While many were enjoying the Australia Day public holiday, Doncaster athletes were in action at Lakeside Stadium for the Victorian Relay Championships. Traditionally DAC have performed well at this competition, with twenty-one teams entered across age groups ranging from Under 14’s to 50+, expectations were high. At the end of the day, we finished with one gold, three silver and seven bronze medals.
Relays action: Lili Pertzel during the 1600m leg of the inaugural Under 18 Women’s distance medley relay, Peter Holland gets the baton from John Portwood in the Open distance medley, Jack Dalton put in a mighty effort in the 800m leg of the Under 16 Men’s sprint medley and Tom Reynolds receives the baton from Alex Jones in the Open 4x400m final.
The 40+ Women’s 4×400 team won a see-sawing battle with Geelong to claim our sole gold medal. There were many other creditable performances from the other teams, including the Under 16 Men’s Sprint Medley team who reeled in a 50m deficit at the final change to win bronze, and our Under 18 Men’s and Women’s Distance Medley teams winning silver and bronze respectively in very competitive races.
A big thank you to all athletes who competed, thank you also to athletes who came in at the last minute to cover some late changes, and a special thank you to the parents who assisted with our club helper duties on the day. Thanks to your efforts, the event ran smoothly, delay free and is greatly appreciated by DAC, AV and the AV officials.
Later in the evening, Joel Tobin-White finished fourth in the Zatopek 10,000 metres Australian Championship, a phenomenal performance in a high-quality field.
Over the weekend, we had a group of athletes make the long journey to Bendigo to compete in the Victorian Country Championships in search of medals, qualifying performances and personal bests.
Invitation gold medals were won by Nicole Reynolds (Open 400m hurdles), Declan Carman (Open Discus), Shakira Harding (U16 200m Hurdles), Tahlia Grace (U16 Pole Vault) and Jamison Harding (U14 200m Hurdles and Pole Vault). Nicole’s win in the 400m Hurdles is the fourth consecutive year a DAC athlete has won this event at the country championships, with Steph Larkin winning the previous three titles.
Paul Mierisch also won an invitation silver medal in the 40+ Men’s 100m, Shakira Harding finished second in the Under 16 90m Hurdles, Jessica Nolan placed third and claimed a personal best in the Under 16 Women’s Javelin, Navid Rashid set a new personal best and finished fourth in the 50+ Men’s 800m and David Mitchell finished fifth and ran a seven second personal best in the Open Men’s 3000m Steeple.
The standout performance of the championships was from 80-year-old DAC Life Member Jim Poulter. Competing in the 60+ Men’s Pole Vault, Jim’s clearance of 2.00m has set a new Australian Masters Record for the 80+ age category, an incredible achievement.
And on Saturday night, three DAC members ran in the Zatopek 10,000m lower grade races at Aberfeldie. Brendan Cullen finished tenth in the D race in a time of 39:58.20, Anthony Paige was sixth in the C race in 36:20.40 and Alastair Christy was second in the A race in a time of 30:13.50.
AVSL resumes this coming weekend at Casey Fields and Aberfeldie with entries closing midday Wednesday. Track events at both venues have plenty of heats available to register, while for field events, Long Jump at Aberfeldie is the only field event with some spots left, while all field events at Casey Fields have sheets available to sign up for.
