Words by Leanne Pompeani   |  Photos by Natalie Wong

At just the age of 25, Leanne already has her name down in the history book. Her time of 31:43, a 43-second PB at Sydney10 placed her as the third-fastest in Australian history. A quiet achiever, she is always working hard and has been delivering outstanding performances across 5k to 21km. Her eyes are on representing Australia on the world stage in the half marathon, cross country, and likely the marathon.

Hey, I am Leanne, born 1996 in Canberra, still living in Canberra and loving it!
I run for Bankstown and Woden Athletics Clubs. My coach is Des Proctor (Tri Running Group). Des was my PE teacher back in high school and he had asked me to come train with him as he saw potential through participating in school cross country, but at this time I was heavily into soccer playing with the ACT Academy of Sport. A few years later at 18 years old, Des finally convinced me to come to some sessions. Now here I am 8 years later still coached by Des and thankful he convinced me to switch sports!

After coming off a high from a PB half marathon in December at Melbourne Marathon, I picked up a hip injury that day from the race. Frustratingly the injury dragged out and no one was able to confidently diagnose it. In mid-February, by God’s grace I was back to doing workouts. I was pleasantly surprised to run a PB in the 5000m at National champs off 6 weeks of training.

The Sub 32 Breakthrough at Sydney10

From there I just kept building and getting in good sessions and while I wasn’t sure how I would go over 10km, I knew I wanted to shoot for sub 32 minutes at Sydney 10. The pace was hot through 5k and I faded, but managed to pull through for a 31:43! Although some would dispute this PB, I have raced this exact course for the last 3 years, so it is nice to see the progression.

Workout Session at Urambi Hills, Canberra

2 x 2k @threshold (on road) + 5 X 600m hills.
The morning was cold with an icy wind coming off the mountains. I felt relaxed and in control of the threshold work and the hills just take care of themselves really. The aim was to push through each rep and build up some lactate.

So What’s Next?

As long as I stay healthy I will be racing Launceston 10km and Gold Coast 10km with the goal to keep running PBs. I would love to make the Australian team for the World Half Marathon Champs and World Cross Country Champs, which we know will be so competitive as Australian distance running is so strong.

I have dreams to make the Olympics and make more Australian teams. I hope to be really competitive in the marathon and hopefully one day hold an Australian record.

*Update: Leanne gave another good shot at the Launceston 10km, and finished second place with a time of 32:08.