SELECTION for the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships is what Bendigo athlete Andy Buchanan will be aiming to do this Sunday in Canberra.
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Buchanan will race many of Australia’s best on the Mount Stromlo course.
The national 10km cross-country champion of the past two years says he goes into this race much stronger than when he raced to seventh place in the world selection trial in Canberra two years ago.
A major part of the Bendigo University Athletics Club star’s build-up has included training on the slopes at Falls Creek across December and January.
“It was six weeks of training at Falls Creek. I hadn’t gone there in December/January the past two years, but had done three or four consecutive years up there before then,” he said.
“Training was intense, and a lot of sessions were with those who I will be racing against at the trial.
“There were two running sessions a day, although Friday and Sunday was just one run.
“Being at Falls Creek there was no excuse not to train, unless you were ill or injured.”
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The hills, bush tracks, and even the grass in and around Bendigo is where Buchanan racks up between 160 and 165 kilometres a week in training.
“The hills near Victory College in Strathfieldsaye are a great place to run, but I also do sessions at Lake Weeroona, on the O’Keefe Trail, or at Tom Flood Sports Centre.”
Racing at the nationals is a goal that Buchanan and coach Scott Westcott had in their sights for a lot of the cross-country season.
“There have been a lot of challenges in the past year,” Buchanan said.
“I have been a lot more consistent in training and in racing.”
A top-class field for Sunday’s race at Stromlo which starts at 7.30am includes King Island’s Stewart McSweyn and Altona’s Jack Rayner.
There have been a lot of challenges in the past year. I have been a lot more consistent in training and in racing.
- Andy Buchanan
“The first three automatically qualify for the worlds,” Buchanan said of a contest in which the field will race four laps of a two and a half kilometre circuit.
A team of six will be chosen to contest the world cross-country championships race on March 30 in Aarhus, Denmark.
