COBDEN athlete Drew Semmens has made his family and friends proud after taking home a silver medal from the recent Victorian Country Championships.
The 18 year-old placed second in the 400m under 20 men’s event in Bendigo which he said was helped by the support of the Cobden community.
“The support family and friends in Cobden have shown me has been great,” he said.
Semmens said the race got off to a shaky beginning after an initial false start from one of his competitors and a second delay caused by the same athlete.
“I think he was trying to put us off,” Semmens said.
But that didn’t stop him from reaching a podium finish.
“It was a bit of a strange start but once it was all over it was alright,” he said.
Semmens has a mild form of autism and usually competes against athletes with an intellectual disability, however at Bendigo there was no classification.
Semmens has been running for just 18 months and said he had hopes of making the 2012 Paralympics.
“I’ve got a bit of a way to go. I need to get my times down to 4 minutes for the 1500m,” he said.
“I train most days so I’ll just keep working at it.”
Last year Semmens took two silver medals at the Victorian Country Championships in Ballarat.