It’s not often you pop down the road to see a national record. But that’s what happened when Georgia Griffith broke Abbey Caldwell’s national mark in the 1000 metres this week (Thursday 6 March).
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Griffith is a member of Box Hill athletic club. Her father, Jeremy, is the president and – as far as this observer can tell – also the barbeque chef and distributor of cold drinks on hot nights to grateful Milers Club officials. But that’s another matter.
And Box Hill athletics track is just down Whitehorse Road from where we live. It was just over 10 minutes by car to the adjoining Box Hill hospital when I trialled it several times in preparation for the birth of our oldest son. Increased congestion has probably doubled the journey time but it’s still just down the road.
So, when Griffith ran 2:34.50 to clip 0.13 seconds off the record set by Abbey Caldwell in Switzerland two years ago, it was very much a perfect example of what we long-time fans like to think of as local athletics. Local athlete, local club, track record, national record. A veritable purple haze of positive vibes.
Minutes later Peter Bol was separated from a men’s national record by almost exactly the same margin. Unfortunately, Bol’s 2:16.29 in the men’s 1000 was 0.20 slower than Jeff Riseley’s national record where Griffith’s was 0.13 faster than Caldwell’s. Small margins, big difference. Still, Bol would have been pleased to produce a second solid run to kick-start his 2025 campaign following his win over 800 in Adelaide on 1 March. We look forward to his next 800 in Sydney (15 March) where he will clash with Luke Boyes, last year’s national champion just ahead of Bol, world U20 silver medallist and Paris Olympic semi-finalist Peyton Craig and another rising star in Daniel Williams.
But it’s Georgia Griffith we should talk about a little more. The 1000 metres is one of those odd distances which justifies the “rarely run” descriptor. But it is equally valid to point out that like its closed cousins – the 2000 and 3000 metres – it is run at least once by most quality middle-distance athletes. The successive women’s national record holders since Judy Pollock ran 2:38.8 in a pre-Montreal 1976 Olympic meeting have been Zoe Buckman, Brittany McGowan, Linden Hall and Caldwell.
Pollock was a world record holder in the 880 yards and 800 metres, Buckman finished sixth in a world championships 1500, McGowan ran 2:00.24 in winning the Gold Coast 2018 selection trial. Hall and Caldwell we know through their recent achievements. As well, Jessica Hull, Claudia Hollingsworth, Catriona Bisset and sub-two 800 runner Carley Thomas sit in the Australian all-time top 10. That’s a classy group.
Griffith, McGowan and Keely Small represented Australia at 800 on the Gold Coast. None made the final which was a world championships class field led by Caster Semenya. Later that year, however, Griffith ran 2:00.13 in the USA and it was she and Bisset who led the assault on Charlene Rendina’s venerable national record 1:59.0 set in 1976 which had defied all comers – well, chiefly, Tamsyn Manou – up till then. It was Bisset who finally breached it with a 1:58.78 in London in 2019.
Griffith has been there or thereabouts through most of that time, making two Olympic teams at 1500 and also reaching the final of the world championships 1500 in Oregon in 2022. But two national record performances – one an 8:24.20 at 3000 metres in last year’s Oslo Diamond League meeting and this latest at 1000 – suggest there is plenty more to come. When you look at her top 10 performances on her World Athletics profile page the top five – and eight of the ten – came in 2024. It is a strong platform from which to launch her 2025 campaign.
US visitor Taylor Werner won the women’s 5000 metres at the Box Hill meeting in 15:44.41, a performance in which Griffith played a supporting role, pacing her friend through the first half of the race. At that point Werner was a distant second to Amy Robinson who had gone out boldly from the gun. But Robinson slowed rather dramatically from that point and wound up third with Sarah Klein also catching her late in the race.
Box Hill has pacing lights which were in use for this meeting, but perhaps the old-style pacing had greater impact. The lights were set at 15:10 and 15:40. Robinson, intent on a sub-15 clocking, was well in advance of the lights. Griffith and Werner got no benefit either, behind the 15-10 lights but well in advance of the 15:40 tempo. But Griffith helped Werner to bridge the gap to the leader and the American runner was no more than 10 metres behind when her pacer pulled out.
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Seth O’Donnell likewise ignored the lights in the men’s race, dashing through the first lap in 60 seconds. He slowed – of course he did – but O’Donnell still powered his way to a win by almost 200 metres from Liam Cashin in 13:22.30. This represented a massive improvement on his previous best of 14:00.58 in last year’s national championship. Such a leap was clearly coming after his second national cross-country title last August and a 3:41 1500 at the end of last year, but it was mightily impressive nonetheless.
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