Raymond Terrace athlete Cody Hancock is the new under 17s nationals decathlon champion.
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The Year 11 Hunter River High School student and member of Raymond Terrace Athletics Club recorded a personal best 7727 points over the 10 events in Melbourne.
Contested over two days, Cody finished with six first placings, two seconds and a third to win the gold medal.
"This was my first national titles and I had a lot of support so to win in front of may fans was pretty exciting," the 16-year-old said.
"I have been working on my running events over the past two months and all the hard training has paid off. My coach David Summerville has been a big part of my success and I want to thank my parents, Sandra and Robert, along with all my family friends for their support."
Cody said that he was looking forward to more national events and further down the track a shot at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.
"For now though, I just want to focus on my sprint and strength work and qualifying for more representative competition."
Since returning home, Cody has been contacted by his high school, his gym and even his primary school for a "local kid makes good" visit.
Club stalwart Deidre Hall said that the entire Raymond Terrace community was incredibly proud of Cody's performance.
"He has always worked hard and is now being rewarded for his dedication. It's been an amazing season for him in what has been such difficult circumstances with COVID and the incredible amount of rain which saw our competition cut by half."