Mountain Home youth races in Australia

Warren with his medal he received upon completion of the half marathon.

Zack Warren recently traveled to the Gold Coast of Australia for the Down Under Sports running event.

Earlier this year we interviewed him during his fundraising campaign for the event and like he promised he came back with pictures and shared some of his memorable moments with us.

Warren is a student at MHHS where he runs cross country, track and participates in debate.

Warren originally left the U.S.A with plans to run two races. An all American 5K and another one with other high school age students from around the world. While there he signed up for a half marathon, on a whim, the day before the race. The half marathon was an all ages event for people from around the world. Warren placed 334th out of 9,800 runners. It was a rainy day, but was his favorite part of the whole trip.

He also enjoyed lots of the local espresso while there and saw animals unique to Australia at a Wildlife Sanctuary. Unfortunately his fishing trip was cancelled due to bad weather. He also took up a new musical instrument bringing a Didgeridoo (an Aboriginal instrument) back to the states with him.

“Everything is just slightly different there,” Warren said.

Warren finished in the top three percent of each of the races he competed in, while in Australia and set a knew PR in the 5K.

Upon his return to the states, Warren ran a 10K while visiting family in Maryland, where he took first place in his age group.

His goals for this cross country season are to break the 18 minute mark and to qualify for state.