Mandurah-based 11-year-old Tahlia Tuckey is eyeing off a big future in athletics after taking out a win in the Cyril Norman City Beach Run last month.
The Halls Head youngster pounded the pavement on her way to taking out first place in the three-kilometre marathon on Sunday, September 30, topping a competitive field made up of runners of all ages in the WA Marathon Club event.
Tahlia’s time of 13 minutes, 43 seconds saw her finish the run as the first-placed female, and she was ninth past the finish line overall in what the young gun described as a grueling race.
“I would overtake people, and then they would overtake me, and I’d start running really fast trying to overtake them again and I was burning so much energy,” she said.
“It was really hard because it was on the footpath and I haven’t really run that before, but winning it was awesome.”
It’s an outstanding effort for a young runner competing in just her second long-distance event, following an appearance at a 5km run in Fremantle just weeks earlier.
Tahlia has only been running competitively for the past 12 months, after she developed a love for the sport at her school’s cross country carnival where she ran second.
She has since improved dramatically training under coach Geoff Snook with the South Coast Striders Running Club, and now has her sights set on cracking into the WA Athletics Club as an underage exemption.
“I really just love running, it makes me feel so relaxed,” Tahlia said.
“And it’s cool to tick off your own goals along the way.”
The next event in the up-and-coming star’s sights is the Rottnest Running Festival, where she hopes to tackle the 5km run once again.
The festival will take place at Rottnest Island’s Heritage Common on Sunday, October 21.