Milly Clark will draw from her own experience when she seeks to inspire the next generation of athletes as guest speaker at The Examiner's Junior Sports Awards next month.
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The Launceston-born runner, who is in line to contest back-to-back Olympic marathons in Tokyo next year, has fond memories of her own motivational meeting at a tender age.
"I remember when Cathy Freeman once came along to South Launceston Little Athletics one Saturday morning and I was so inspired to get her autograph and say that I had stood near her!" she said.
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"I am really grateful to be able to come along as a guest speaker this year. I am also very proud because, for a small island, Tasmania has produced some wonderful athletes that are often forgotten about as they move over to the mainland for training."
Having lived in four continents before returning home a year ago, the 30-year-old is a strong advocate for pursuing sporting dreams from Tasmania.
"I really want to prove that you can live, train and work just as hard here in Tassie. We lose too many good young athletes, thinking they have to move away from home and be out of their usual happy place.
"I take pride in the fact I am a little different to everyone now - every athlete has a different story or pathway for how they got into sport, or the reason they choose their selected sport. It doesn't matter where you come from, what you have done leading up to this point or what you will do moving forward.
"I want to help younger athletes take pride in your own journey and be confident in their dreams moving forward - no matter how different they seem."
Clark joins a high-profile honour role of junior sport guest speakers including Test cricket captains Ricky Ponting and Tim Paine, cyclists Richie Porte and Georgia Baker, triathlete Jake Birtwhistle and Olympic rowing champion Scott Brennan.
Australia's best finisher at the 2016 Olympic marathon (18th in 2:30.53) registered a qualifying time for Tokyo 2020 when she ran a personal best time of 2:28.08 at the Gold Coast Marathon in July and is currently on an altitude training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona.
"I have come up with most of my training group and my coach," she said.
"A lot of the boys here are preparing for the Paralympic World Championships - but I just wanted to come away to spend a month focusing solely on my running.
"The altitude helps with a bit of extra fitness and adaptations to help my running of course, but what I like most about being here is being able to run with an amazing group of people, train hard without having to rush off to work or other things that you normally do at home. It has been so much fun so far."
Award night
- WHAT: The Examiner's Junior Sports Awards
- WHERE: Country Club Tasmania
- WHEN: 6-9pm, Monday, November 18
- DETAILS: www.examiner.com.au
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