May 8, 2018
Murgon youngster Joshua Williams, 7, is waiting for his world record 10km run last month in Brisbane to be officially ratified by the international authorities … but in the meantime he has his eyes set on breaking another.
Joshua had been preparing for several months to beat the 5km world record for his age group – a task he has now achieved “seven or eight” times in unofficial runs during training, according to his proud mum, Lorna.
“But while training for the 5km run, we occasionally do seven or eight or sometimes a 10k run,” Lorna said.
“He was running 10k times really, really well.”
The family had been looking around for a qualifying 5km race for Joshua to run in when they spotted the open-age 10km University of Queensland Twilight Running Festival at St Lucia in Brisbane on April 22.
This would become Joshua’s first big race, outside of Wondai parkruns and school cross-country events.
Joshua registered – along with about 1500 other runners! He came in 41st overall and second in the 0-13 (Under 14s) age category.
However, his time of 39:27 was not only a 30-second personal best, it was also well under the age 7 world record of 42:40.
Lorna said the family was waiting for various documents from the run organisers so the time could be submitted for ratification, however it was a qualifying race so there should be no problem.
Joshua’s next run will be in the seven kilometre Cherbourg Reconciliation Fun Run on May 20, but this will just form part of his training for his next record attempt – this time at his original 5km target
“We have had a hard time finding races that qualify,” Lorna said.
“Now we are hoping to race at the end of the month. We are hoping to go for May 27 in Brisbane but are just waiting to see if it is certified.”
If not, there is still a bit of time for Joshua to break the record; he doesn’t turn eight until July.
Joshua was a bit puzzled by all the fuss at the end of his record-breaking St Lucia run.
“It was really exciting but I didn’t understand why everyone wanted to interview me after the race. I just wanted to play!” he told southburnett.com.au
To play?
Lorna explained there was an obstacle course at the event site which Joshua had wanted to explore before the race.
His parents – understandably – had suggested he save his energy and explore the course after the run.
Amazingly, that’s exactly what Joshua did … after running 10km, he still had plenty of energy in reserve (and he admitted, he could have run even faster!)
- Related article: Joshua’s Running For a Record
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The end of Joshua’s record-breaking 10km run at St Lucia
