Armidale's Jay Stone, a world champion indoors athlete, took fourth place in the 400 metre race (35 – 39 age group) at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Málaga, Spain, last month.
Mr Stone – who is also Armidale Athletics club president and coach – had dreamt of being gold medallist in the 200 and 400 metre races.
An old injury put paid to those dreams.
Gold in Spain seemed a likely prospect.
Mr Stone won two gold medals in the 200 and 400 metre races (35-39 age group) at the World Masters Athletics Championships Indoor in Daegu, Korea, last year.
He was declared reigning champion in those categories. He is also the Australian record holder in these events.
He also won gold at the World Masters Games in Auckland for the 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay (30-34 age group).
"I set my sight on winning the gold medal at the outdoors," Mr Stone said.
“I'd done a year-long training program to build towards it. It was all trending in the right direction, until I got injured. It was probably my own fault, to be honest – just trying to push the envelope a little too far, and overdid it.”
He was brought low by a hamstring injury sustained in Fiji, which affected his performance at the 2016 World Masters Athletics Championships in Perth, where he finished third in the 400 metre race.
"It had calmed down, but then I flared it up in training before I went,” Mr Stone said.
“When I got over there, I raced in the 200 metre heat, and I qualified through to the the semi-final, but my leg pulled up quite sore.
“I decided to withdraw from the 200 metre. Running that faster event – a much higher intensity sprint – seemed to be aggravating my hamstring a lot more, so I was hopeful it would make through the 400 metre, which is a lower intensity race.”
His decision not to run in the semi-final or the final of the 200 metre gave Mr Stone three days to recover.
“I lined up in the 400 metre, and I made it all the way to the heat, and the semi-final into the final, then the final.
“I was lucky enough to finish fourth in the world. I was pretty happy with that in the end."
He regrets, though, that he wasn’t in peak condition.
"It was disappointing to see the time that won the world title in Spain was well within my capabilities, and the kind of time I'd done many times in the past,” Mr Stone said.
“If I'd been fit and healthy, and in the shape I was hoping, I probably could have taken gold – but given the challenge I faced in the lead-up, and everything that went on, I was very happy to finish fourth.”
Mr Stone’s next goal will be to defend the world indoor title over the 200 and 400 metres at the World Masters Athletics Championships Indoor at Toruń, Poland, next year.
“I want to acknowledge and thank all the people who helped me along the way to get over to Spain, and the support I got here from the local club and my training partners,” Mr Stone said.
“A big thank you to all of them; I couldn't have got the result without them!"
Nicholas Fuller
The exciting thing about journalism is the variety; one can explore the world, meet interesting people and write about it. I've sat in the caravan of an African circus ringmaster; I've squatted on my haunches in a plastic-sorting factory in the Mumbai slums, talking to the workers and drinking hot chai in plastic cups the size of thimbles; and I've interviewed Chinese cultural attachés, Danish football stars and Japanese drummers. Now I’ve come to the Northern Tablelands as a group journalist working across six of Fairfax’s mastheads. Living in New England is a return to country. My father’s side of the family lived here since the 19th century. My great-great-grandparents are buried in Ben Lomond. My great-grandmother and grandmother spent most of their lives in and around Glencoe and Glen Innes, and are both buried in Tamworth. My grandfather isn’t; his ashes are in a cupboard until we throw them in the Macdonald, near Bendemeer, where he used to fish. And my father cut his teeth as a cadet journalist on the Northern Daily Leader, before moving to Canberra, and studied history at UNE. Moving here is following in the family footsteps. Armidale seems charming: up here, in Australia’s highest city, one feels close to the sky. And the mixture of 1830s historic buildings; green, rain-washed hills, crowned with conifers; and one of the country’s leading universities give it a unique appeal. I completed my journalism qualifications last year, while freelancing for newspapers and magazines, and holding down a full-time job. I spent the end of last year in Sri Lanka, where I reported on visiting Buddhist dignitaries (from exotic Perth), UN development programs, Italian food weeks, and hotels in former war-zones. Previously, I worked as a writer and editor for the Australian Government in Canberra for a decade. In my day job, I briefed members of parliament about international relations, and wrote about agricultural aid programs to developing countries. Journalism, though, is where my heart lies. I want to experience life, rather than sit behind a desk. And, having grown up in Belgium, I want to be Tintin. I hope to get to know and love the region where my ancestors lived, while reporting on issues important to the Tablelands.
The exciting thing about journalism is the variety; one can explore the world, meet interesting people and write about it. I've sat in the caravan of an African circus ringmaster; I've squatted on my haunches in a plastic-sorting factory in the Mumbai slums, talking to the workers and drinking hot chai in plastic cups the size of thimbles; and I've interviewed Chinese cultural attachés, Danish football stars and Japanese drummers. Now I’ve come to the Northern Tablelands as a group journalist working across six of Fairfax’s mastheads. Living in New England is a return to country. My father’s side of the family lived here since the 19th century. My great-great-grandparents are buried in Ben Lomond. My great-grandmother and grandmother spent most of their lives in and around Glencoe and Glen Innes, and are both buried in Tamworth. My grandfather isn’t; his ashes are in a cupboard until we throw them in the Macdonald, near Bendemeer, where he used to fish. And my father cut his teeth as a cadet journalist on the Northern Daily Leader, before moving to Canberra, and studied history at UNE. Moving here is following in the family footsteps. Armidale seems charming: up here, in Australia’s highest city, one feels close to the sky. And the mixture of 1830s historic buildings; green, rain-washed hills, crowned with conifers; and one of the country’s leading universities give it a unique appeal. I completed my journalism qualifications last year, while freelancing for newspapers and magazines, and holding down a full-time job. I spent the end of last year in Sri Lanka, where I reported on visiting Buddhist dignitaries (from exotic Perth), UN development programs, Italian food weeks, and hotels in former war-zones. Previously, I worked as a writer and editor for the Australian Government in Canberra for a decade. In my day job, I briefed members of parliament about international relations, and wrote about agricultural aid programs to developing countries. Journalism, though, is where my heart lies. I want to experience life, rather than sit behind a desk. And, having grown up in Belgium, I want to be Tintin. I hope to get to know and love the region where my ancestors lived, while reporting on issues important to the Tablelands.
