TAYLA Parker has just had her biggest year on the track yet, winning seven medals across two disciplines, although the journey has only just begun for the Tamworth flyer.
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The Peel High student is looking forward to permanently putting down the pencils and picking up the pace, as she prepares to chase the biggest dream of any athlete, gold at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.
Competing in the para T20 division for intellectually impaired athletes Parker returned for the National Athletics Championships in Canberra this week with a silver medal around her neck after just getting pipped in the 800m.
That seventh medal for the representative season caps off a huge effort, which saw her claim two golds, a bronze and a silver on her way to the cross country Nationals, before switching to the track to take gold at state before her National silver last weekend.
“I have been to the cross-country nationals every year since 2012 but that was my first time at athletics – I was really nervous,” Parker said.
While the anxiety and nerves before a race are her most terrifying moments, the driven young star wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I hate the anxiety but I don’t like to be beaten,” Parker said. I don’t like thinking that I could have done something without actually trying to do it.”
“Still, my favourite part of any race is the end.”
Training with Wally Warner at the Athletics Complex has already paid dividends this season, although with plans to drop school to chase the dream next year she is sure to be seeing plenty more of the feisty trainer.
Mother Niki Bridge has already mapped the road to Gold Coast 2018, and that includes two sessions a day with Warner, as well as a day a week at TAFE doing veterinary studies.
“I am going to focus on either the 3000m or 5000m,” Parker said. I like the bigger distance events and the Commonwealth Games either this time or the next would be awesome.”
The future star won’t get much of a break to celebrate the end of school however, as she hits the training track to prepare for the first step of her next adventure, the NSW Junior Championships on February 4.