Caitlyn Ferrier had an incredibly successful 2018 that was topped off by a grant from Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman MP.
The 16-year-old has been a member of Kurrajong Bilpin Little Athletics since she was 6-years-old.
Caitlyn has been the club captain at Little Athletics for two years in a row and has volunteered to help out with the three to four-year-old Tiny Tots weekly program.
She has just finished year 10 at Hawkesbury High School, where she topped her grade for a fourth year in a row. She will be completing her HSC over the coming two years.
Caitlyn is a sprinter and competes most in the 400 meters but also races in the 100 and 200 meters, where she has started to win in the 200.
She spent most of last year dominating in not only her age group but also the age group above.
Some of her achievements include; becoming state champion in the under 17’s and 16 girls 200 and 400 meters [breaking the state records], national champion in the under 18’s 400 meters and a silver medal in the 200 meters.
But Caitlyn’s biggest success came when she she won gold in the under 18’s 400 meters for Australia at the Melanesian Athletics Championships in Vanuatu.
“I was really happy with my run in Vanuatu,” She said.
“The track was quite hard and the conditions weren’t great, so I was thrilled to run a 54.31 [seconds] when I didn’t really have anyone pushing me in the race and was just running solo to record a good time.”
“I got to experience how a senior team works and meet so many new people … I was thrilled to end 2018 with some great performances at Australian All Schools in Cairns.”
“I had a bad head cold and the conditions were humid, wet and windy, so to run a PB [personal best] to take the National title in the 400m, and then back up with my first National medal in the 200m was very exciting.”
Caitlyn’s success comes from her hard work as she trains all year round, four times a week, in addition to Little Athletics competition on Friday nights and senior athletics competitions on Saturdays.
The grant Caitlyn received from Ms. Templeman was under the Federal Government's Local Sporting Champions Program.
“Being recognised for all the hard work and dedication that goes into succeeding is an amazing feeling,” said Caitlyn.
“It is good that they care about the local young athletes and are willing to support us, and I’m really grateful for the grant.”
When awarding Caitlyn and other recipients with their grants Ms Templeman said, “Caitlyn ... won Gold in the 400 meters when she represented Australia at the Melanesian Athletics Championships held in Vanuatu in May - an Extraordinary achievement.”
With Caitlyn aging out of Little Athletics she looks towards her future.
In 2019 she will compete at the Australian Junior Athletics Championships in March where she’ll attempt to defend her under 18’s Women’s National Title.
Caitlyn’s said that she, “hopes to one day receive a gold medal for Australia at the Olympics.”
For now she is working towards the 2020 World Under 20’s Athletics Championships in Nairobi.
