Cast spells end to year

For someone who can run 100m in just over 12 seconds, a cast on your lower leg is quite an impediment.
But the worst thing about Jolene Marks' recent injury is it kept her out of the New Zealand team in Australia competing at the Pacific Games this week.
"I am so gutted I missed it, just so disappointed, I was really looking forward to it and then I had this happen about a month before we left," she said.
Marks suffered a stress fracture of her navicular, a bone near her ankle in her left foot.
The 16-year-old may have suffered the consequences of training too hard for her Australian trip.
"I was told it may have come from over-training, and I could have damaged it from the repetitive movement of running but I'm not so sure - I did more training last year because I've had a hamstring problem this year which has hampered my training" she said.
It is the second time that the outstanding young sprinter has got close to an international athletics meeting after just missing out on a start at the World Youth Athletics championships in Morocco.
"It just didn't turn out my way in the end and I had to pull out and I'll probably be out for most of the season," Marks said.
The young sprinter hopes the selection panel will take her injury into account, when they come to picking the team for the Pacific games next year.
"They pick the team on their achievements in the previous year so that means because I'll be out for the whole year - I won't have any ..."
Marks knows she has to be careful managing her recovery and knows she will be lucky to be able to get in a couple of race meetings at the end of the season.
She has continued to train in the gym but is aware that her base fitness and cardiovascular conditioning is ebbing away.
Marks accepts the setback as a "part of sport" but is keen to get back into her training as soon as she can.
"I can't wait to get back into it ... as soon as I can I'll be back into pool training and then build up with some jogging and then slowly get back into it," she said.
The only good thing to come from the injury is an added incentive to enjoy Christmas this year.
"I have to have it (the cast) on for seven weeks but the good thing is it's due to come off two days before Christmas," she said.
The sprinter will also miss out on the national secondary school games at Ericsson Stadium this weekend.