Personal Statement

Hi, my name is Charlie. 

I am a keen 16-year-old distance runner based in Ballarat, Australia. I’m currently in Year 11 and will graduate Year 12 in November of 2024 aiming to commence university / college in 2025. 

I started running more seriously in 2019 and joined the Eureka Athletics club under coach, Rod Griffin. I compete in both cross-country and track and have represented Victoria at the Australian National Championships in both disciplines over the last few years. Currently, I am competing in u18 age category and will move up to u20 in December of 2023. 

My best track event to date has been the 3000m; in 2022 I placed 8^th nationally in my age group and my current PB is 8:46.32. My goal in relation to my improving training and fitness is to finish the 2023-24 track season having run 8:20 for 3000M and competed in the 5000m at a level that places me within the top 8 in Australia. As a strength-based runner, I have seen significant improvement in these events over the last few years and believe I have a great potential for improvement. Moreover, throughout the Winter I take part in the Victorian cross-country circuit. I have consistently medalled in both my age group and the age group above. So far this season my best performances have been 18.30 in the 6km Regional Lap of the Lake Cross Country (3rd overall, 1st U18),  2nd U18 in the Albert Park VIC 10km road race where I ran 32:23 (I am expecting a major improvement in the Gold Coast 10km in July) and the1st U18 individual and team at the Jells Park 3km VIC cross country where I ran 9:08 on a challenging course. 

For the rest of the season, I am preparing to run at both state and national cross-country events, competing in the 6km and aiming to finish in the top 2 in the state and the top 8 nationally. In addition, my next goal for the season is to run sub-31:40 for the Gold Coast 10km road race in July prior to the national cross-country championships. 

I believe my consistently improving training is as a result of my healthy relationship with my club whereby my coach gives me honest feedback regarding my running, and I enjoy spending time with my training partners both at training and at school. I’m disciplined in both my training and my regular strength and conditioning program which I utilise at least twice a week. I also have been selected as a part of the high-performance WestVic program which has provided me with insight on how to improve my training and performance.

I attend Ballarat and Clarendon college and am a strong student, currently studying English language, General maths, accounting, PE and Visual communications and am planning to study Business management as well in my final year. I achieve consistently strong results within the top 5% of the state and am hoping to achieve an Australian Tertiary Entrance Ranking (ATAR) above 90 (top 10%). I’m an organised student who is able to manage school-training life comfortably. My other interests include photography, working on holiday camps as a camp councillor, and operating as a volunteer surf life saver at the beach. I’m interested in pursuing either a degree in business/ commerce or in design and other related areas upon completion of school and aligning this with my love for running by attending a college where I can pursue my long-term running goals.