Veteran throwing coach Les Bottles is building a stable of junior athletes he believes can rival the best in Australia and three of his rising stars will test themselves at the Australian championships in Perth.
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Joey Kremer, Taumasina Amon and Kiarna Woolley-Blain have been picked to represent Canberra at the championships from April 26.
It's a chance for Bottles' modest training group to get national recognition after the ACT Throwers Club's eight athletes blitzed the Canberra championships to finish with 21 medals.
Bottles has been shaping track and field athletes for 30 years, including former Canberra Raider Terry Martin.
He has 15 athletes, aged from 10 to 70, in a training group in Canberra's south and Bottles believes he's sitting on some undiscovered talent.
"We were leading up the ACT championships and the athletes that are going to Perth are the ones that fit into the age groups," Bottles said.
"Joey [Kremer] and Jake Church have big futures ahead of them in particular.
"A year or so down the track I can see these guys keeping on getting better. Jake broke two ACT records in the shot put and long jump and Joe broke one in the javelin.
"I had Terry Martin as an eight-year-old when he was coming through, he still has records on the book for junior throwers.
"Joey is a different type of athlete, but Jake, I put him in the ranks of Terry Martin because he's an absolute powerhouse and he plays footy for the Woden Rams."
Kremer, Amon and Woolley-Blain
were the only athletes eligible for Australian championships selection because of their age and they finished with five gold, three silver and three bronze medals among them.
Amon won gold medals in the discus, shot put and javelin while Kremer set an ACT record in the under-15 javelin.
Woolley-Blain, 12, lives in Merimbula but is driven more than three hours almost every week to be tutored and chase her dream of competing at an Olympics.
"I'm very excited to compete in Perth, I'll be in shot put, javelin and high jump," Woolley-Blain said.
"Shot put is my favourite ... we come up to Canberra most Sundays for training but it's three and a bit hours in the car.
"Sometimes it's tiring, but I'd love to go to an Olympics and I love Sally Pearson. She's so amazing the way she's won all of her medals in hurdles."
