Wood wins bronze at championships

Flying out to Adelaide on Friday, April 26 and competing over the weekend, Wood came third in the 200 metres running a time of 23.72 seconds and fifth in the 400 metres running 55.08.

He also competed in the long jump and came sixth.

"I did alright but I wouldn't say that I went as well as I expected," Wood said.

"My training speed was much faster than my race day speed. I think it was just that I got used to training instead of competing against other people.

"My 200 metre race was a dead heat. It was down to the millisecond and then a photo finish."

Although he did place in one event, Wood is overall disappointed with his performance. He said that he's now trying to learn as much as he can from the experience.

"I learnt a lot of things like what to do at the events and not to think too much before competing. I was a bit overconfident," he said.

"I still did pretty well though."

A highlight of Wood's time in Adelaide was training with the team before racing and spending time with other people that are passionate about athletics.

Now that he's back home, Wood has taken a week off training and is trying to process the championships.

Not performing at the level that he had hoped to is difficult for Wood but now he's trying to use that as motivation for the future.

"It's a bit hard. On the day I just forgot my training, I didn't run or jump like I would in training," he said.

"I'm just trying to do what I normally do now, run my own race."

Maxwell's mother, Prue Wood said that although he is disappointed with the outcome she is proud that Maxwell made it as far as he did.

"We were all very happy that he made it. As with most parents you don't mind where they finish, it was a big experience," she said.

"We didn't know what to expect because this was his first major team event."

The highlight for Ms Wood was of course watching her son compete but also supporting any other competitor from NSW.

"It's always very exciting. We were there with the kids from seven until six every night. We just supported any NSW runner running at the time," she said.

"We're really proud of him."