Victorian Relay Championships Results:
|
FOP |
Sprint Medley |
04:21.56 |
(4th) |
|
(Alessia Wynne, Nicole Reynolds, Alessandra Flynn, Sanne Bakker) |
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|
F18 |
Sprint Medley |
05:06.98 |
(11th) |
|
(Isabella King, Gabrielle King, Zoe Cowlishaw, Alanna Turner) |
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|
F18 |
Distance Medley |
13:30.72 |
(3rd) |
|
(Eliza Chivers, Sanne Bakker, Isabella King, Lili Pertzel) |
|||
|
F18 |
Distance Medley |
13:56.34 |
(4th) |
|
(Charlotte Senior, Lucy Kearney, Gabrielle King, Jemma Young) |
|||
|
F16 |
Sprint Medley |
04:40.72 |
(8th) |
|
(Tahlia Grace, Lucy Kearney, Shakira Harding, Anika Selvaratnam) |
|||
|
F14 |
4x100m |
60.84 |
(3rd) |
|
(Madeleine Kearney, Allegria Basile, Charlotte Senior, Lula Parrott) |
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|
F14 |
4x400m |
04:57.46 |
(3rd) |
|
(Madeleine Kearney, Allegria Basile, Lula Parrott, Anika Selvaratnam) |
|||
|
F40 |
4x100m |
68.87 |
(3rd) |
|
(Renee Reardon, Kim Peak, Wendy Smith, Laura McLennan) |
|||
|
F40 |
4x400m |
05:21.25 |
(1st) |
|
(Wendy Smith, Kate Downward, Renee Reardon, Laura McLennan) |
|||
|
F40 |
Distance Medley |
17:30.83 |
(3rd) |
|
(Laura McLennan, Allison Parrott, Renee Reardon, Kate Downward) |
|||
|
MOP |
4x400m |
03:24.79 |
(3rd) |
|
(Jochem Bowler, Matthew Parrott, Alex Jones, Thomas Reynolds) |
|||
|
MOP |
Sprint Medley |
04:10.87 |
(10th) |
|
(Darren Menezes, Caleb McLennan, Benjamin Purser, Brock Goodings) |
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|
MOP |
Distance Medley |
10:27.03 |
(6th) |
|
(John Portwood, Peter Holland, Oscar O’Connor, Alastair Christy) |
|||
|
M18 |
Distance Medley |
11:11.64 |
(2nd) |
|
(Josh Ascar, Brodie Mierisch, Lachlan Marasco, Luca Scholes-Robertson) |
|||
|
M16 |
Sprint Medley |
03:59.06 |
(3rd) |
|
(Max McCool, Aiden Marasco, Christian Zapris, Jack Dalton) |
|||
|
M40 |
4x100m |
50.23 |
(2nd) |
|
(David Firth, Mark Howard, Adrian Patti, Paul Mierisch) |
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|
M40 |
4x400m |
04:01.53 |
(2nd) |
|
(David Firth, Adrian Patti, Mark Howard, Paul Mierisch) |
|||
|
M40 |
Distance Medley |
13:22.94 |
(4th) |
|
(David Firth, Paul Mierisch, Jason Merrett, Adrian Patti) |
|||
|
M50 |
4x100m |
58.24 |
(4th) |
|
(Graham Ford, Darryl Kilmartin, Mark Purser, Roderic De Highden) |
|||
|
M50 |
4x400m |
04:44.69 |
(4th) |
|
(Mark Purser, Darryl Kilmartin, Roderic De Highden, Graham Ford) |
|||
|
MOP |
10,000 m |
||
|
Joel Tobin-White |
28:47.90 |
(4th) |
|
Victorian Country Championships, Bendigo
|
Age group |
Athlete |
Event |
Performance |
Position |
Notes |
|
WOP |
Nicole Reynolds |
400m Hurdles |
64.08 |
1st |
National qualifier |
|
WU16 |
Shakira Harding |
90m Hurdles |
14.34 (0.7) |
2nd |
National qualifier and Personal Best |
|
WU16 |
Shakira Harding |
200m Hurdles |
32.19 (-1.9) |
1st |
|
|
WU16 |
Jessica Nolan |
Javelin |
27.02m |
3rd |
Personal Best |
|
WU16 |
Tahlia Grace |
Pole Vault |
3.10m |
1st |
National qualifier and equal Personal Best |
|
WU14 |
Jamison Harding |
80m Hurdles |
14.29 (0.4) |
2nd |
Equal Personal Best |
|
WU14 |
Jamison Harding |
200m Hurdles |
38.70 (-1.9) |
1st |
|
|
WU14 |
Jamison Harding |
Pole Vault |
2.65m |
1st |
National qualifier and Personal Best |
|
MOP |
David Mitchell |
3000m Steeple |
11:01.20 |
5th |
Personal Best |
|
MOP |
Declan Carman |
Discus |
55.01m |
1st |
National qualifier |
|
M40+ |
Paul Mierisch |
100m |
12.83 (-3.0) |
2nd |
|
|
M50+ |
Navid Rashid |
800m |
2:35.26 |
4th |
Personal Best |
|
M60+ |
Jim Poulter |
Pole Vault |
2.00m |
3rd |
Australian Masters Record |