Despite the cancellation of key events, Legana's Sam Clifford is not letting the coronavirus get him down.
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Denied the chance to compete in both the Australian national athletics championships and the world junior titles, the 17-year-old is still able to put things into perspective.
"Right now, everyone's upset and devastated with a lot of the nerves and devastated with how this pandemic has affected everyday life," he said.
"For me personally, one of the biggest things was I was almost through my training cycle, going through my peak phase of training and for them to cancel it last minute was quite heartbreaking, particularly for other athletes who mightn't be able to do it again."
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The former Riverside Primary and High School student now has his eyes clearly focused on a jam-packed 2021 schedule, with the possibility of representing his country on three occasions on his radar.
With just under a year to go until the Launceston College star dons the green and gold for the world cross-country championships to be held in Bathurst, Clifford eagerly scanned over the course upon its release, likening it to a Tasmanian run.
"It reminds me a little bit of the Pontville Equestrian Park, where it's all up and down and undulating, not too hard but I haven't been to Bathurst so I'm not too sure what the terrain will be like until I'm physically there but from what I've seen, it's seems like there's some good ideas."
Listing the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics as a potential goal for the busy year ahead, Clifford is set to take a short break from his training before getting back into things, something he says is an advantage of his situation.
"It won't be too hard for me to train, especially being at Legana and out along the West Tamar area, it's pretty quiet so I can still train in areas like Paper Beach or Gravelly Beach or whatever, away from most civilisation and still get the training in.
"It's just the unique things about distance running or even cycling and endurance sports where we can just go anywhere to do our training as it's very adaptable."
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