Katrina Morrow: from athlete to official

7 March 2021

Katrina Morrow: from athlete to official

The Commonwealth Games holds special memories for Katrina Morrow. She has been involved with five Games – two as a competitor, two as a spectator and now as an official. Her latest association was in 2018 on the Gold Coast with her appointment as a volunteer athletics Technical Official.

“As an athlete, I never imagined I would end up as an athletics official, which I have found equally satisfying,” said Morrow. “There is the same sense of camaraderie, teamwork and commitment that you have as a competitor along with ongoing challenges and learning.”

Her 2018 appointment was special in a number of ways.

“It was 40-years on from when I competed in Edmonton. It was also the fifth Commonwealth Games I'd been too. It’s been lovely journey to experience the different perspectives.”

Her interest in athletics started through school.

“I competed as a country school athlete from Mendooran Central (NSW North West) winning a PSSA and then a CHS championships hurdling the high jump bar as the scissors scared me for some reason.”

Then there was the inevitable move to the ‘big smoke’ for university and furthering of her athletics career.

“After completing high school in Dubbo, I moved to Sydney for Teachers’ College in 1977 and started training under Ken Steward with David Morrow, Lyn Jacenko and others in the same jump squad. Ken matched David and I as training partners – it turned out we got along rather well,” noted Katrina about her future husband, who also went on to become a national high jump champion.

Going from two days a week training on grass and dirt to six days of serious training brought results - Morrow won the national senior championship and Commonwealth Games trials in an Australian high jump record height of 1.89m going on to take gold in Edmonton in the 1978 Commonwealth Games with a height of 1.93m. After arriving in Sydney with a modest best of 1.68m off grass, within 18 months she had raised the national record on three occasions a total of five centimetres, raise her own personal best 25 centimetres and won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, while still a teenager. An extraordinary achievement.

Over the next decade there were injury setbacks, however Morrow would win a medal at the next six national titles, regularly jumping 1.85m+ heights, including a 1.90m in 1981. Aiming to defend her Commonwealth title in Brisbane in 1982, she won the national championships, but in the September trials was beaten by WA’s Christine Stanton. At the Games she had “one of those comps” where she placed eighth, in the event won by Debbie Brill – Canada’s home town favourite four years earlier whom Morrow had beaten in Edmonton.

Career and family followed for Morrow, including a trip to the 1986 Commonwealth Games as a spectator. She also ventured down to Melbourne in 2006 to share the Games experience with her daughter who sadly lost her battle with cancer later that year.

Katrina and husband David Morrow started a new phase in their involvement in athletics in 2012.

“We reached a point in our lives where our kids were finally off pursuing their own lives and interests,” recalled David Morrow. “So, we had the opportunity to follow our own interests. We had been involved with athletics for some years through Chris (their son) at Sydney High. Katrina then started officiating at school carnivals through her work and it came as a sort of natural progression for us to go back to the sport of our youth.“

She recalled her selection for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

“Being selected in any form of team is something you never take for granted. Since we began officiating, my husband David and I have enjoyed working alongside each other to build our experience and learning. Being selected for Commonwealth Games had been a bonus for us both and meant so much more that we both were able to share this experience.”

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Images: Katrina Morrow competing in the high jump at the 1978 Commonwealth Games and with 2014 Commonwealth Games high jump champion Eleanor Patterson.