A Year 12 Siena Catholic College student who won triple gold at the Australian Schools Cross Country Championships has his sights firmly set on representing Australia in the 2028 and 2032 Olympics.
Rhett Baker won the individual 18 years boys, teams 18 years and relay 18 years events at the national championships on the Gold Coast in September. He finished the 8km cross country run in 25.57 minutes which, considering the hilly, winding terrain and the heat, was what he called a “pretty good time”. In fact, he won by 41 seconds.
“His charisma, positivity and energy was and is an inspiration for all the team and he’s set the standard high with his determination and work ethic,” Queensland coach Callum Troyahn says.
“He represented his school, district, region and state with pride and is a fantastic young man with a bright future.”
Rhett, who was one of the Queensland team captains at the nationals, is now training for the world cross country titles in Canberra on November 29.
The gruelling schedule has him pounding the pavement up to seven days a week and training twice daily on at least two of those days.
“I have been building up the amount I run each week and have worked to 90-100km as my weekly total,” Rhett says.
“That means three training sessions with speed and long interval work and the rest being long, easy runs.”
The veteran cross country runner, who’s been competing since he was 10, says he’s “as confident as anyone else going into the race”. “Even though I did win nationals, anything can happen in an 8km cross country and I will be as prepared as I can for the event,” he says.
