Albany Athletics Club makes the most of home advantage to collect major medal haul at WA Country Championships

Hundreds of athletes, parents and spectators descended on Albany Athletics Club at the weekend for the WA Country Championships, with the hosts making the most of their home advantage to grab a clutch of medals. The 68 home athletes entered collected 58 gold medals, 45 silver and 30 bronze. Taking place over January 16, 17 and 18, the 400-plus athletes battled all four seasons as heat and wind on Friday gave way to a cold and wet Saturday and a blazing Sunday. For the track competitors, the bend into the back straight was the gateway into a head-on gale as they ran parallel to North Road — but it did not stop Ginger Gleeson setting four new championship records. First to go was the under-17 400m, which she covered in 58.49sec., and then came the 1500m, where she demolished the previous best, set in 2006, by more than 20sec. to cross the line in 4min. 51.20sec. Her third outing, in the 800m, reset the old best by five seconds to 2:17.56, and she capped a super meeting by flying home in the 300m hurdles for a fourth record in 46.18sec. A massive leap from Great Southern Academy of Sport athlete Mason Watkins set a new under-18 triple jump record of 14.37m as he took gold. The eight GSAS athletes took home 32 medals between them, with Makiah Suttie cleaning up in the under-15 100m, 200m, 400m and long jump. Caleb Benson pulled out halfway through the 400m, looking as though he had tweaked a hamstring, but recovered to win the under-18 800m and 1500m. The under-18 400m, which lost Benson after 200m, was won by Brody Oliver, a member of Albany Athletics Club, even though he lives in Esperance. He was well in control even before Benson’s demise and looks to be a quality prospect. Also a part of the meeting, though not a medal event, was the Peter Watson Mile. The event is named in honour of the former Albany MLA, a sub-four-minute miler himself who competed in the 1968 Olympics. He was engaged to ring the bell, signalling the final lap, and had to do so several times as the seven-strong field spread out. Albany’s GSAS middle-distance runner PG Van Wyk and Canning Districts’ Daniel Davies were neck and neck for the first three laps, but Davies upped the pace in the final lap to get home first in 4:52.26. Van Wyk’s 5:07.81 in second place was a personal best with the pair being well clear of third-placed Caroline Mader, the first woman home in 6:50.85. Van Wyk made up for his runner-up finish by completing an under-17 800m and 1500m double in the championship proper. Albany Athletics Club president Carl Heslop said the event had been a marvellous spectacle. “The club is really proud of the way we were able to welcome athletes and their families to Albany,” he said. “It was an especially great moment to see it all come together and we got excellent feedback from the competitors and from Athletics West. “We had great support from Athletics West and the City of Albany and the turnout of volunteers across the weekend was overwhelming.”