Bowen Athletics Carnival Sets Record Pace

Joel and his local Bowen Athletics Jumps Coach Nigel Thicker. Photo supplied

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The annual Bowen Athletics Carnival was held on the 30^th and 31^st May with athletes representing clubs from far and wide.

After representing North Queensland at the last two school state championships in Long Jump, local athlete Joel Walker is going ahead in leaps and bounds in Triple Jump.  

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At the Mackay Athletics Carnival last May in his first Triple Jump official competition, Joel broke a long-standing carnival record for 12 year old boys with a hop skip and jump of 8.91 metres.

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Later that year in June at the Bowen Athletics Carnival he landed two jumps of 10.04 metres being just 1cm off the 12 year old boys Carnival Record in Bowen.  

This year, with his sights firmly set on the 13-year-old Men’s Triple Jump, Joel delivered in spades breaking the previous mark of 10.83 metres set in 2015 with an 11.11 metre landing.  

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He also took out the Long Jump event with 3 remarkably consistent jumps of 4.78m, 4.77m and 4.78m.  

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Joel now heads to the Festival of Athletics in Townsville on the June 13^th weekend and then onto the Local School and Whitsunday trials with a goal of making the North Queensland side again this year for long jump and triple jump and possibly tetrathlon disciplines.

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A big thank you to the Muir and Thicker families and all the Bowen Athletics Club committee and volunteers for their time and tireless efforts making the carnival and local athletics such a success.    

Bowen Athletic Club day is held Saturdays from 2pm and training is Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  New members are welcome with further details on the club facebook page.

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Contributed with thanks to Grant Walker.

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