Lara Check gets impressive Athletics Australia ratings

Local heptathlon Lara Check, going on her results at the recent NSW Combined Event Championships, is that type of champion.

She overcame the oppressive heat and injury to take charge of her event at Sydney Olympic Park.

The 16-year-old battled through her heptathlon (seven events over two days) with a low-grade quad tear.

She refused to quit despite hobbling through the final event of the 800m.

Her efforts then paid off.

Athletics Australia just published the rankings of heptathlons for the start of the year and Lara was ranked first in under 18 and second in opens in Australia.

She had a remarkable last carnival winning five of the seven events and second in the other two for under 18 girls.

Lara finished as under 18 state heptathlon champion with 4,789 points, a massive 874 points ahead of second place.

Lara's score was also 509 points higher than the NSW state champion in the open age group.

The year 11 Nowra High School was happy with her season-best high jump of 1.69m.

She said the conditions were tough.

"The heatwave was close to 40 degrees and felt even hotter down in the track," she said.

"The officials kept us as cool as they could by providing tents and running the events on the scheduled time without keeping us standing around for a long time.

"However, it was difficult in the high jump as the competitors all started at varying heights depending on how high they could jump.

"The first girl started at 1.15m and with increments of 3cm which meant I had to wait nearly 40 minutes to start jumping as I chose to begin at 1.49m.

"I ended up clearing 1.69m so was out there for a while."

Facing such conditions, an athlete needed to stay cool.

"I kept cool by using a wet cool towel, hat and sunscreen and drank loads of Tailwind electrolyte drinks, a sponsor of mine, and so that helps," she said.

Not only did she have to take on the heat but also had to battle an injury, which is still giving her some trouble.

"I rested last week to give my injury a chance to heal. I trained on Sunday without pain and was able to clock 25.25 in a 200m at the end of the session which is close to my personal best so I was really happy," she said.

"I did try to do another session before school on Monday but had to stop as I felt the quad again.

"I continued on racing at the recent state carnival as I knew I was on track to achieving a massive heptathlon personal best.

"I could tolerate the pain but it did hinder my 800m as by the end of the weekend I couldn't lift my leg high to stride out.

"My mum/coach Janie was worried I'd make my injury worse by continuing but I felt I could push through and had three weeks to recover before nationals."

The heptathlon champion is proud of her achievements.

"It's an exciting achievement (being ranked first in under 18 and second in opens in Australia) but I don't want to get my hopes up as I know there are athletes out there capable of achieving higher than me in the opens age group who may not have competed at their state carnival in opens this year," she said.

"I'm just really happy that I keep working hard and improving in all of my events."

The stunning thing is Lara says she still has work to do.

"I still have a lot more improvements and I'm working on things to improve in all my events," the teenager said.

"My high jump coach Peter Lawler has only recently changed my high jump technique which I'm still getting used to.

"My 800m also has loads of improvement - I have had to alter a lot of my 800m training as there has been such a long period of poor air quality in the Shoalhaven with the bushfires."

Her next competition is in less than two weeks which is the Australian Juniors Combined Events Championships, followed closely by the State Juniors in Sydney.

All her running, hurdles and long jump coaching comes from mum Janie Hamilton who has a small squad called Track Talent South Coast.

Lara also travels up to Wollongong once a week to see Peter Lawler who coaches her throws, high jump and hurdles.

The busy teenager will prioritise study and sport over most other things.

However, she does enjoy going to the beach or catching up with friends on weekends.