of her achievements, as well as her other family members, including her grandmother, aunty and uncles,” she said.
“I believe her grandfather on Terry’s side ran in some sort of a Stawell Gift, but I don’t know how far that goes back.
“He used to ride his horse and then kick his shoes off and run.”
Adamson has also inherited a passion for horses and occasionally competes in equestrian events.
“My horse’s name is Pluto, who I’ve had for six months. I’ve been riding since I was a baby,” she said.
“I do compete, not a lot, but I came third in a one-day event this year.”
Adamson enjoys both athletics and equestrian, as she sees different qualities in the respective sports.
“They are two different sports and one is more of a leisure sport and the other one is more sportsmanship and totally reliant on yourself, but you have a relationship with the horse,” she said.
For now, Adamson is concentrating on athletics and she is not the only member of her family taking to the track.
“I have an eight-year-old sister, Emma, that does athletics and cross-country and I also have a three-year-old sister, Rhianna, that likes to run and annoy you,” she said.
Adamson also has a strong support network behind her at school and possibly even a future agent-in-the-making in the form of her best friend, Rachel.
“My friends think it’s great. Rachel thinks the most about me,” she said.
“She thinks I’ll go to the Olympics.”
