Ryan Gregson's Blog by Ryan_Gregson

First of all, a big shout out to my best mate and the main character of my blogs, Aaron Royle, who won the Oceania Elite Sprint Triathlon Championships in New Zealand this past weekend. It was Aaron's first major victory and he took some handy scalps. Aaron likes to play things down and not get ahead of himself, but if he continues on this trend over the next few months he won't be too far away from Olympic selection. He's already ranked 4th in Australia so he's certainly in with a big chance. 

I had a bit of bad luck in my 800m race in Hobart on the weekend. I was clipped after 450m and had a bit of a stumble and ended up losing a fair bit of ground. I ended up getting back to the front but I'd spent all my pennies catching back up. I then backed that effort up an hour later by pacing the first 3000m of the 5000m in 8 minutes which I was pleased with. Collis Birmingham won in an Olympic 'A' standard of 13:15 and some other huge results back in the field was Aussie steeplechaser Youcef Abdi running 13:38 and young up and comer and the King of Canberra, Brett Robinson, running a huge personal best of 13:40. There were plenty of other fast times down the field and I think overall most people in Australian distance running are getting fitter. I think the coaching has improved and more people are doing the right work in training.

Watch the 800m video:

I've started reading the Ben Cousins autobiography and so far I'm very entertained. I moved to Perth at the end of 2000, just when Cousins was appointed co-captain of the West Coast Eagles. Like every young kid in Western Australia, I was a Cousins fan and enjoyed watching the all-star midfield of Cousins, Chris Judd, Daniel Kerr, Michael Gardiner and Dean Cox.

Watch the 5000m Video:

With Cousins' drug addiction, his career didn't pan out as he may have hoped but he was part of a very exciting era of dominance with West Coast and even though I'm still a big West Coast fan, it's never been the same without the Prince of Perth in the line-up.

West Coast did better than expected in the AFL last year by making the preliminary final after a disastrous 2010 where the boys finished with the wooden spoon. The West Coast list is young and exciting so hopefully the resurgence can continue in 2012.

I'm going to go to the first match of the season between the Greater Western Sydney Giants and the Sydney Swans at the Olympic Stadium and all eyes will be on Israel Folau and how he will fare after his switch from rugby league. My tip is he will do better than expected and be dominant up front.

More next week.

Ryan