A cool change might have come through on Saturday afternoon for Round 7 of the Athletics Victoria Shield Competition, but that didn’t stop the hot performances set by Doncaster Athletics Club at the Meadowglen Athletics Track in Epping.
The Open mens team set the track alight starting with the 100m event, where 5 of the top 6 results were part of the Doncaster team, with Damien Di Donato leading the charge winning in a time of 11.44sec in gusty conditions. This result was much the same in the woman’s event with 4 of the top 6 fastest times including Doncaster athletes. Doncaster Little Athlete, Anna Musker stepped up to the senior ranks and showed why she’s a star in the making by winning the U/14 Girls 100m in a time of 14.04sec.
These outstanding efforts continued with the one lap event, with Doncaster registering 6 of the top 7 fastest times of the day, this time lead by James D’Alfonso just running shy of the sub 50sec barrier. Bronte Gange, Georgia Feben and Natalie Exon ensured maximum points in their respective division to take out the top 3 positions in the woman’s category. Again Anna stood up to the challenge and won the U/14 Girls 400m event to help her team in the Premiership standings.
Doncaster’s distance runners didn’t allow the winning streak to fade with Nick Finch and Andrew Reddie leading the charge in the 1500m event. Not far behind was Doncaster President Adrian Patti, showing he can still keep up with the best even after showing his club spirit by participating in the 2km walk. With the return of some of Doncaster’s best sprinters from overseas, the club managed to win every 4x100m relay it had entered in and ensure maximum points for each respective age group.
The clubs main focus is to promote involvement, as participation in events helps gain points towards the premiership standings regardless of the result. It’s great to see all members alike competing in 2-3 unfamiliar events a week to ensure their age groups features highly on the overall ladder. Congratulations to track runners Conrad Coumaros and Chow Lui for topping their age groups in the Long Jump event and Ross Reber for winning the Open mens Javelin. DAC throwers, Breanna Large and Natasha Coumaros dominated the woman’s Javelin, each throwing well clear of second position in the Open and U/18 age groups. Natasha continued her form in the discus by beating second by over a meter. Well Done to Ryan Young, Tim Caldwell and Nat Exon for also picking up wins in the Men’s U/18, Men’s U/16 and Open Womans discus respectively.
Outstanding results by Doncaster members, Katherine Katsanavakis and Nat Rule who competed in the Hunters Track Classic in Newcastle over the weekend. Both had entered in the Woman’s 800m event and ran amazingly to finish 2nd and 9th respectively.