Last week's catastrophic bushfire warning may have prevented Albion Park athletes from training, but it didn't stop the youngsters cleaning up at the weekend's NSW Little Athletics Relay Championships.
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The club brought home six medals, including one gold, three silver and two bronze, with Albion Park Little Athletics Club president Crystal Woll declaring the group well and truly punched above their weight.
"With the bushfire warning we got closed down three times last week and couldn't access the track," Woll said. "A few of those teams didn't even get to touch a baton together until the race, which was pretty tough for them.
"It's a very big achievement to win a state medal considering we're quite a small club compared to some of those Sydney clubs."
Woll's group was not the only club from the Illawarra to succeed at the competition, with Helensburgh winning gold in the mixed under 9 4x100 metre relay and silver in the mixed under 8 to under 11 4x100m relay.
Albion Park's results were highlighted by gold in the under 12s mixed 4x100m relay, the team defending the state title they won in 2018.
Perhaps one of the biggest achievements of the weekend came in the under 14 mixed 4x400m relay, with the Albion Park squad defeating some of the powerhouse Sydney clubs. The team also claimed bronze in the mixed 4x100m relay.
Even more impressive was the fact one of the boys had never contested a relay in his life prior to Sunday.
"A little boy in the under 14s, Byron, had never done a relay in his life and he had no chance to train. He was taking the baton off Chelsea Ezeoke, so imagine what he would have been going through.
"To win a medal in that 400m relay is a big achievement. That division is open to every club in the state. We're picking from a team of three or four, the Sydney clubs are picking from a team of 40, so our talent pool's much smaller."
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Cameron Mee
Sports reporter at the Canberra Times
Sports reporter at the Canberra Times
