REIGNING Victorian under-16 hurdles champion, Bendigo's Lachie Johnson is chasing more gold at this weekend's Little Athletics Victoria state championships.
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The two-day meet at Lakeside Stadium in Albert Park will be Lachie's last as a little athlete.
The 14-year-old will race the under-15s 100m hurdles, 100m and 200m sprints.
Lachie clocked a time of 13.75 seconds when he won the under-16 100m hurdles at the Athletics Victoria junior titles at Lakeside.
He went on to win bronze at the Australian junior titles at Sydney's Olympic Park.
Since the Sydney race Lachie has focused on the end of his hurdles races.
"The momentum in the last 20 metres is what I've been trying to build on," Lachie said after another workout at the Latrobe University Bendigo athletics complex.
On the hurdles front he is helped along by Roy Boyd and multiple national champion Kyle Van der Kuyp.
"Roy has helped a lot with technique and flexibility and being as low at the hurdles as I can be."
Lachie's main coach for hurdles is his dad, Mark.
A race against dad at Rheola when he was four was the start of Lachie's athletics pursuits.
"Hurdles is what I've always enjoyed doing," said Lachie.
"Running as fast as you can and clearing all the hurdles is an adrenalin rush."
A training partner at hurdles is Ellie Wilson who will also compete at the LA state titles.
A member of Eaglehawk Athletics Club, Lachie has Terry Hicks as his main coach, and Josh Pickthall working with him on sprints.
Lachie's upper-body strength has increased markedly through boxing workouts with Danniel Burton at Hit Factory in Golden Square.
The lead-up to another footy season with Square has included training with the AFL Central Victoria Academy's under-15 squad.
"Rick Coburn (AFLCV development officer) has given me a lot of support and said to train when I can," Lachie said of what's always a busy week of training.
The year 9 student at CCB said parents Mark and Carina, older sister Gaby, 17, are huge supporters as he works toward representing Australia one day.