ON THE PODIUM: Central Tilba Public School athletes Alexander Waddell, Coupar Woods, Tommy Hawken and Eric Hills celebrate their victory in the final of the Small Schools Relay at the NSW PSSA Athletics Championships in Sydney last Thursday.
LAST Thursday, Central Tilba Public School's relay team competed in the NSW PSSA Athletics Championships in Sydney and came away with first place in the small schools relay.
Travelling up to Sydney on Wednesday, they competed in the early morning heats for schools with an enrolment of under 54 students, and finished fifth out of 27 schools. This put them into the semi-finals which were run at lunch time.
With three excellent relay changes, the team of Eric Hills, Tommy Hawken, Coupar Woods and Alexander Waddell, won their semi-final which propelled them into the final with the fastest time. A long wait then followed as the event was one of the final ones for the carnival.
The boys were nervous but confident as they lined up for the final. Eric started and passed the baton on to Tommy and then to Coupar.
When he handed the baton to the final runner Alexander, they were running fourth, but with a brilliant run Alexander was able to catch those in front of him and was able to finish one tenth of a second in front of a school from Sydney. Their time of 1.01.94 took two seconds off their previous best time.
This win follows their outstanding win at the Regional Championships in Canberra and their District win in Narooma.
The boys trained hard during this period, giving up many recess and lunch times to work on their changes. When a teacher wasn't available to assist, they worked by themselves and always sought to improve with each practice.
The boys would especially like to acknowledge the help of Mr Phil Jones, from Bodalla Public School, who gave up his time to come and coach them one afternoon. They would also like to thank their parents for taking them to and from Sydney and the Tilba District P&C for their financial assistance.