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BIOGRAPHY |
From Parkrun to the world cross country championships – it has been a unique journey for Melbourne teenager Fieke van der Kamp who has not followed the tradition path to her green and gold debut for Australia in Bathurst.
Away from her running, Fieke is a very high achiever – an Australian Olympic Committee ‘Change Maker’ in 2022 and elected Major of the Nillumbik Youth Council in 2021. Completing high school in 2022, she achieved an ATAR of 99.50 and was school captain, Valedictorian and Dux of her school.
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Fieke van der Kamp started exercising when she was aged 10 with her mother who was doing a walk/jog program. The family then started doing Parkrun and Fieke has continued with those community fitness activity her entire running career. Fieke gradually started formally training with Max Balchin, a Diamond Valley club coach and teacher at her high school – Eltham. “Max approached me after I won school cross country in year 7. He asked if I wanted to come along and do some training to prepare for the next round. Around year 9 or 10 I started training multiple times a week.”
Her times were also tumbling. In 2019, Fieke placed sixth in the Nationals Schools under-16 3000m in 10:09. Then COVID hit. “COVID saw a lot of oval sessions, and I was glad when our 5km radius became a 10km radius to include the track.”
In 2022 she was sidelined for a lot of the year.
“Unfortunately, I got injured a month before (the 2022 Nationals) with stress fractures in my toes, and was in the pool from the start to mid-2022. My first race back was the Victorian All Schools Cross Country Championships, through which I qualified for my first Australian Cross Country Championships in Adelaide.”
Her seventh place in the under-20 6km race in Adelaide put her on the radar for selection.
In the leadup to the Australian trials for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Fieke was in good form.
“In the last couple of months, I run PBs on the track and at Parkrun. My 5000m PB was 17:29 and my local (Diamond Creek) Parkrun PB was 18:08.”
Fieke ran well for sixth place at the trials – earning her selection for her Australian team debut in Bathurst.
Away from the track Fieke has a very busy life. She sat the VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) at Eltham High School, in 2022 in the subjects: Literature, French, Chemistry, Specialist Mathematics, Mathematical Methods and Physical Education. At the Victorian School of Languages, she studied Dutch. She graduated year 12 with an ATAR of 99.50 and was Valedictorian and Dux.
Her future study plans?
“I’m interested in how our minds affect our performance and the interrelationship between mind and body and this is what I want to study; the limitations we place on ourselves: their origins, what they tangibly are on a molecular level, and how to remove them so that we may be without limits.”
Hero/idol: Eliud Kipchoge, because it is beautiful to watch him run. He is completely one with himself and that’s what I think running is about. Dancers do it through dancing, Singers through singing, we show our hearts and perform through running. Eliud also chooses to live simply, at altitude, and his life is running, and that’s what I want to experience. He’s also doing things nobody thought possible, and that’s what excites me about running…Most influential person in your career: My coach Max, because he writes sessions and is willing to negotiate sessions with me, but also bring me back down to earth and reason with me when I want to do too much. But also, he’s excited by what my teammates and I achieve, and truly loves watching us race and train. Advice to your young self: Enjoy the stuff you have while you love it. There’s no point saving pretty notebooks for ‘something special’, or waiting to read the next Pony Pals book to have something to look forward to. When you’re 18, the little book ‘The Bord Nest’ you made out of scrap paper will be worth infinitely more to you than blank pieces of pretty blue poster paper. The same thing applies to running. Wear the cool new crop top and shorts while you think they’re the most awesome thing ever and reflect on the run and your watch stats and splits right after the run, because two runs later, they just won’t seem as important anymore. So basically, the quote, because I love quotes, by Napoleon Hill: “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right”. Just start running…Hobbies: Singing, woodworking, and drawing… Sporting ambition: To reach my full potential and surpass it…Other sports: Gymnastics (state competitions), Soccer and Swimming (interclub and regional)…What do you like best about competing: Doing things I didn’t know I could and getting to the point where you believe you can’t but you do anyway… Interesting facts: bilingual in English and Dutch; at her Valedictory evening, sang ‘You’ll be Back’ from Hamilton solo; Nillumbik Young Woman of the Year in 2022; Major of Nillumbik Youth Council in 2021; member of Nillumbik’s Environment and Sustainability Advisory Committee; passionate about combating climate change; and runs the Eltham Primary School Choir.
@ 3 Feb 2023 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au