October 1, 2019 by ntadmin

Sprinting to Success!

Variety Heart Scholarship recipient, Shericka sprinted to success at the 2019 Australian School Sports Athletics Championships!

Shericka Mahoney from the remote NT community of Alpurrurulam, recently returned from competing at the School Sport Australia Athletics Championships held in Darwin. Not only did she win a gold medal in the medley relay, a 1^st place pennant for the fun athletics events day but she also set SSA records for long jump and 100m for the classification 64% in these multiclass events!

The 5 day event saw over 500 students from VIC, NSW, QLD, SA, ACT and NT compete in track and field events with the multiclass students competing against each other in all the same events as the able body students.

Shericka was very nervous before her first event, but by the time her long jump event came around she was ready to take on the other states and territories! The combined NT, ACT and NSW multiclass medley relay was a sight to see in action with Sherika anchoring the team and her fellow NT team mate bought the team home for a great win.

The last day of the championship was a fun activities events day with each state and territory making up teams of eight to compete in fun field and track events with some participates in fancy dress in their team colours. The multiclass team from NT combined with ACT & SA and took out first place in the smaller states and territories category.

Over the time in Darwin all students attended a PD which was an introduction to some of the unique creatures that can be found in the NT where they could touch and hold some of them. They also went on board the Adelaide River Queen and watched the crocodiles jump high out of the water. As a way for the students to mix with each other, they were placed in different teams and were run through a series of fun and unusual activities where they not only racing and competing against the other teams, they were racing the clock as they only had two minutes at each of the five stations to complete the task given to them.

Shericka went to the championships to gain experience at the next level of competition and now has taken home a gold medal, a first place pennant and two School Sport Australia record braking certificates.

Thanks to your support and donations, Variety NT provided a $3,500 Variety Heart Scholarship to Shericka and we couldn’t be prouder of her amazing abilities and efforts. We can’t wait to see what the future brings for this amazing athlete!

Thank you to Variety Club NT, Alpurrurulam School for helping with costs to get Shericka and her grandfather up to Darwin for an experience that she will never forget.