Narromine field athlete Aiden Butcher has earned the title of under 15 men's Australian Javelin Champion for 2014, at the Australian Junior Athletics Championships earlier this month.
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Aiden travelled to Sydney for the five day carnival, which kicked off on Wednesday, March 11 and wrapped up on Sunday, March 15, to compete alongside his sister, Kaitlin.
The siblings were pitted against the best junior track and field athletes from across Australia, coming away with three top ten finishes, including two medals.
Aiden was first up on Thursday, March 12 in the under-15 men's discus, which ranked as his toughest competition to date.
Knowing the competition, Aiden knew he had to keep calm if there was any chance of doing well and, with a best throw of 48.51 metres Aiden gained the bronze medal.
On the Sunday Aiden fronted up for the under 15 men's javelin and managed a personal best throw in extremely wet and windy conditions.
The 45.03m throw put him almost 3m in front of his nearest competitor, earning Aiden the gold medal and the title of under-15 men's Australian Javelin Champion for 2015.
Kaitlin threw in the under-18 women's javelin on the Friday, and gained a top ten position against fierce competition.
She managed a throw of 35.24m to go one better than last year, claiming eighth place overall.
To qualify to compete at the Australian Junior Championships, both siblings had to earn a medal at either the NSW All Schools Carnival or the NSW Junior Championships.
Both were dominant in their fields, gaining medals at not one, but both carnivals, which was a feat in itself.
Kaitlin earned silver at the All Schools Championships and bronze at the NSW Juniors, while Aiden won gold in both javelin and discus at both events.
Coach Ernie Sluiter was extremely proud of both Kaitlin and Aiden.
"They have both trained so very hard over the past few years and their results are a reflection of this." he said.
"This is the first National competition that I have been able to attend with Kaitlin and Aiden and I was very surprised at the standard of athletes out there now."
"The quality of the athletes in all events was exceptional, they have both have done an amazing job."
