THE Moree Midget, 12-year-old Kate McDonald, on Saturday broke a five-year park run record when clocking 18 minutes and 53 seconds for the five-kilometre circuit.

“That was good. Tiring, but fun,” Kate gasped soon after creating new figures.

The record was previously held by accomplished long-distance runner, Nikko Siddons, from North Star, who stopped the clock at 18 minutes and 48 seconds in December, 2019.

Two months prior to establishing the record, Siddons won the 9.2km Inverell East Rotary Club’s Sapphire City River Run women’s category.

Kate, trained in Moree by Ronny Clissold, was recently named in the top 10 runners nationally in her age group for 800m and 1500m at the Australian All Schools Championships at Sydney’s Olympic Park – all while running with a bad head cold.

Kate, also an accomplished equestrienne who has competed at national level, has a major target in her sights – and well within her reach.

“I want to make it to the 2032 Olympics,” Kate said.

“My main distances are 800 metres and 1500 metres but I’ve been enjoying the five-kilometre runs as well.

“I’ve got a couple of friends at school telling everyone they’ve got a friend that’s in the top-10 in Australia, so that’s good,” she grinned.

Kate McDonald is full of running on Saturday, with coach Ronny Clissold in hot pursuit, counting the seconds to a new record.

Trainer Ronny Clissold said Kate has done an enormous job, given a bad cold set her back in Sydney.

“This is great. We planned for it and the margin probably would’ve been bigger if Kate hadn’t been sick during the Sydney trip,” Clissold said.

“She reached a peak on the way up and, 10 days later, reached a peak on the way down, and that was the plan for today.

“That all worked out, and proves I’m doing the right thing.”

Clissold said embracing the pain barrier is an integral part of long-distance running.

“Kate is learning to embrace the pain. That’s what distance running is all about,” he said.

“Runners need to be able to take in that pain, and the glory at the finish is what counts for all the pain taken while running.”

Words and Image: Bill Poulos