Courtney smashes the field

By Gavin Staindl
COURTNEY Field, 13, is in a field of her own after taking out the Champion of Champions jersey at the National Junior Track Championships in Sydney last week.
The Berwick Year 8 student claimed three gold medals from three events and smashed two national records as she finished the meet as the nation’s best under-15 female track rider.
Last year named the 2010 Victorian Rider of the Year, this time she went one better by pipping 19 other under-15 girls to comfortably take gold in the under 15’s 200 metre sprint, 500 metre time trial and the 20-lap scratch race.
In the process, she also smashed her own national records set in Melbourne earlier this year.
In the 200-metre sprint, Courtney became the first Aussie under-15 female to break the 13-second mark when she flew home in a time of 12.859 seconds.
It was a productive day for the Beaconhills kid who later that evening shaved over half a second off her previous best time in the 500-metre time trial to record a new national best of 37.589 seconds.
Courtney said on Monday, while enjoying a recovery day away from school, that she was pleased with her results but hadn’t taken the time to appreciate the moment.
“I am really happy with myself,” Courtney said.
“I haven’t thought much about it (the broken records), I was more focussed on the next day of racing.
“But it is really massive for me. All the training and hard work has paid off… and I am really happy to know I am the champion of Australia,” she said.
However, the talented Courtney will return back to earth this week when she digs into her long-awaited schoolwork.
“I have to catch up with my homework… I have a lot of homework to do,” she said with a laugh.