Luke & Dani, The Lord Howe Island Signal

For those of you who remember Pixie Hanson running laps of the airstrip before school (with Elsie, Millie, Ruby and Gale), or charging down Intermediate Hill, or blitzing the LHICS cross country race, you may have wondered why she was always moving faster than the rest of us. Apart from burning excess energy before school, Pixie’s running was part of a long-term plan to race – anyone or anything. Some people are made that way, but luckily, most of us are just happy to sit and watch.

Since moving to Bowral in 2021, Pixie has finally had the chance to race. For her parents, it feels like one endless race – between school, training, carnivals and home – only to wake up and repeat.

On 25 February, Pixie had the biggest race of her life – so far – in the NSW Surf Life Saving Championships. On a wet and miserable morning in Manly, Pixie lined up against sixty girls in the U11 1km beach run. It’s a brutal race on soft sand that feels like sprinting uphill on soggy grass. Pixie’s start was less than ideal – she tripped and was trampled face down in the sand before standing up in last place, but luckily 1km is a long way on soft sand, and she gradually ran the girls down over 800m before breaking away from the pack and winning by 50m. It was her first NSW Championship.

The win wasn’t a complete surprise. Pixie won the 1km run the NSW Country Surf Life Saving Championships at Forster in January, but that race was missing the kids from Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle – and there are lots of them (and they’re fast). She also won the 1500m run at her Little Athletics Regional Championships in early February – in a time that broke a 25-year-old record and qualified 2^nd fastest for the NSW Athletics Championships in March – so her form was good. But she still had to show up on race day, absorb the pressure, follow the race plan, and win – which she did beautifully in front of a large crowd that included Nat and Ben Waters, Dan Hale, and a proud contingent of her new clubmates from Warilla Barrack Point Surf Club (just north or Kiama).

The NSW Surf Life Saving Championships completed Pixie’s first year of competition on the mainland, which included a win in the Huskisson Kids’ Triathlon in November and a second place (by 0.03 seconds) in the NSW Combined Independent Schools Cross Country in June. It’s exhausting just trying to remember it all.

We’re so ready for a long rest, and perhaps a trip to Lord Howe, but Pixie is only 11 and the list of upcoming races is getting longer. Maybe Mrs T should have spent more time with Pixie on her artwork?

This article appeared in The Lord Howe Island Signal, 31 March 2022.