Adam Williams will head into next month's NSW Cross-Country Championships full of confidence after making a golden return to racing on the weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
In his first competitive race since January, the Tamworth young gun won the under-16s boys division at the NSW short course championships held at Dapto.
The race is part of the Waratah Run Series (as is the long course event), and saw Williams beat a "very strong field".
READ ALSO:
The pace was hot early with the Australian 800m record holder going out hard. Williams was settled back in fourth for most of the race. After reeling in the second and third-placed runners with around 500m of the 3km to go, he then caught the leader in the final 100m.
Some consistent training over the last six weeks had the Year 9 Farrer student feeling pretty good heading into the race, although he certainly didn't expect to win.
He was really just using it as a warm-up for the long course titles, which are being held on August 8, and are his main focus.
Sunday was a good chance to get a gauge of where he is at, although he will have to integrate a bit more hill work into his training over the next couple of weeks with the Tapitallee (Nowra) course "a really hilly course".
"I've been doing a little bit of hills but I'm probably going to have to increase the incline of the hill and do a little bit more strength work in that kind of area so I get a bit stronger on those hills," he said.
The Dapto result was a good reward for what has been a hard solo slog the last few months.
Training by correspondence, Williams is fairly accustomed to training alone, but usually he is able to have some face-to-face contact with his coach Andae Kalemusic, who is based on the South Coast, and his Limitless Track Team team-mates.
He said it was hard not seeing them, but with travel restrictions eased he was able to travel down and train with them a few weeks ago.
"It was good to just catch up with the squad and see my coach again," he said.
The state champion tag isn't an unfamiliar one for Williams, who has been a regular on the podium for both cross-country and athletics. Last year he won the 14 years 1500m at the CHS Championships.
