Cooktown athletes Grace Raleigh, Ashton Gilmour and Isla Winton test out their Peninsula uniforms before they head south to compete in the 2024 Queensland Representative School Sport Track and Field State Championships in Brisbane from 8-14 October. Photo: Supplied.
Three junior athletes will put the calibre of Cooktown’s athletic ability on the map when they don Peninsula colours to compete against the state’s best school-aged track and field athletes in a little over a fortnight.
Grace Raleigh and Isla Winton, 13, and 10-year-old Ashton Gilmour have been selected in the Peninsula line-up that will travel to Brisbane from 8-14 October to contest the 2024 Queensland Representative School Sport Track and Field State Championships.
While it will be a change from competing at Cooktown’s John Street Oval when they walk into the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre in Mount Gravatt, the trio have been putting in the hard yards training multiple times each week to ensure they are at their best when the championships begin.
Ashton and Isla are members of Cooktown Little Athletics Club and are currently training three days per week, while Cooktown District Junior Rugby League Club member Grace is devoting two days every week to her athletic endeavours.
In addition to their rigorous training schedules, Ashton and Isla impressed in Cairns on 14-15 September when they picked up a number of top-four finishes in their chosen disciplines at the Little Athletics Queensland Tropical North Regional Championships.
When they put on their Peninsula outfits and land in Brisbane, Isla will compete in the 13 years long jump and 400 metre track event, while Grace will line up against her Cooktown teammate in the long jump pit as well as contesting the triple jump.
Ashton will vie for a podium finish in the 10 years long jump and tetrathon.
The community has rallied behind the trio to help fundraise the money needed to represent their town and Peninsula at the championships, and Isla’s mother, Teila, said the trip would not have been possible without overwhelming support from Cooktown residents, businesses and organisations.
“The community has been really supportive in helping raise funds,” she said.
“I created a 100 board which sold out online in four days, and the bowls club donated $200 worth of meal vouchers, and Cook Shire Council have also been an amazing by supporting us financially through their grant processes.”
Isla Winton, Ashton Gilmour and Grace Raleigh take time out to ponder what it means to represent the Cooktown community as they gear up to compete against the state’s best school-aged athletes for the Peninsula team at the 2024 Queensland track and field championships in Brisbane. Photo: Supplied.
