Jana Pittman-Rawlinson back home in Hills - Oct 2010

The past nine weeks back home in the Hills have been a healing time for world champion hurdler Jana Pittman-Rawlinson.

Her daily training regime at the C2K Fitness and Aquatic Centre has centred on rehabilitating her body and building it up again.

• 

  Courtesy of Hills Shire Times

She flew back to the UK yesterday with son Cornelis, 3, to be reunited with husband Chris Rawlinson, UK Olympian and coach.

In a relaxed and candid interview with the Times over chai lattes at Castle Hill RSL last week she said it had been a hard few years.

“We have got so low we can’t get any lower. I haven’t competed internationally for almost two years, I have no sponsors”.

“It’s a fresh start. But it’s a positive fresh start. It was the kick in the butt I needed”.

“Athletics Australia have been unbelievably supportive.”

She also praised the support of the C2K where she worked with coach Simon Bungate on “rehab training”, putting in at least 32 hours a week over nine weeks.

Her focus is on the London Olympics.

She looked every bit a lean running machine when we met but she also looked incredibly relaxed and happy with a big grin on her face.

She has come through a horror few years with injuries and last competed internationally in June 2009 when she won the Grand Prix in Malaga, Spain.

Injury meant she could not defend her 400m hurdle title in the 2009 World Championships in Germany. She was hoping to defend the world title she won in Osaka in 2007. A title she first won in Paris in 2003.

Medical advice also firmed her decision not to compete in this month’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

“I really did want to go to Delhi but I have trained through so many injuries before. I needed to take a year off”.

“After the last Olympics I almost retired.”

She is determined to win gold at the London Olympics in 2012 for Australia and after that compete in the Rio Olympic Games.

“I will be 33 then,” she said.

“Right now I am in the best shape I have ever been but I haven’t got the track fitness.”

Home is Loughborough in Leicestershire where the sport-orientated university has numerous running tracks, swimming pools and fantastic facilities. She said it was like a sporting United Nations with athletes and coaches from all over the world.

“I love the Hills, the people and catching up with family but I have really missed my husband,” she said.

Rawlinson, a champion hurdler himself, is his wife’s coach and she rates him highly.

“He has so many good ideas ... he’s an incredible coach.”

She is studying nutrition and has her midwifery course on hold (she only has the practical side left to complete).

Her goal is to aim for a balance between sport and career and it is a message she wants teenagers especially to understand.

``A healthy mind and a fit body work together. Once you get the balance right it will help you through life,’’ she said.

At the moment she is fine tuning the balances in her own life and making plans for more happy chapters in her life.

``I know I am not finished .th.th. I have something to prove.’’

 

Source : Hills Shire Times : October 2010