Bedgerabong Public School's relay team has brought home NSW PSSA Athletics silver.
The 4 x 100m relay team steamed home for second place in the Nigel Bagley Trophy event for small schools before a crowd of thousands at Sydney Olympic Park.
Hunter Maxwell, Georgia Pengilly, Roman Symonds and Locky Veigel are the toast of their rural school after the win.
The four were selected from their performances at the combined small schools carnival in Forbes, with schools able to enter mixed teams of students aged eight to 13.
From there, Bedgerabong had to earn their way through the Lachlan carnival to qualify for western region, where they not only won their final but set a new record for the event.
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They took another two seconds off that when they hit the track at Sydney, to the cheers and screams of their classmates watching online from Bedgerabong.
The atmosphere in the State stadium was incredible, making the whole experience all the more exciting for the team.
"It was first time going to state for most of us so it was really exciting," Hunter said.
"There were big crowds."
Both individual speed and fitness and the team's baton change-overs were critical to their success, and it was something the students worked hard on, with the special help of Maree Hodges whose own children went from Bedgerabong to State.
Mrs Hodges worked with the students and they also did their own training at home to ensure they were ready for the State championships.
"Mrs Hodges helped us a lot, we're very thankful," Hunter said.
His teammates added that the heat and final at State level were very competitive - and there were some very fast runners on the track.
But the mood among the athletes was good.
"There was really good sportsmanship from everyone," Georgia added.
After the success of the run, presentation was another very special occasion with the team invited to step onto the podium to be presented with their medals.
While two team members, Roman and Locky, are in Year 6 Hunter and Georgia are in Year 5 and are already setting their sights on their athletics training for 2025 - and they might just have inspired some of their classmates too.
