Ramsden Wraps up Globetrotting Month with Oceania Title
The globetrotting exploits of middle distance runner Matt Ramsden has taken him to Townsville this week where he won the men’s 1500m at the Oceania Championships, achieved in championship record time.
The 21 year-old has racked up some serious air miles in recent weeks, with the month of June seeing him break records, earn a world championship A-Qualifying time and cover the globe with days to spare.
In the first week of June, he ran in the Outback Mile at the Leonora Golden Gift in WA’s Goldfields before shooting over to Europe where he ran a new personal best and IAAF qualifying time of 3:35.60 in winning the 1500m event at a track meet in Switzerland.
He followed that effort with a new personal best in the 3000m where he ran a 7.45 at a meet in Oslo, Norway before backing up with another impressive 1500m time (3.37) in the Netherlands off a 48 hour turnaround.
Ramsden then headed back to home soil and Queensland’s North East, where he ran at the Oceania Championships in Townsville – which has taken on a much stronger focus for Australian track and field athletes following a re-prioritisation of the IAAF World Ranking points.
Historically, the meet had attracted a lot of junior and developing contestants, with the Championships ranked below the Australian Athletics Championships in terms of importance.
However, since the change, the titles now provide a much bigger incentive for athletes to chase ranking points, which was represented by Ramsden’s Championship time, which was achieved in 3:44.41 but is significantly slower than times he has run against international fields.
With a qualifying time already secured and a healthy dose of international travel for company, Ramsden clocked a professional race in Townsville, one that earned him the win and the all-important ranking points to boot.
His next event will see him travelling long-haul once more, with a ticket to run in the Mile race at the IAAF London Diamond League in July. Here he will go head to head with the many of the world’s elite middle distance runners as he continues to reinforce his status as one of the country’s brightest young track talents.