Winning her age division in a half marathon on Sunday,16 June, was not just a gold medal performance for The Armidale School (TAS) student Emily Ussher, it was literally, a class effort as part of an innovative academic subject.
Storming home in a time of 1:35:21, the talented athlete took out the 21.1km Bay to Bay Half Marathon girls 16-19 years division for the second consecutive year and was 10th of 407 female runners.
Meanwhile in the 16-19 boys’ division, first across the line was another TAS student, Andrew Brennan, who bettered his second-place last year. Andrew powered home in 1:27:06 and was 30th finisher of the 942 entrants in the hallmark event, which starts at Woy Woy and follows a course around Brisbane Water to finish in Gosford Stadium.
“Last year I focused on simply being able to finish the race as I had never done it before, but this year I attempted to stick to a goal pace. However, my strategy changed again about halfway through the race as I had very bad blisters, so I just aimed to once again finish,” Emily said.
Andrew said despite limited training due to illness, familiarity with the course helped with his result this year, which he said was also a healthy break from his HSC studies.
“It’s nice and flat which is good for speed, and the other competitors are always friendly and supportive as well. Because I was a bit underprepared, I was a little surprised with how good I felt while running, and my time was only seven seconds different to last year.”
For Emily and the bulk of the 28 TAS students who raced, it was the culmination of their coursework in the Marathon Athlete elective, a popular choice for boys and girls in Years 9 and 10.
Physiology, anatomy, nutrition, training and race preparation for elite performance are all topics in the course, as well the history of marathons and their growing popularity.
“It really helps understand long distance running and also teaches you how to rest effectively to improve performance,” said Emily, who has also been selected to run for Combined Independent Schools in the NSW All Schools cross country championships next month.
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