Local sports stars sweep state awards

BALLARAT athletes represented their region over the past two weekends with competitors from across the state taking part in the Victorian Track and Field Championships held at Melbourne’s Lakeside Stadium.

Local competitors collectively took home more than 50 medals and Ballarat Regional Athletic Centre manager Ashley Anderson said their participation was a great indicator of how Ballarat’s athletes can perform at state level.

“They fared extremely well both from a medal perspective and from a number of participants across both weekends,” he said.

“A lot of athletes, when they compete here, are competing against each other so it’s often hard to indicate how well they go against athletes from other regions.

“So, when it comes to state, it can be surprising to see some of the results. The fact they’re winning medals at state level really shows the level of talent in Ballarat at the moment.”

The first weekend saw local athletes take home 12 golds out of 29 medals.

The second series of events saw 22 medals won, six of which were gold.

Ballarat YCW’s Scott Peart was one of the top athletes for the second weekend, taking first place in the 5000-metre under 20 men’s walk on Sunday.

“It was pretty exciting getting first,” Peart said. “The last couple years I’ve been coming second in the state events.

“This is my first gold medal so I can see that I’m progressing and all my hours of training, it’s showing in the results.

“I train about six days a week usually at Lake Wendouree and slowly increase my distance and speed as I built towards the race.”