Australia's track and field team to compete at the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi has risen to 74 with the addition of Walker Jess Rothwell and marathon runners Lisa Flint, Martin Dent, Jeff Hunt and Michael Shelley. Athletics Australia expects the number will increase to 90 by the time games, including 12 elite athletes with disabilities.
Returning from injury, Rothwell finished ninth in the Race Walking World Cup in Mexico earlier this month. The 20-year-old will join Claire Tallent and Cheryl Webb in the race of 20 kilometers of women in Delhi.
"For too long, Jess has been seen real potential to go forward and the selectors had no hesitation in naming his team," AA Chairman of selectors Peter Fitzgerald was quoted in the Australian media.
Lisa Flint, Martin Dent, Jeff Hunt and Michael Shelley join Lisa Weightman, who won automatic nomination for the team after his top-20 final in Berlin last year, as representatives of Australia in the marathon events.
With just one marathon under his belt, Shelley said his first marathon in Rotterdam in April was a great learning experience. He finished 12th in 2:13:05 hrs. He hit the wall at the 38 km mark and was forced to fight in the final kilometers. "It was hard for the last two kilometers," he said.
"But you learn a lot and my next race (a marathon) will be in New Delhi, so I have plenty of time to have a right to education. This is a step towards encouraging the next goal would be a marathon at the 2012 Olympic Games London, "said Shelley, who has headed to Australia on four occasions in the World Cup cross-country.
Dent contested the 3000m steeplechase in Melbourne four years ago. Hunting impressed selectors fast setting a time of two hours 11 minutes in his debut marathon in Japan.
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