Christina Ashton is one of the best short hurdlers in the country, but she knows a gold medal will not come easy at the national secondary school championships next weekend.
Ashton (17, Taieri) is one of a bunch of Otago athletes preparing for the championships in Wanganui, and her form so far this season gives her reason to be confident.
She will compete in the 100m hurdles and 100m sprint, events in which she has had plenty of success in the past.
Her 13.97sec 100m hurdles personal best makes her the top-ranked secondary schools female in the country, and she is only 0.55sec off being the top-ranked woman in the country.
Fiona Morrison (26, Canterbury) clocked 13.42sec in Hamilton in February and is the top-ranked woman.
At the national secondary schools championships last year, Ashton finished second in the 100m hurdles in 14.45sec, but she said she felt a lot better now than she did a year ago.
''So far, my form has been going well. I've been running faster quite early in the season so I think it will go quite well.
''I've done a lot of winter training and gym work. I train every day, apart from Friday. It's full-on but I enjoy it.''
Ashton, who is coached by Megan Gibbons (nee Merrilees) and her mother, Joan, has competed at the national championships the past three years and has a 12.62sec 100m personal best.
She represented New Zealand at the under-18 Oceania championships last year, finishing third in the 100m in 13.03sec and sixth in the 100m hurdles in 15.19sec.
On the back of her latest 100m hurdles form, she is ranked fourth in Australia.
Ashton, a Queen's High School pupil who does aerobics in winter, said her best achievement was winning the national club hurdles title the past two years.
Ashton first dabbled in athletics as a toddler but did not start seriously competing until she was 11.
- Robert van Royen
