Taieri athlete Christina Ashton is in her first season of senior competition. One of Otago’s most successful youth and junior athletes of recent times, Ashton has been dominant in the 100m hurdles at national level. However, as she is set to turn 20 this year, she is now lining up against the country’s best. This weekend she will compete at the Otago Championships at the Caledonian Ground in Dunedin.
For Ashton, who is entering the 100m hurdles, as well as the 100m and 200m sprints, the championships will act as a springboard for the season’s big meets. However, she is taking a measured approach in what she hoped to get out of both the New Zealand and Australian national championships.
"It’s kind of crazy. The competition is huge [in the senior age-grade]," she said.
"I’m not looking at winning anything huge at nationals or anything, just getting experience. So I think the first few years mainly focus on getting experience and kind of working on my own races and stuff like that.
"Hurdling takes a while to get the technique down and the speed and racing and stuff. So I think we’ll just see how far I go and what happens. But it’s definitely all there. It’s just a matter of time before I can pull it all together in one race. When that happens it will be super exciting."
Ashton was in the age range in which many top athletes gave the sport away. Now in her second year of a physical education degree at the University of Otago, she said it was not easy balancing athletics with study. However, she was still training six days a week and had no intention of slowing down.
"[It’s hard] juggling study and getting good grades and training and competing. But I think I’m kind of used to that now because I’ve done it for so long.
"I’m super lucky to have Brent [Ward] as my coach, who comes down and trains during the day. So I definitely couldn’t do it without him."
While it is still early in the year, Ashton is ranked fifth in the country for 2017. She is almost a decade younger than the top three, and it is clear she has time to work her way further up that list in the coming years. Her best time this year, 15.16sec, is down on her personal best of 14.32. However, she was looking forward to the upcoming big meetings in Hamilton and Sydney, as she felt they brought out the best in her.
"I always love Aussie nationals — it’s a huge competition. This year they’ve combined it with Aussie juniors and the para as well. So it’s a lot more intense than running over here, but I usually run better at bigger meets. It helps a lot and it’s an awesome atmosphere.
"There’s more competition and a lot of people competing, obviously. I just like the atmosphere of it all. It gets you really amped for competing and the hype before the competition."
While going to both the Commonwealth and Olympic Games were long-term goals, she had her eye on qualifying for the World University Games this year. To do that she would need to run under 13.50 twice or 13.30 once. While she admitted that would be tough, she felt it was doable if everything came together.
Ashton is the only competitor in this weekend’s senior women’s 100m hurdles. However, she will face tough competition in both sprints. To claim victory she will need to upset the in-form Fiona Centers.
The championships begin at 11.30am today and the last event is scheduled for 3.35pm. They begin again at 9.30am tomorrow and conclude at 1pm.
