It was part vacation, part competition for two Tomah High School cross country runners in Australia.

Derek Storkel and Haleigh Flottmeyer, the top boys and girls runners for the Tomah cross country team last season, mixed running, culture and relaxation during their seven days in Australia. It was part of a 12-day trip that also included three days in Hawaii.

“It was gorgeous,” said Flottmeyer, daughter of Rebecca Bauers. “The beaches had no rocks -- it was just miles of sand. I want to go back and see more of the country because we were in the more touristy part.”

The two spent their entire week near Brisbane on Australia’s west coast during the third week of July. Since July is winter in the southern hemisphere, the water was cold and air temperature never got above 75 degrees.

It made for good running conditions. They ran races of 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) and 5 kilometers (3.1 miles), although Storkel, son of Ryan and Christine Storkel, was skeptical about whether the stated distances were accurate. In the 6K race, which included an international field of runners, Storkel was fifth and Flottmeyer was 26th. In the 5K race, which consisted solely of American runners, Storkel was second, and Flottmeyer was 21st.

The Tomah duo traveled with a diverse team consisting of runners from Minnesota, Louisiana, Montana and Alaska. There was also a diversity of competitive approaches.

“It was the whole range,” Flottmeyer said. “There were people who were just running for fun and really didn’t care about their times, and there were people who were real intense about it. That first race was hard because that was the day after we got there, and all of us were really jet-lagged.”

They discovered the big sport in Australia is rugby. Storkel described the scene on the night of one of the big games.

“There was a place on the square with a huge outdoor crowd watching the game on a big-screen TV that was 20 by 15 feet,” he said. “It was packed.”

Storkel also noticed a higher level of fitness in Australia. He said a meal at an Australian McDonald’s is smaller than one served in an American restaurant.

“They seem to understand health issues more than we do,” Storkel said. “I don’t remember seeing an obese person the whole time we were down there.”

The hosts, Down Under Sports, gave them plenty to do. One activity involved a kayak trip to a nearby offshore island. Flottmeyer said the trip was tense at times, especially when larger ships created massive waves. While on the island, they heard presentations from Aborigine people who described the methods their people used to survive during the dry season.

“Our hosts made it easy to find something to do,” Flottmeyer said. “We did a lot of hanging out on the beach, but it was cold -- it was winter down there.”

Next for Storkel and Flottmeyer, both seniors, is the Tomah cross country season, which started Monday with the first practice. Storkel was second at last season’s WIAA Division 1 state meet, while Flottmeyer was an honorable mention Mississippi Valley Conference runner. Even if the Australia trip didn’t represent a week of peak training, both will remember the experience for a long time.

“It’s kind of cool to run in a place where you’ve never run before,” Storkel said. “I can say, ‘Australia -- hey, I ran there.’”