BRIGHT FUTURE: Noah Negus has booked a place at nationals after collecting two gold medals at the NSW PSSA titles in Sydney.
FOR five agonising hours, rising track star Noah Negus was forced to wait to find out whether he had claimed the biggest win of his career or missed out on a medal all together.
Competing at the NSW PSSA titles in Sydney, Noah lined up in the final of his pet event the 800m, but when he crossed the line confusion reigned amongst all of the runners.
“A boy false-started and the clock kept going, so when they finished the race and they figured out the results they had him outside of the top three,” Noah’s mother Lizl said.
“Luckily somebody had a camera and they recorded his race, so they had to take a minute 20 seconds off his time and it turned out he came first.
“We knew in our hearts that he’d won it, but when they read out the top three and he wasn’t in there, we were really surprised.
“But once they made the official decision, he had a really big smile on his face.
While the 800m was the highlight of his campaign, the all-round athlete also collected gold in the long jump before nabbing silver in the 100m and 200m sprint double, with eighth coming to him in the shot put.
“Noah had shot put at the same time as the 800m, so he went to the track and then to the field event and then back to track, so by the end of that he was pretty tired after his 800m,” Lizl said.
“So he’ll concentrate more on his track events from now on because each year it will get harder and harder with new boys coming in and they’re getting faster and faster.
“And by the time he gets to high school it will be even more competitive than what it is now.”
Thanks to his excellent results, Noah has booked himself a place as part of the NSW PSSA team to travel to the School Sports Australia Track and Field in Adelaide next month.
But Lizl said her son has even bigger dreams and is looking to launch himself onto the international stage very soon.
“He just loves it and this is what he wants to do and keep running as long as he can,” she said.
“He can now qualify for the deaf Olympic Games which is next held in 2013, so he’s looking to qualify for that.”
Raffle tickets can be purchased from St Patricks School to help Noah travel to the national titles.