Melanie Daniels becomes Australian 3000m Champion
20 Mar 2009
Northern Suburbs distance runner Mel Daniels has won the Australian 3000m title in Brisbane last night, taking the first gold medal handed out at the championships.
“It feels good. I didn’t even really think I would get here, let alone win a race at the Australian Championships. I thought I would be more suited to the 3000m than the 1500m at my first nationals,” Daniels explained.
Sitting at the back of the pack for the first 5 laps, Daniels eased up into third place, before challenging for the lead with 600m remaining. “I just thought I’d stay behind the girls and see how I’d go. I felt alright, then in the last 300m I really struggled and I thought they’d catch up. I thought someone was behind me coming up the straight.”
Her winning time of 9:34.76 sliced an amazing 13 seconds from her month old personal best and placed her 6 seconds ahead of Lauren McKillop of NSW, with another six seconds further back to the bronze medallist, Narelle Coady of Victoria.