Cherrybrook Athletics ’ very own athlete 22-year-old Julie Charlton has landed a spot in Australia ’ s Commonwealth Games squad scheduled

to travel to Birmingham , England in July . Charlton will be taking part in the para event of F57 seated shotput to further illustrate what ’ s been a wonderful 12

months for her . In 2021 , Julie secured gold in the women ’ s seated discus throwing event at Nationals and broke a record which landed Cherrybrook Athletics $ 1000 through the Coles Australian Record Challenge initiative .

Being a part of the club since 2008 , Charlton said it was the least she could do to give back to the club .

“ The acceptance and willingness ( they showed ) to learn about my events and take me on board as a para-athlete and make sure that I felt as part of the club as possible – it was the most amazing thing . They ’ ve been there for every comp and every event so it ’ s been a really cool relationship .”

Julie , who also has been involved in supporting human rights from the age of seven and has even managed to speak in front of the UN , was also a finalist for the NSW Women of the Year award – an achievement while

Julie competing at Nationals .

humbling , also left her very overwhelmed . “ It ’ s hard – I find it hard to talk about my achievements ,” Charlton said . “ It was cool because my new coworkers from the Disability Council of NSW – they were there to support me and one of the other finalists in one of the other categories .

“ Not only was I surrounded by a bunch of amazing , inspiring women but I was with my new co-workers who were there to support me all the way .”

While winning a medal would be fantastic for Charlton to achieve at the Commonwealth Games but she says she ’ ll be happy if she just gives a good account of herself .

“ I just want to be able to go away from the competition and be happy with the performance I gave . And if that results in a personal best or a medal then amazing , but as long as I ’ m happy at the end of the day with what I ’ ve put in to this journey to get there then that would be the best thing for me . Besides ( as I ’ ve joked with my family ), I ’ m only in it for the cool jackets ,” she laughed .

You can look across the history of any sport where the offspring of a talented sportsperson has struggled to replicate their parent ’ s success in their own careers . It ’ s never easy trying to escape that shadow but Marcus Dumesny , of Nelson , can well and truly say he ’ s on his way , after being crowned 2022 Australian Sprintcar Champion .

Son of Australian motorsport legend Max Dumesny , it was never going to be any other future for Marcus than for him to take up the passion himself .

At just 22 , you can hear in his voice how much he enjoys it all .

“ I grew up around it forever and just love it . It makes me happy and getting to

do it every weekend , every day sometimes – ( if you ’ re ) just loving life and ( it ) makes you happy then why not ?”

There was a time though where Dumesny states it wasn ’ t easy trying to make it with a superstar dad ’ s past success leaving heavy expectations on his shoulders .

“ There was a certain point of my career [ where there were tough expectations ]. I ’ ve worked hard to try and make it happen . Definitely people still look at you as your dad ’ s son . [ But ] going from dad ’ s son to making your own career out of it and achieving your own things - it ’ s pretty cool to be writing your own story ,” Dumesny added .

Marcus started on the motorbikes before making the transition into go-karts ( winning one Australian Junior Go-Kart title ) and then eventually sprint cars . Within three years he won his first sprintcar race , and just two years later he ’ s winning races galore as his hard work continues to pay off .

At the beginning of May he secured his first ever Australian Sprintcar Championship at the 59th edition of the 40-lap race at Archerfield Speedway in Queensland – 20 years after his father Max won the title , with the same crew chief Darryl ‘ Mouse ’ Green .

However , there hasn ’ t been too much time for celebrations with Marcus and his

team now off to compete in the USA .

“ We ’ re straight back into work , getting ready and getting it all done . We ’ re running out of time because we go soon so we just keep working away ,” he said .

It ’ s not the first time Marcus will be competing in races in the USA . This time he ’ ll be involved in 35 shows in just 10 weeks .

He says they take their motorsport much more intense than in Australia . “ It ’ s a bit more full-on because everyone ’ s doing it as their career , but over here people mainly do it as a hobby . They ’ ll do anything to win over there because they ’ re putting food on the table so it ’ s a bit fiercer , more cutthroat but you get used to it .”