Former Narre Warren little athlete Alice Platten capped an impressive year with success at last month’s Bay Sheffield meeting in Adelaide. 26042By Marc McGowan
NARRE Warren athlete Alice Platten completed a stunning year on the grass with victory in the 550m event at Adelaide’s Bay Sheffield competition last month. The win capped 24-year-old Platten’s triumph in the 400m at the Stawell Gift meeting in March.
“Last year was a real breakthrough for me,” she said.
“Obviously, to me, Stawell is the greater one, but the one in Adelaide is like their Stawell and is almost like a second Stawell – it was unexpected.”
The former Narre Warren little athlete began her senior career with Springvale-Noble Park Athletics Club.
But Platten switched to Ringwood under coach Nick Fiedler six years ago after being dissatisfied with her progression in the sport.
The move made sense considering she worked in the same suburb as her new club.
“I’m training six days a week now whereas previously it was only one or two times a week,” she said.
“I do gym work as well in winter – the training is totally different.”
And it didn’t take long for Platten to reap the rewards of her hard work.
Her personal bests – from 100m to 800m – improved drastically and she has been a consistently strong performer against both male and female competition ever since.
Platten will compete on the track more often this year in preparation for the Australian Athletics Championships in Queensland in March.
“I’m actually going to go back and do more amateur stuff this year to go to nationals and run the 800m or 400m,” she said.
“There are still a few (professional) races in sight – like a men’s 800m or something.
“It could be a bit of a long shot (to make the Australian team at some stage), but, with the way I’ve been running, who knows?
“It’d be great to run at the Commonwealths or Olympics.”
