Round 3 of the Athletics Victoria Shield Competition was held at the neutral track of Lakeside Stadium over the weekend for the newly formed “Red” region; consisting of athletics clubs such as Collingwood, Doncaster, Diamond Valley, Preston and Richmond. Besides gusty conditions, glimpses of sunlight shone through the cloud which tempted numerous athletes to make the trip into the city to compete.
Doncaster Athletics Club showed its strength and depth in the sprinting events with many athletes featuring in the 10 top overall results for their respective age groups. Notable performances for the men went to Damian Di Donato for his 11.19sec in the Open 100m event, Marcus Jones with 11.43sec for the U/18 100m and Clement Chan for his 12.26sec in the U/16 100m. In the respective woman’s event, it was Bree Walker with 12.72sec in the Opens and Sarah Fitt with 12.94sec in the U/18’s event that were on top.
The Doncaster team continued their dominance in the track events, featuring highly in the 400m and 1500m events. Coming off limited training due to his year 12 exams, Conrad Coumaros showed that he has a lot to offer this track season, comfortably running 49.22sec in the one lap event. She might only a have few weeks left in Australia before she heads to collage in the US on a scholarship but Bree Walker helped her club once again with a respectable 58.51sec to finish with the fastest woman’s time for the 400m. Young gun, Charlotte Bassett who currently competes in the U/16 age group, ran the fastest woman’s 1500m time of the day with 4:45.4min to take out heat 1 line honors ahead of Doncasters Open Age group runners Bronte Gange and Georgie Buckley.
In the Men’s Field results, Pete Coumaros won the Open discus competition with Dave Firth and Nick Finch both finishing second in the High Jump and Javelin competition respectively. James Joycey also finished on top of his U/16 Discus age group with a throw of 32.80m. In the Woman’s Field results; Lane sisters Kiandra and Mikaela finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the Open age discus with Maree Tunnecliffe finishing in third in the javelin.
Special mention to the Walburg sisters who competed in countless events throughout the day, helping put points on the board for their respective age groups in the race for the minor premiership at the end of the summer season.
On the 23rd of November, the Victorian Relay Championships will run at Lakeside Stadium with the 4x100m, 4×400, 4×800 and Medley Relay (200, 200, 400, 800m) events on offer. After winning every single relay Doncaster AC entered in during Round 3 Shield competition, it’s given the team some confidence going into this weekend’s competition. Good Luck to all athletes that have been selected to compete.