September has been a busy month for FAST Running.
Across school Regionals, High Noon and the ACT 13 Years and Over Championships, athletes have been racing, testing themselves and, in many cases, producing some of their best performances yet.
The result is something we always hope to see: our FAST Performance Top Ten is moving.
Since the beginning of September, ten athletes have either entered one of our Top Ten lists, added another event to their place in FAST history, or shifted their position as performances continued to improve.
That matters because the FAST Top Ten was never intended to be a list that stood still.
As FAST grows, we expect the standards to grow with it.
A record of performance, not a prediction of potential
Our FAST Performance Top Ten records the best performances produced by FAST athletes across different age groups and events.
It gives athletes something tangible to chase. It allows us to recognise performances that have helped shape our history. And, increasingly, it gives younger athletes a chance to look at the names ahead of them and ask a simple question:
Can I get there too?
But there is an important distinction.
A Top Ten performance tells us something about where an athlete is today. It doesn’t tell us where that athlete will eventually finish.
That is particularly important with young athletes. Development isn’t linear. Athletes mature at different rates, discover different events, encounter setbacks and sometimes make their biggest improvements much later than their peers.
So we celebrate the performance without allowing a ranking to define the athlete.
Performance matters. Performance ≠ potential.
Ten athletes changing the lists
The latest movement stretches from our 11–13 rankings through to the FAST All-Time lists.
Annabelle Renda
Annabelle now sits inside both the age-group and All-Time rankings.
FAST All-Time
- 100m — #10
- 200m — #10
Ages 16–18
- 100m — #3
- 200m — #7
Her recent performances continue a strong period of progression through August and September and have established her in multiple places across the FAST record book.
Emily Gaykema
Emily’s first weeks training with FAST have coincided with an impressive school championship campaign, including winning both the 100m and 200m at the ACT Championships.
She now appears in both sprint lists for her age group.
Ages 14–15
- 100m — #7
- 200m — #7
For Emily, those rankings provide a starting point rather than a destination as we begin working with her on the next stage of her development.
Ewan McElhinney
Ewan’s sprint performances have earned him a place among our 16–18-year-old 100m athletes.
Ages 16–18
- 100m — #8
His 11.75 into a headwind at the ACT Championships also delivered the 16-year-old boys’ 100m title.
Ellie B
Ellie’s development over 400m has taken her beyond an age-group list and into the FAST All-Time rankings.
FAST All-Time
- 400m — #7
It is another example of why our lists need to extend beyond the short sprints. Running Excellence takes different forms, and FAST’s history continues to develop across the event spectrum.
Sanjna Vijayakumar
Sanjna joins the FAST Top Ten over 400m.
Ages 11–13
- 400m — #10
Being tenth is not an insignificant place on the list. It means an athlete has established a new benchmark that somebody else will now have to surpass to enter it.
Jungone Kang
Jungone appears in both short-sprint rankings for the 11–13 age group.
Ages 11–13
- 100m — #9
- 200m — #7
Two events and two places in FAST history — with plenty of development still ahead.
Lewin Ainsworth
Lewin adds another event to a growing FAST performance record.
Ages 14–15
- 100m — #6
For an athlete whose competitive program also extends through the 200m, 400m and hammer, the 100m ranking provides another measure of the speed underpinning that broader event range.
Mitchell Aleksandrowicz
Mitchell has moved into the Top Ten in both the 100m and 200m.
Ages 14–15
- 100m — #5
- 200m — #10
His September included a 24.68 200m at the ACT Championships, improving substantially on the 25.51 mark he brought into the meet.
That is exactly the sort of progression we want the Top Ten to capture: not simply where an athlete sits relative to somebody else, but evidence that their own performance is moving forward.
Bradley Davis
Bradley is one of the newest names to enter the FAST record book.
Ages 11–13
- 100m — #8
- 200m — #7
At the ACT Championships he ran 12.91 for 100m and 26.74 for 200m, improving on the marks he carried into the championships.
Those performances put him straight into the Top Ten in both events.
Justin Akachili
Justin also becomes a new Top Ten entrant.
Ages 16–18
- 200m — #10
His 24.59 at the ACT Championships was achieved into a substantial −2.9 m/s headwind, adding some useful context to the performance even though the ranking itself simply records the result.
Why we keep the lists
There will inevitably come a time when some of these names disappear from the Top Ten.
We actually hope they do.
If FAST continues to develop, today’s #10 becomes tomorrow’s #11. A #5 performance might eventually become #8. Records will be challenged and standards will become harder to reach.
That doesn’t diminish what the athlete achieved.
It means they helped establish the standard that somebody else had to chase.
And the athletes already on the list have exactly the same opportunity: keep developing and move the standard again.
That is what makes a living performance history more interesting than a static honours board.
The names change. The standards rise. The history grows.
Something for the next athlete to chase
There is another reason we value these lists.
An athlete arriving at FAST today can see what athletes before them have done.
A 13-year-old can see the performances currently sitting fifth or tenth. A developing sprinter can see the progression required to reach the All-Time list. An athlete already there can see the next name and next performance ahead of them.
None of that guarantees what happens next.
But it creates context.
It creates targets.
And it allows us to recognise the athletes who have contributed to the story of FAST Running along the way.
Congratulations to Annabelle Renda, Emily Gaykema, Ewan McElhinney, Ellie B, Sanjna Vijayakumar, Jungone Kang, Lewin Ainsworth, Mitchell Aleksandrowicz, Bradley Davis and Justin Akachili on the latest changes to our FAST Performance Top Ten.
There will be more.
Every athlete adds to our history. Every performance gives the next athlete something to chase.
The names will change.
The standards will rise.
The history will keep growing.
Running Excellence grows.
Comments are closed