Hey everyone,
My name's Julian Oakley and I'm a middle distance runner from Tauranga. I am 18 years old and have just finished my last year at Tauranga Boys' College. Gareth Hyett coaches me and I am very grateful to have someone like him on board helping me out, as I have only been seriously into the sport for less than two years. Gareth is someone who I can relate to very well and we have a great relationship together, he knows me well and knows what works for me best. He's run for NZ at the world champs not long ago and does a lot of doubling up in the MD events so is a huge help.
Anyway, I had a good winter build up this year with some good tempo runs and hill work which helped a lot coming into the summer. I was pretty happy with a 3rd place finish at the NZSS Cross Country champs in June over 6km. I also managed a win in the M19 road race in Wellington over 8km. I felt like training was going great and I had a solid build up to the NZSS Track and Field Champs at Newtown where I targeted the 800m/1500m double. I had a few time trails and low key races at home to prepare. A 1:50.24 800m at a Tuesday club night with Gareth pacing me through 400m in about 53 seconds was a real confidence boost and also a 3:53.67 1500m a week later with Ben Ruthe taking me through to the 800 in 2:06.
Gareth gave me the option of what I wanted to race at Nationals, but I felt confident in myself that I could cope with 5 races in 2 days. The first day went well, I made it through all my heats and semis pretty easily, although my 1500m semi was a bit stacked which made it faster than expected. A good feed, cold shower and big stretch helped me recover pretty well from a hard days racing and I was ready for the finals! To most people's surprise, Wellington put on great conditions for racing, the sun was out and there was pretty much no wind which was great. The 800m final was probably one of the most anticipated races of the meet, with Brad Mathas and myself both running under the current NZ record this season. The pace was never on to begin with and 300m out Brad ran away, I was trying my hardest to stay on him but he was just too strong and had a good finish. I was disappointed in myself because I knew what had to be done if I wanted to win but my tactics just weren't right on the day. It left me disappointed in myself but I think I learnt a lot from it. I also wanted to put on a good show for the crowd but the race just didn't pan out as I wanted it to. The best thing about losing that race was that I had a chance for redemption and I was even more hungry to with the 1500m. I had a warm up/down at the same time and an hour and a half later I was back ready to do battle again. Keiron McDonald went straight to the front as I thought he would and pressed the pace, although it slowed somewhat in the second lap which probably helped me a bit. I moved up onto his shoulder with a lap to go and as I was about to make my move Ben Moynihan came screaming round the outside. I had to sit back until about 120m out where I gave it death to the finish. Luckily I just had enough to hold off Ben who also ran a great race.
The feeling after was mostly relief more than anything, I came to Wellington with the goal of winning both but wasn't quite able to do so. I may have been the favorite for both with my times but the great thing about running is that it comes down to who wants it most on the day. I was disappointed in my efforts in the 800m but I think you always learn more from the losses. I had a nice can of coke and some oreos from Keegan Millar, which went down a treat after a tough couple of races.
Since the nationals, I ran the John Walker mile up in Auckland on Saturday. I ran well taking the win with a pretty quick last lap after a slowish start. The time was 4:13.39, not quite threatening sub 4 yet… Ben Moynihan ran another solid race with another fast finish, he'll defiantly be one to watch out for this summer with the way he's running at the moment. Training was pretty easy over Christmas and New Years but I came home and ran a 1:54.34 800 on the 1st and 1:50.87 on the 3rd which I was pretty happy with. I have a B standard in the 800 for World Juniors next year, so my goals are to run sub 1:50 in the 800m and around 3:48 in the 1500m this season. I'll be targeting some of the classic meets for fast times. Also I'm really looking forward to Nationals again in March where I'll have another crack at the 8/15 double for M19. There will be some good re-matches in both races!
Cheers for reading,
Julian
My name's Julian Oakley and I'm a middle distance runner from Tauranga. I am 18 years old and have just finished my last year at Tauranga Boys' College. Gareth Hyett coaches me and I am very grateful to have someone like him on board helping me out, as I have only been seriously into the sport for less than two years. Gareth is someone who I can relate to very well and we have a great relationship together, he knows me well and knows what works for me best. He's run for NZ at the world champs not long ago and does a lot of doubling up in the MD events so is a huge help.
Anyway, I had a good winter build up this year with some good tempo runs and hill work which helped a lot coming into the summer. I was pretty happy with a 3rd place finish at the NZSS Cross Country champs in June over 6km. I also managed a win in the M19 road race in Wellington over 8km. I felt like training was going great and I had a solid build up to the NZSS Track and Field Champs at Newtown where I targeted the 800m/1500m double. I had a few time trails and low key races at home to prepare. A 1:50.24 800m at a Tuesday club night with Gareth pacing me through 400m in about 53 seconds was a real confidence boost and also a 3:53.67 1500m a week later with Ben Ruthe taking me through to the 800 in 2:06.
Gareth gave me the option of what I wanted to race at Nationals, but I felt confident in myself that I could cope with 5 races in 2 days. The first day went well, I made it through all my heats and semis pretty easily, although my 1500m semi was a bit stacked which made it faster than expected. A good feed, cold shower and big stretch helped me recover pretty well from a hard days racing and I was ready for the finals! To most people's surprise, Wellington put on great conditions for racing, the sun was out and there was pretty much no wind which was great. The 800m final was probably one of the most anticipated races of the meet, with Brad Mathas and myself both running under the current NZ record this season. The pace was never on to begin with and 300m out Brad ran away, I was trying my hardest to stay on him but he was just too strong and had a good finish. I was disappointed in myself because I knew what had to be done if I wanted to win but my tactics just weren't right on the day. It left me disappointed in myself but I think I learnt a lot from it. I also wanted to put on a good show for the crowd but the race just didn't pan out as I wanted it to. The best thing about losing that race was that I had a chance for redemption and I was even more hungry to with the 1500m. I had a warm up/down at the same time and an hour and a half later I was back ready to do battle again. Keiron McDonald went straight to the front as I thought he would and pressed the pace, although it slowed somewhat in the second lap which probably helped me a bit. I moved up onto his shoulder with a lap to go and as I was about to make my move Ben Moynihan came screaming round the outside. I had to sit back until about 120m out where I gave it death to the finish. Luckily I just had enough to hold off Ben who also ran a great race.
The feeling after was mostly relief more than anything, I came to Wellington with the goal of winning both but wasn't quite able to do so. I may have been the favorite for both with my times but the great thing about running is that it comes down to who wants it most on the day. I was disappointed in my efforts in the 800m but I think you always learn more from the losses. I had a nice can of coke and some oreos from Keegan Millar, which went down a treat after a tough couple of races.
Since the nationals, I ran the John Walker mile up in Auckland on Saturday. I ran well taking the win with a pretty quick last lap after a slowish start. The time was 4:13.39, not quite threatening sub 4 yet… Ben Moynihan ran another solid race with another fast finish, he'll defiantly be one to watch out for this summer with the way he's running at the moment. Training was pretty easy over Christmas and New Years but I came home and ran a 1:54.34 800 on the 1st and 1:50.87 on the 3rd which I was pretty happy with. I have a B standard in the 800 for World Juniors next year, so my goals are to run sub 1:50 in the 800m and around 3:48 in the 1500m this season. I'll be targeting some of the classic meets for fast times. Also I'm really looking forward to Nationals again in March where I'll have another crack at the 8/15 double for M19. There will be some good re-matches in both races!
Cheers for reading,
Julian
