Australian XC Championships Preview: Feature race U20 women

25 Aug 2022

Australian XC Championships Preview: Feature race U20 women

Amongst the many junior events, one of the feature races for NSW supporters at the Australian Cross Country Championships this weekend in Adelaide, will be the women’s under-20 6km event.

It is also a key opportunity for some of the age-eligible athletes to show form ahead of the Australian team trial in January for the 2023 World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst. There is an under-20 event at the World XC Championships where Australia will select six male and six female from the age-eligible athletes, born 2004 or later.

On Saturday in Adelaide the under-20 women’s 6km race has 46 starters with a terrific line-up of athletes led by NSW. Just back from the World U20 Championships, NSW pair Laura Roderick and Hayley Kitching will line up. Hayley made the 800m final at the World U20s, clocking a sensational time of 2:02.12 in the semi-final. Laura, the NSW State XC champion from Nowra, competed in the 5000m in Cali, where she clocked 17:21 in the final.

Another jet setting junior in the race, is Balmain’s Emma Olson-Keating. A talented triathlete, Emma represented Australia in Montreal in June at the Junior World Triathlon Sprint Championships. Then in July she competed at the Europe Triathlon Junior Cup in Hungary. A week after her Hungary race, Emma most impressively won the NSW Schools XC by 30 seconds.

Other NSW athletes to athletes to watch include Sophie Ferenczi and Shayne Hargraves.

There main competition looks to be Victorian State Schools XC champion Amelie Alleva. Another one to watch will be Queenslander Sayla Donnelley, daughter of former leading NSW half-miler Amber Menzies.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW
Image: Emma Olson-Keating (#16) & Hayley Kitching (#12) at the 2019 NSW XC Championships. (image courtesy of David Tarbotton)