While many of her school friends were chilling out during their holidays, Courtney Brackenrig was busy winning gold medals on the other side of the world.
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The 15-year-old went to Canada as part of an invitation sporting tour for track and field.
She competed at two competitions, one in Kelowna, four hours north east of Vancouver and another in Vancouver itself.
She participated in three field events – shot put, discus and javelin.
Although she did well in shot put and discus, it was her javelin performances that she topped the competition at both events.
She won gold at Kelowna by throwing 36.52 metres and she backed it up in Vancouver by throwing a season best 37.24m.
Her throw in Vancouver was 10m better than her nearest rival.
“I thought I was going to lose as it was very competitive. I did have an advantage as I was the last thrower,” Brackenrig said.
The Mudgee athlete said she was invited to compete after medalling at the state championships and competing at the national titles.
She said the tour was a great learning experience as she came up against athletes from different countries.
“You had Germans, Canadians, Americans, Russians,” she said.
The Australian World Junior Team were also competing at Vancouver, which made the result for Brackenrig even more significant.
Now attending boarding school at Pymble Ladies College in Sydney where she is receiving elite coaching as part of the elite athletics program, Brackenrig is training for the upcoming summer’s athletics season but has an ultimate goal.
“I want to make the World Junior Team within the next four years,” she said.
“I really enjoyed it [competing in Canada] and I’ve been invited to go over again.
“I just want to improve on my distances.”