Heyne: SA's second quickest 5000m Man

Published Fri 06 May 2022

Following strong domestic seasons, several SA runners are on Tour in the US for the Track Summer, with Flinders’ Isobel Batt-Doyle and Hills Districts’ Isaac Heyne to compete at the Sound Running Track Meet tomorrow (SA time).

Hills’ Matthew Clarke, Max Stevens, Heyne and Caitlin Adams and Saints’ Adam Goddard got their US campaigns underway at the Payton Jordan Invitational in California on April 29.

Twenty-two-year-old Heyne impressed in his first race on US soil, setting a massive nine-second PB in the Men’s 5000m event to finish ninth overall.

Heyne’s time of 13:30.82 elevated him to the second fastest SA 5000m runner of all time, with only David Fitzsimons clocking a quicker time.

Fitzsimons ran 13:17.42 to set the Open Men’s 5000m State record in 1977.

Heyne - who is travelling overseas for the first time - is a member of Athletics SA's Emerging Athlete Program, as is Goddard, while Adams and Stevens are part of the Senior Performance Program.

At the Stanford-based Invitational, 2022 National Open Men’s 3000m Steeplechase Champion Clarke, and Runner Up Stevens had yet another tight race in the 3000m steeplechase with Clarke finishing in sixth place (8:28.74) and Stevens eighth (8:30.70).

Clarke – who ran the 3000m Steeplechase at the Tokyo Olympics – clocked his third fastest time (PB of 8:22.13), while Stevens ran his second quickest race (PB of 8:29.48).

Adams and Goddard also competed in the Invitational, with Adams finishing in 12th in the Women’s 5000m with a time of 16:02.73 following a recent bout of COVID-19, while Goddard ran a 3:51.28 in his 1500m Heat.

Heyne will be running again tomorrow in the Men’s 5000m at the Sound Running Track Meet at 11am ACST while Tokyo Olympian Batt-Doyle will be chasing a Women’s 10,000m World qualifier at 12pm ACST.