Stars are shining on the track

STAR Squad’s Sophie Doyle and Violet Ward have been smashing goals in state track events in the last few months, winning several Queensland level medals.

The local track club, Star Squad, was only started 18 months ago by experienced coach Bruce Smith, but already two of his 11-year-old runners are running rings around their competitions.

“On June 17, Sophie and Violet teamed up with Scarlett Van Hurk (former Star Squad runner) to win the Queensland Athletics Cross Country State Relay Championship in Brisbane,” Bruce said.

“On July 17, Sophie and Violet teamed up with Clara Short, Gracie Sheridan and Scarlett Van Hurk to win the Queensland School Sport Cross Country Relay Championships in Hervey Bay.

“This was a huge achievement for the girls as no other running team won the state cross country relay championship double this year.”

Sophie has been training at the club for 18 months and is a middle and long distance runner who Bruce said is super competitive, an outstanding all rounder and accomplished netballer.

Just five months ago, Violet also joined the club through her friendship with Sophie, and is also a middle and long distance runner who also does nippers.

Bruce only has 12 runners in his squad, and although the club is slowly growing, he said he is happy with the success they have had so far.

“Recently at the State Cross Country Championships a number of coaches with huge numbers of kids in their squads asked me how many kids I trained and were in disbelief when I told them how many,” he said.

“All 12 of my runners have won their school cross country’s, and seven of which won medals in the UniSC Athletics Club Winter Cross Country Series.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the whole squad and especially Sophie and Violet.”

All runners in the squad train up to four times a week across the Glasshouse region, and have a few local sponsors and supporters who help keep the club running.

“A lot of our success comes from having unique places to train especially with great supporters, Ken and Sue Fullerton giving us their Macadamia farm to train at has been a valuable resource for