Sport
28 January, 2025
Heath’s sprint to the nationals
Caboolture sprinter Heath Smallacombe will compete at the Australian Athletics Championships in the 100m and 200m races, against talented athletes, such as Gout Gout, in April.
Heath races in the U18 category and currently sits fifth in the 100m and 8th for the 200m nationally.
It will be the 17-year-old’s third national championship in less than two years, and his mum, Marina Kirkman, is raising money to support their trip over to Perth.
Marina’s aim is to raise $4,000 to cover the cost of flights and accommodation for the two of them, so Marina can cheer her son on.
“We started a fundraiser to show him he is worth supporting,” she said.
“He’s good enough and improving every single time.
This was more for me to show him that people do believe in him.”
Heath first showed an interest in sport when he started playing soccer for the Caboolture Snakes Football Club and joined the Wamuran Little Athletics when he was four years old.
When Heath realised he had a need for speed, he quit football and started focusing on sprinting, two and a half years ago.
Heath said he found he had some transferable skills from football, which helped his sprinting.
“The position I played in soccer was the right wing so I didn’t have any technical skills, I just kicked the ball and ran really fast,” he said.
He then started racing competitively and joined the Mayne Harriers Amateur Athletic Club around two years ago.
“What I love most about sprinting is getting to meet new people, and improve my performances,” Heath said.
“I was very slow when I first started, especially while competing with some of the best people in Australia.”
He added it’s been challenging facing up against Gout Gout on the track, who has been compared to Usain Bolt, but he said it gave him great experience.
“One of the guys I race against, Gout Gout, is one of the best in the world so I’ve never been able to win yet,” he said.
“I usually come second in the 100m and second or third in the 200m against Gout Gout at States.
It’s good having such talent to race against, I’m usually with him for the first 20m and then he’s just gone, with a top speed like that you can’t keep up with him.”
Heath qualified for the Australian Athletics Championship early in sprinting his season, which he said he was pleased with.
So far, Heath and Marina have raised just over $2,000, and are hoping to reach their target before April.
If you would like to donate to their Gofundme, visit https://gofund.me/6824d37e.
