Tasmanians at the 2022 Australian Winter Race Walking Championships

Congratulations to the four Tasmanian athletes who will make up a small but talented group of juniors heading off to the Australian Winter Race Walking Championships at Middle Park Melbourne on Sunday, 11th September. Tasmanian has had great success with race Walkers in these Championships over the years, and we know this young team will no doubt follow in their footsteps.

Leading this group of young athletes is Will Bottle (Newstead), who is having the year of his life across many Race-Walking Events. Will is also the U18 Tasmanian Athlete of the Year. Having achieved third place at Nationals over the 5000M distance, Will was noticed by the infamous Bob Cruise and Jared Talent. After consultation with Tasmanian Race Walking and Wills coach James Anderson, Will transitioned to Jared Talent in preparation for his attempt on World Juniors in 22 months. A tremendous amount of dedication and focus to training, as well as a willingness to succeed, has seen him climb to 11th in the Senior Australian rankings and first in his age group in the 10KM event. Having already taken 4 minutes off his time this season. Will, will continue to be mentored by James Anderson in Launceston, whilst Jared Talent will be instrumental in providing him with his program and guidance throughout this journey.

We are lucky enough to have two other talented young walkers in the U16 age group over the more significant distance of 5KM. Both young men are ranked in the top 6 in the Country. OVA’s Oliver Morgan ( South), coached by Rosemary Coleman and Newstead’s Sam Lindsey ( North), coached by James Anderson, will undoubtedly feature in the highly talented Australian group of walkers in that age group. Both these boys are members of the Tasmanian TTP program and continue to impress with their attitude to their walking. Just like Will, they want to reach higher goals. Sam Lindsey is the current Track 3000M bronze medallist from Nationals.

Rounding off this group are two developing walkers who are indeed brother and sister, Lily (OVA) and Lucas Carr (LA), competing in the U12 and U14 age groups, respectively. 

We wish all athletes the very best as they head across to Melbourne. There is no doubt they will do Tasmania proud.

Rosemary Coleman
Race Walking Tasmanian Coach