COHUNA speedster Kye Mason is aiming to go faster when he represents Australia for the first time at the Oceania athletics championships in late June.
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Mason is one of many exciting prospects who will run, jump or throw at Townsville from June 25 to 28.
The Australian team includes Swan Hill's shot put star and reigning national open champion Emma Berg.
The feats by Mason and Berg in Bendigo Region action or further afield were among the many highs of the 2018-19 track and field season.
Mason's selection for the Oceania Games followed gold in the under-18 4 x 100m relay, and bronze in the under-18 100m final at this month's Athletics Australia national titles in Sydney.
"To be selected in an Australian team is amazing," Mason said before a recent training session with
the Terry Hicks-coached squad at the Latrobe University Bendigo athletics complex in Flora Hill.
"A goal was a placing in the 100 or 200, so I was rapt to do that.
"Selection for the Oceania championships was a massive surprise."
The lead-up to the nationals had been derailed by a slight hamstring injury, but Mason's amazing run of success since he started racing with Eaglehawk Athletics Club in October rolled on.
Racing for his school at regional finals in Bendigo caught Hicks' attention and the young gun has kept racking up wins and personal bests.
A highlight was racing 100m in 11 seconds at LUBAC and he went on to achieve a time of 10.80 and the Bendigo Region's number one ranking for the event in 2018-19.
Mason believes he can take one or perhaps two-hundredths of a second from that time in Townsville.
"The intensity at training will really lift in the next few weeks," Mason said.
It's not just about charging from the blocks, but increasing core and leg strength through a series of exercises at the track and in the gym.
The intensity at training will really lift in the next few weeks.
- Kye Mason
The 16-year-old's biggest supporters are parents Anna and Khane, who regularly do the driving from Cohuna to Bendigo and back again, or even further afield, for racing or training.
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