A golden weekend for Estlick

WENDOUREE Athletics Club’s Mackenzie Estlick has taken home three gold medals at the Victorian Track and Field Championships held at Lakeside Stadium on 15 and 16 February.

Estlick, who is also a member of Bacchus Marsh Little Athletics Centre, achieved two personal bests – running the under-18 100-metre event in 11.89 seconds and the under-18 200-metre race in 24.61 seconds.

“My 100-metre final was definitely a highlight for me,” Estlick said.

“When I heard over the announcement that I ran it in 11.89 I was shocked because I was running into a -1.9 head wind.

“If the head wind wasn’t there I would have ran in the 11.70s, which has me on track for the world junior championships next year in America.”

Estlick also won the under-18 shotput with a throw of 11.3 metres despite missing her first two throws.

“I was definitely surprised with the shotput gold because I hadn’t trained or picked up a shot put for over six months because of my fractured wrist,” she said.

“My 100-metre was also at the same time, so I missed my first two throws.

“I literally had to run from the end of my 100-metre heat over to shot put and throw.”

Estlick thanked her coach Gerrard Keating for his support, and said they are hoping to continue working on the first 30 metres of the 100-metre race.

“Come nationals we hope they have improved even more,” she said.

“My last 30 metres is very good and now my first 30 metres is getting better, so that’s exciting.”

Estlick’s next major competitions will be the junior categories of the Australian Athletics Championships in Perth in April and the Easter Stawell Gift, where she hopes to finish among the top three runners.