WITH less than one year of experience in athletics, Bailey Brettell is preparing for his first national championship in Cairns next month.
The year eight Hills College student hit the ground running when he was introduced to athletics through the Queensland School Sport program.
Earlier this year, Brettell competed in 400m, 100m and hurdles at a regional competition at the Gold Coast Griffith University Athletics Track.
In state competitions, Brettell won gold for the under 13 mens 90m hurdles at the Queensland State and Athletics Centre on Kessels Road, Nathan, over the weekend, October 27 to 28.
Brettell is now on track to compete at nationals in Cairns from December 7 to 9.
He said he was proud to achieve a personal best time of 13.47 seconds for the 90m hurdles event.
“Making it through (was a highlight), I hit my knee a few times and kept going on to make a personal best,” he said.
“It was pretty intimidating...there were some pretty good kids there who have been training for a while.”
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Hills College Physical Education teacher Andrew Wookey said Brettell had proved himself as a natural talent.
“Bailey is one of those kids who takes to things like a duck to water,” he said.
“He has natural ability. It all comes down to what he wants to do and how hard he wants to pursue it. I will be excited to see how he goes in December.”
Brettell thanked his parents and coach Ralph Newton for their support.
