Jess Trengove voted 2016 people’s choice winner

JESS Trengove knows - and shows - what it takes to be a marathon runner: commitment, determination and resolve. Those qualities have won her many fans - and The Advertiser/Channel 7 Sports Star of the Year People’s Choice Award.

Jess Trengove prepares for the City to bay fun run. Picture Simon Cross

MARATHON running at the elite level is restricted to those athletes with a committed mental application to explore the full depth of their talents and character.

It is the approach dual Olympian and 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jess Trengove, a physiotherapist by trade, takes into every race and has enabled her to impress on the international stage.

The Olympic marathon is a 42.2km journey contested in conditions made even more testing by the summer weather, such as those at the Rio Games in August when Trengove finished a highly creditable 22nd in the field of 157 of the world’s best long distance runners. She was 58th after the first 5km and moved through the field mid-race before clocking 2hrs 31mins 44 secs.

Jess Trengove was crowned the 2016 people’s Choice winner.

The result was 17 positions higher than her finish at the 2012 London Olympics and was even more impressive considering her preparation had been hampered by a foot injury.

Trengove qualified for Rio when the first female home in the Melbourne Marathon, running a personal best of 2:27.45.

Raised in the South Australian South East, Trengove has always been a popular athlete and this has been reflected in her win in the Sports Star of the Year People’s Choice for this year.

The other finalists were: Kyle Chalmers (swimming), Rohan Dennis (cycling), Travis Head (cricket), Alexander Hill (rowing), Joe Ingles (basketball), James McRae (rowing), Anna Meares (cycling), Stephanie Morton (cycling) and Jared Tallent (athletics).

Originally published as Jess Trengove voted 2016 people’s choice winner