Alex Beddoes tracking well

Schoolboy Alex Beddoes has been selected into the Auckland regional athletics team along with some of New Zealand’s finest up and coming talent, including NZ shotput sensation Jacco Gill, to take part in the New Zealand National Athletic Championships this week.

Beddoes, 16, was one of the youngest competitors in the senior boy’s 800m section at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championship held in Wellington on December 2011.

After finishing second in his heat with a time of 2:04.87 he then ran a personal best of 2:01.87 in the semi final.

Beddoes has continued to improve on his PB with a 1:59.34 at the Auckland Senior Champs on February 26, and in the process setting a new Cook Islands national record for the M17s, and also ranked fourth in New Zealand Athletics’ official rankings for the current M17 age group.

The youngster has some big goals ahead in 2012, with opportunities to represent the Cook Islands at the Oceania Championship in June, and depending on times, could be selected to attend the World Junior Championship in July.

“I’ve set myself some pretty hard targets to get my time down to 1:55:00 this year, and eventually be running under 1:50:00 by next year,” Beddoes said.

Beddoes has only been running since the beginning of 2011.

Not only has he got a talent for the track but he also passed his NCEA Level 1 with Excellence last year at Sacred Heart College where he is boarding in New Zealand.

“My parents have sacrificed a lot to give me these opportunities and I really want to take them,” Beddoes said.

Now in Year 12, Beddoes is balancing the extra training with the extra school work load as he looks forward to some big challenges in 2012.