Tahlia Blight won the under-16 All-Schools Victoria 400m Championship on Saturday, October 25.
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Scott Sidley
Echuca native Tahlia Blight proved that the lights were never too bright on the biggest stage, cruising to the under-16 400m title at the Victorian All Schools Track and Field Championships.
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The track star competed on the first weekend of the competition on Saturday, October 25, alongside a contingent of athletes from Echuca-Moama after a long off-season spent training and honing her craft with coach Laurie Edmondson.
Competing in the under-16 age group for the 100m and 400m events, Blight blew the field away in the latter, finishing first in the preliminaries by almost two seconds.
This gave her direct qualification to the final where, again, she conquered her competitors, claiming the gold medal with a time of 58.51.
Things were more challenging for the young gun in the 100m, finishing third in the preliminaries, before improving her time in the semis and finishing second with 13.08.
It wasn’t to be for Blight in the 100m final, placing fourth with a time of 13.13, 0.73 of a second off the pace.
Blight was not the only Echuca-Moama product to star at the first weekend of the state championships, as Remi Baulch claimed silver in the under-18 2000m steeplechase with a time of 9.43 and Hannah Downward also claimed silver in the under-16 high jump with a leap of 1.66m.
Mum Rebecca Blight said Tahlia had been involved in athletics for a good part of her life and with the help of coach Edmondson, had taken her performance to the next level.
“She’s been doing athletics for roughly nine or 10 years and has made it to senior athletics nationals the last three years and Little Athletics nationals before that where she has placed,” she said.
“She’s been taking it seriously definitely the last three years or so since she started seniors, so probably 2021, I'd say.
“She trains with Laurie running three times a week. Physically with him twice and then he does another running program for her on the Sunday.
Echuca-Moama athlete Remi Baulch claimed silver in the under-18 2000m Steeple Chase. Photo: Supplied.
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Supplied
“He also does a gym program for her, so she’s in the gym also once a week during track season and twice a week in the off-season.
“He’s also sort of got a recovery flexibility recovery program that she does a couple of times a week.
“So, she’s got quite a strict program that he’s got her sticking to, so Laurie’s excellent.”
Reflecting on Tahlia’s performance, Rebecca was overcome with emotion, knowing that the hours of travel and training had begun to pay off.
“She had a great run on Saturday, she actually qualified the fastest female for the whole day, so she was faster than the under-17s and under-18s as well,” she said.
“Then on the Sunday, Tahlia was the third-fastest female for the whole day, so that was incredible.
“It’s amazing to see her succeed, I was actually in tears on the day, so it was really, really good.
“She’s put all the effort in, so she definitely deserves it.
“She competes every Saturday during track season, and then also during the week she competes in Melbourne, so, it’s a lot of travel for her and me.
“But, it’s all starting to pay off, and she’s got bigger goals that sort of will hopefully take her internationally, so I’m so proud of her.”
After their successes on the first weekend of the competition, Blight, Baulch and Downward have qualified for the Australian Athletics All Schools Championships in Melbourne starting on Thursday, December 4.
Before that, Blight will turn her attention to the second weekend of the Victorian titles, starting on Saturday, November 1, where she will be participating in the preliminaries in the under-16 200m and 800m track events.
