Numbers may have been down during the weekends Shield competition at Lakeside Stadium due to the National Series Briggs Track Classic held in Hobart, but the Doncaster Athletic faithful held the fort strong to ensure the respective age groups increased their lead in the premiership standings.
A bulk of the points was achieved in the sprint events, with many Doncaster athletes clean sweeping their age group’s results. Damian DiDonato led the charge in the Open mens 200m event showing a clean pair of heels in 22.31sec ahead of James D’Alfonso, Wesley Spargo, David Mitchell and Anthony Paige. The junior boys continued where the seniors left off, taking up the first 4 positions, led by Christopher Baldwin in a time of 24.42sec.
It was much the same in the open woman’s event, with Courtney Yates, Georgia Feben, Maree Tunnecliffe and Steph Larkin all occupying the first 4 positions in the Open age group. Duel registration athlete, Anna Musker ran away from the rest of her U/14 competitors in a time of 27.19sec, almost 2 seconds of her nearest rival. In the 400m hurdles, Alex Di Medio and Georgia Feben showed class to each win the open events by over 10seconds.
In the distance events, Doncaster athletes ensured the team featured highly on the results page. The girls put in a strong effort in the 800m event with Claire Walpole, Charlotte Bassett and Abbey Caldwell all finishing in the top 2 of their respective age groups. John Portwood ran well in the U/18 men’s 3000m to finish first with Charlotte backing up in the U/16 girls 3000m to do the same. To conclude the days track racing, Doncaster continued its relay dominance by winning both the open men’s and woman’s events by over 30seconds.
In the field, it seemed that Shotput was the choice of the day as athletes are encouraged to participate in unfamiliar events. A large number of Doncaster athletes fronted up to the throwing circle to ensure maximum team points. While participation gets you some premiership points, winning the event gets you more, congratulations to Wesley Spargo, Natasha Coumaros and Stephanie Ratcliffe for winning their respective age groups.
A special mention to Kristen Walburg, Chow Lui and Maree Tunnecliffe who showed true team spirit competing in multiple events in the extreme heat throughout the day to make sure their teams will be present for the State Club Finals in April.