Medal masters

By Bridget Scott
THE Australian Masters Athletics Championships were held in Melbourne over the Easter weekend – and Pakenham had its own champions.
Pakenham $2 shop owner Terry Baldwin and wife Emma overcame their own personal challenges to take out both silver and gold at the Australian Masters.
Despite battling the restricting condition of Cue Fever which causes a severe intolerance to the sun, Emma managed to win gold in the 200m, 400m, and 400m hurdles and earn a silver medal in the 100m.
The Women’s Victorian team, of which she was part, also won silver in the 4 x 100m.
“We were very happy with getting success, especially when it feels so difficult at the time,” Emma said.
The keen athlete said she had been training solidly for a year, mostly at nights.
Terry also experienced success, winning both the high jump and the 400m hurdles.
He spoke of the intense training the couple did in the lead-up to their events.
Training which is made a little more difficult due to Emma’s condition.
“We train when the sun goes down and indoors when we can,” Terry said.
Training involved not only your standard sprint work, but hill climbs and gym visits.
“We train about five to six times a week.”
Terry said his main events would be the pentathlon and sprint hurdles, both of which he holds Australian records in.
Experiencing troubles of his own in the lead-up to the Australian Masters, achilles and calf issues kept Terry trackside across the years.
Blaming it on an inconsistent training regime, Terry said next year would be his own.
“I want to be like I was in the ’90s, I was invincible,” he said.
Terry wants to return to his peak form.
“My aim is to get back to that.”
With sights set high for both Emma and Terry, they hope to make a return to the games again next year held in Canberra.
‘We’ve even been discussing Canberra already,” Terry said.