Forbes athlete Jessica Pascoe will represent New South Wales in a new event this weekend when she competes at the Australian Cross Country Championships in Albany, WA.
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The two-time Forbes Sportsperson of the Year (2012 and 2013) will fly from Canberra to Perth today in readiness for Saturday’s girls under 18s 4km cross country, to be held at Albany’s Great Southern Grammar School.
While she has represented Athletics NSW and NSW All Schools on the athletics track before, cross country is a relatively new event for the Forbes High year 12 student.
“I prefer the track, like the 800 and 1500 metres, but [cross country] is good for endurance and also to get ready for next season,” Jessica said before departing Forbes for Canberra this week.
“I thought I’d give it a go because this is my last year at school as well,” she said.
Jessica has just finished her trial HSC exams and hopes to gain entry to university next year, preferably somewhere near her Wollongong athletics club, the Kembla Joggers.
She is one of five Kembla Joggers runners in the field of 75 in the under 18s girls event, all of whom are trained by Phil Austin.
As a Forbes resident Jessica trains by correspondence, using the Forbes High School athletics track, but does regularly travel to Wollongong for competition and training weekends.
Jess said while she prefers running on the track, cross country has its advantages.
While finishing times are still important, the competitors at Albany were selected on their results rather than qualifying.
“I’m not sure how I’ll go because I’ve never been [to national titles] before, but I know there’s going to be a lot of people in it,” she said.
Unlike the track where fields are limited, the competitors all start at once and there is a lot of jostling for position throughout.
“There will be lots of elbows,” she said.
“But it all comes down to what happens on the day. You don’t worry about what the qualifying time is, you just worry about beating other people.”
While being at the head of the field is the ultimate goal, Jess said she would like to knock some time off her personal best for 4km, which is 14.51 minutes.
“It just depends on the course, but I still hope to do a good time,” she said.
Jessica will take a short break from running after the cross country championships and the upcoming NSW Combined High Schools carnival, with her HSC to begin in early October.
Forbes High will also be represented by Nicole Morrison (200m, long jump) and Matthew Toole (100m, high jump) at the NSW school games, at Sydney’s Olympic Park.
