Alanna & Jemma Peart enjoy success at the Australian Road Walking Championships

Alanna Peart is the latest FedUni WestVic Academy of Sport athlete to claim an individual national title, with success at the 2018 Australian Winter Walking Championships on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, yesterday.

Peart, 15, and the reigning WestVic Academy Female ‘Athlete of the Year’, won the Gold medal after finishing first in the Under 16 Girls 5000 Meter Race Walk. Peart, coached by her father Wayne and who currently attends Ballarat High School, completed an Australian Road Walking double having claimed an Under 16 Girls 5000 Meter Race Walk title earlier in the year.

In more good news for the Peart family, Alanna’s older sister, Jemma, 17, won the silver medal in the Under 18 Girls 5000 Meter Race Walk, after finishing second in the individual event. However, Peart was not satisfied with a silver medal, winning a Gold medal as part of the successful Victorian team which won the Under 18 Girls Teams 5000 Meter Race Walk event.

The weekend’s results continue what has already been a highly successful year for both athletes, who have both recently been selected by Athletics Australia (AA) in the Under 17 and Under 18 Top Talent Recognition List as part of AA’s High Performance program.

Corey Saitta, Executive Officer of the WestVic Academy of Sport said, “Both Alanna and Jemma continue to prepare and train diligently, the girls are extremely well coached and managed by their father Wayne and mother Kerrie, and the family support the girls receive seems to translate into strong performances on race days. This is a fitting result for the girls and the family”.