Hello, my name is Colby Eddowes and I am a track and field athlete based in Canberra, Australia. Recently I was selected and given the opportunity to represent Australia in the upcoming World University Games in Chengdu, China 

I am currently undergoing my bachelor's degree in sports management at Arkansas State University, where I was fortunate enough to receive a full athletic scholarship for my studies.

I am currently back in Australia on summer break and given the short turnaround unable to obtain full-time employment. Also due to the time commitment of studying as well as being an athlete and the limitations of my student visa, I did not have any opportunities during the season to put money aside as I was unable to work. So any financial support would be greatly appreciated as I prepare for this competition.

Whilst being at Arkansas state university, my two seasons this year both went quite well so please allow me to highlight some moments for you. 

At the start of the year during my indoor season, I was able to score 5805 points in the indoor heptathlon, a score that would set a new conference record. This indoor heptathlon score would also land me a position of #17 on the NCAA nationals list. With the top 16 going to nationals, I just missed out, however, I was the highest-ranked freshman at the end of the indoor season and my score was the highest ever score to not make nationals. Aside from my heptathlon, I had some pretty decent individual event highlights, jumping 2.10m in the high jump, 7.53m in the long jump and running 7.95s in the 60m hurdles.

During the end of the school year, we competed in the outdoor season. I had a strong season and had a few key performances to highlight. I achieved a score of 7543 points at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California in the decathlon. This point score would go on to get me yet another conference record and would rank me #29 on the national performance list with the top 24 going to nationals, this score qualified me for the world university games in China. I also placed 1st in the decathlon at SunBelt Outdoor Conference with highlights being a 7.75m long jump, which I jumped in my 7543p decathlon and achieved another qualifying mark and running 13.83s in the 110m hurdles which again was good enough to be considered another world uni games qualifier.  

With all that in consideration, I finished my first open age year of track with 2x conference records, 3x world uni games qualifiers and many good memories and moments.