Cassandra Raselli shows off the spoils of a stunning winter season of athletics competition.By Marc McGowan
BERWICK young gun Cassandra Raselli, 12, is preparing to tackle the summer season of athletics competition, after enjoying a barnstorming winter season, highlighted by a swag of titles and medals.
Known affectionately as Cassy, she competes in the walk and has been so successful at state and national level that she has even competed above her age group – and has not missed a beat.
She had a stellar three months between June and August this year, which began with victory in the Australian under-12 two-kilometre roadwalk in Canberra where she came from behind to beat her New South Wales rival by just one-hundredth of a second.
“I remember going across the line and trying to look to see if I had won or not,” she said.
“Then I was presented the tag with number-one on it. It was too good to be true.”
Among other successes, she also stepped up in age group to the under-14s and achieved state titles for her school, Berwick Lodge Primary in the All-Schools Championships and repeated the dose in the Athletics Victoria Championships.
Rounding off her stunning winter season, Cassandra was chosen to represent Victoria at the Athletics Australia National Roadwalking Championships in Hobart on August 27 in the under-14 three-kilometre race.
The primary goal of the trip was to gain experience, but she stormed through the field to snatch the bronze medal, smashing her personal best time by 25 seconds.
“It was such fun. When I went across the line I was so happy. I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Her season was then capped off by her selection as the winner of the Tom Daintry Trophy, awarded to the best Athletics Victoria first year under-14 female walker and the Best Female Stylist Award, a Brownlow-type award, where athletes of all age levels are awarded points for their performances throughout the season.
Her mother Elke said they were so proud of Cassandra because she had set goals and then set out to achieve them.
“Even if she does a race that doesn’t go according to plan, she tries to learn from it – she always looks at the positives,” she said.
Part of the credit for her success goes to her coach, Wendy Muldoon, a former international walker who has only been coaching her young charge for the past year.
Wendy has brought new training techniques, including trips to the Dandenong Ranges for mountain climbing, so that Cassandra can improve her physical and mental strength.
Cassandra also does some swimming and cross-training, on top of her three weekly racewalking training sessions.
“It’s fun competing and making new friends,” she said.
“It makes me feel healthy, because I’m out doing something.”
Cassandra is still looking to perfect her technique and believes she needs to improve her consistency.
“Instead of a fast lap at the start, I need to do more consistent times,” she explained.
While her long-term goal is to represent Australia at the World Youth Championships in 2009, her next challenge comes late next month when she competes over 1500 metres in the under-14 event at the Victorian All-Schools Championships, on her way to another potentially successful season of competition.
