LOCAL, Poppy Austin has continued to reach great heights in her cross-country endeavours after finishing in the top 10 at the 2023 Australian Cross Country Selection Trials in Canberra last weekend.

The 18-year-old competed in the Under-20 Women’s 6km run and smashed her expectations, recording a personal best time of 22:42 to finish ninth, only 23 seconds short of qualifying for the World Cross Country Championships.

After beginning her running career just last year, Austin said she was over the moon with the way she ran on the day and to finish in the top 10 with a personal best time was a great result.

“It was a tough race, lots of the girls I’ve been competing against have been doing that their whole lives, for me to compete against them was a great experience,” she told The Spectator.

“Our run was early in the morning, but we still had that humid weather, and the sun was hot, the track was very hilly but well-manicured like running on a golf course.”

Austin left absolutely nothing in the tank across the six kilometres and despite not making it on to the next level, she said it was “amazing” to finish in ninth place.

“When I saw the list come out and there were 24 competitors, I wanted to try and get top 12 (and) around the middle of the pack,” she said.

“I knew beforehand that it was top six (that go through), I went in with the mindset that it was huge to even get there and be in the top 24 … for me to finish in the top 12, that’s a great start to my running career.”

The race started at a very quick pace, but Austin got on top of some of her competitors managing to gain the upper hand and solidify her spot in the top 10.

The former The Hamilton and Alexandra College student felt running at home had prepared her well for the event, compared to some of the other elite runners.

“It was quite deceiving at the start as the girls went very hard, the first kilometre was 3:20 which is a cracking pace for the first kilometre, after that it died down a bit and everyone found their place,” she said.

“I got on top of a few girls (at the hills), a lot of them were track runners where I’m used to doing hills back home out in the paddock, so the hills were an advantage for me.”

The young athlete said that it had been hard to fit in her running practice during her Year 12 studies last year and her summer job.

“I have been working long hours … the only time I’ve been able to fit my running in has been at 5am in the morning and 10pm at night,” Austin said.

The local said she had been accepted into her dream university course in Adelaide doing vet technology and will make the move interstate on February 19, but her running won’t stop there.

Austin has been selected into an Olympic development running team called Team Tempo and will get to run alongside prominent Olympian and idol of hers, Jess Stenson (nee Trengove), under the coaching of Adam Didyk.

Another one of Austin’s running idols, Olympian, Izzy Batt-Doyle is also based in Adelaide and the pair have been in touch.

“It’s an elite running club over in Adelaide and (Didyk) has coached a few people that have got to the Olympics,” Austin said.

“They (Jess and Izzy) have been two athletes that I’ve looked up to in my running career and next year I’ll be running with Jess in her team, to be in contact with those two has been a huge thing for me.

“I’ll be training with them two to three times a week or probably a bit more … and I will do events under their banner.”

Austin thanked the community, her family and friends for their fantastic support throughout her running so far.

“Knowing they’re supporting me and having that in the back of my mind helps me to run that bit better,” she said.