Steph Moore (left) and Tori Wilton returned from a successful athletics tour to Canada with medals in hand.
Two Cowra High School athletes have returned from Canada with a bit of extra weight in their luggage.
Steph Moore and Tori Wilton, who are jumping specialists, were part of a successful Sports Travel Australia track and field team that toured to the land of the maple leaf medaling in their events.
Their 18-day trip in the July school holidays saw the duo compete in two meets at Kelowna, British Columbia, and Vancouver gaining five medals in total.
“It was really fun and interesting, I miss it already,” Tori said.
“We’d recommend it to other athletes - it’s great experience and lots of fun.”
The program is a chance for promising young Australian athletes to have the opportunity to experience travel and compete internationally against athletes of similar age and standard.
Australian athletes are invited to participate on the tour by achieving predetermined standards at State Athletics Championships.
The team of 49 athletes from NSW and Victoria, together with four coaches and some accompanying parents headed to the Jack Brow Meet at Kelowna before enjoying some sightseeing in Vancouver prior to preparing for their second competition at the Trevor Craven Memorial Meet.
“We were up against people from different regions all over Canada,” Steph said.
“The competition was similar to a state meet and you would forget that you were in Canada. It was a good standard of competition over there, so our results were a bit surprising.
“They [Canadians] were really excited about us going and heaps of people wanted to swap shirts and other memorabilia.”
Steph and Tori took in the sights of Los Angeles including Universal Studios, Disneyland/California Adventure and a Hollywood tour before flying back to Australia.
On their return, the girls represented Cowra High School at the Western Region athletics trials in Bathurst last week winning six events between them.
They are now back into their training and looking forward to catching up with their Australian teammates from the Canada tour at the CHS State Championships at Homebush, Sydney, in September.
Steph and Tori would like to thank Cowra Rotary and their family and friends for their support.
Tori would also like to thank Carruthers Machinery, The Bowling Club, LJ Hooker, Hutcheon & Pearce and McDonalds.
A full list of the girls’ results appears below:
Jack Brow Meet at Kelowna
Steph - 17+ Girls - 2nd High Jump, 3rd Triple Jump, 5th Long Jump
Tori - 16/17 Girls - 4th High Jump 1.50m, 14th Long Jump 4.21m, 6th Triple Jump 9.66m
Trevor Craven Memorial Meet in Vancouver
Steph - 17+ Girls - 1st High Jump, 3rd Triple Jump, 4th Long Jump
Tori - 16/17 Girls - 5th High Jump 1.55m, 9th Long Jump 4.24m, 16 Girls 2nd Triple Jump 9.93m (PB)
Western Region trials in Bathurst
Steph - 17+ Girls - 1st High Jump, 1st Triple Jump, 1st Long Jump
Tori - 16 Girls - 1st High Jump 1.45m, 1st Long Jump 4.38m, 1st Triple Jump 9.57m