Keeping in stride

Sophie Barker will be joining the Australian team at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Cross Country Championships in Poland this March.

Ms Barker was selected to the team after gaining a spot as one of the top three women’s athletes at the World Selection Trial in Canberra in January.

“Australian team selection has been something I’ve been patiently working towards for quite a while now. It’s great when the hard work finally pays off,” Ms Barker says.

Training for a place on the team took an enormous amount of time and dedication. Ms Barker gives credit to her coach Pam Turney for helping improve her training and intensity during workouts. 

“I’ve experienced a gradual and continuous improvement in results across all three disciplines of athletics: cross-country, track and road,” Ms Barker says.

During the first week of her undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne in 2006, Ms Barker joined the Melbourne University Athletics Club. She says the club was supportive since the beginning of her training and later on as a competitive athlete.

“The year I moved down to Melbourne I competed at my second Junior World Orienteering Championships in Lithuania. So Melbourne University Sport supported me over my degree initially for orienteering, and then later for athletics.”

Over the course of her studies, she represented Melbourne at five summer Australian University Games and competed in a number of athletic events.

“I started competing in the Athletics Victoria track and winter series – a range of track, road and cross-country races across the year. My focus from 2006-2010 was actually the 3000 metres steeplechase on the track – a physically demanding event with a lot of hurdles and water pits to jump.”

In addition to her athletic pursuits, Ms Barker graduated with Arts and Science degrees and an Honours in Psychology. She currently works as a Project Co-ordinator at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Balancing work and an athletic career proves a challenge, as Ms Barker works full-time while also completing several hours of athletic training, as well as having frequent travel commitments. 

“The demands of work and training on my body are high, and if I don’t get the formula right I quickly end up sick and exhausted. I have to sacrifice a few things, such as all those tempting sweet treats, late nights, and time with friends during the week.”

Despite these sacrifices, being part of an athletic team still provides her with a social life.

“I spend so much time with my all-female training squad that they have fast become a wonderful, supportive group of friends as well, so I don’t feel that I miss out too much,” she says.

Her partner Aaron Dodd can relate to her life of balancing athletics, study and career. 

Mr Dodd works full-time at the Department of Primary Industries while also undertaking a PhD in Biostatistics at the Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis at the University of Melbourne. He also competes nationally and internationally in multisport and adventure racing.

“I am lucky that I have a partner who understands and lives a similar lifestyle to mine,” Ms Barker says.  “We are very supportive of each other’s training and racing commitments, and travel to nearly all of each other’s events to ‘carry the bags’ when one of us is competing.”

Ms Barker’s passion for athletics and cross-country started at an early age, when she competed at school and state levels as well as running in bush reserves throughout Canberra.

“I was very lucky to have the bush as my backyard growing up and the expanse of trails were my escape and source of freedom from the daily grind,” Ms Barker says.  “I love getting out on the trails here in Melbourne too, whether at my home ground of the Maribyrnong River, the trails along the Yarra, or the hills at Ferny Creek.”

After getting back from Poland, Ms Barker won’t be hanging up her running shoes any time soon. 

“I am focusing on the 5000 metres this current track season, and will be racing over this distance at the Athletics Australia National Tour Series races around Australia, culminating in the Australian Championships in mid-April.”

www.sport.unimelb.edu.au