Birtwhistle Bangs out a Beauty
23 Nov 2012
Launceston athlete Jake Birtwhistle turned many heads at Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne last night, when he ran the second fastest ever time by an Australian under 18 athlete over 5000m.
Running in the Victorian open 5000m championships at the new stadium at Albert Park, Birtwhistle clocked 14minutes 19.52seconds to place fifth overall in the race, behind Steve Kelly and dual Sydney City 2 Surf winner Liam Adams.
Only London Olympian Ryan Gregson has run faster by an Australian in the under 18 age group, before he decided to focus on the 1500m, of which he is now the open Australian record holder.
The achievement set a number of new benchmarks, in what was only his second start at the 12 and a half lap distance. It set a new Tasmanian under 18 record, which he set himself 12 months ago. It also bettered Dean Rose's state under 19 mark of 14:33.24 set in 1988.
Adding to the history, it was the fastest time by a Tasmanian athlete, regardless of age, in 10 years.
It has already been a big year for the Western Suburbs athlete. Having defended his national 1500m and 3000m titles in March, he later went on to win the world schools cross country championships in Malta. Now this performance at the beginning of the domestic athletics season shows he is set for a great season.
Guided by multiple Australian representative Kim Gillard, Birtwhistle will next race over 1500m at the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships in Hobart next weekend, before heading back to Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne where he will run in the prestigious Rob de Castella Junior 3000m.