On 23rd September 2016 the club committee submitted a funding request to the VicHealth Round One Active Club Grant requests in response to the Victorian Government’s objective to increase female participation in physical activity.

The SKAAC Committee prepared a response to the request specifying throwing equipment (Javelin, Shot Put & Discus) with the full range of female implement specifications, and were delighted to be advised on 23rd November 2016 that our funding request had been successful.

On the 13th December 2016 the full amount of the grant ($921.00) was received by Dino Imbriano (our legendary treasurer) and the order was placed.

TODAY was the day we received the equipment, which can be seen below. It is available to be used for all club members. Please let any Committee member know if you would like to borrow any of:

1kg Discus

3kg & 4kg Shot Put

400g, 500g & 600g Javelin

See below for a pic of the shinny new equipment, thanks to VicHealth!!

SKAAC were well represented at the Hunter Track Classic on 27 January, with 3 facing the starter in the 800m and two in the 1,500m.

Alex Rowe, following a racing stint in New Zealand won the 800m in 1:47.78, with Steve Knuckey showing plenty in running a 0.8sec PB of 1:48.02 and Brad Mathas 4th only a whisker away in 1:48.18. This race has taken the minimum standard to make the Top 10 SKAAC All-time 800m performance down to 1:48.18 – a pretty tough standard by anyone’s measure. Steve now heads to Canberra to take on the 800m at the ACT Championships. Please see below for a photo from the race on Saturday night, with the SKAAC singlet reasonably prominent 🙂

In the 1,500m Peter Bol finished 4th in 3:43.74 and Adam Pyke having his first run over 1,500m since last year’s National Bronze medal run, ran 3:46.43 having been caught wide nearly the whole way.

All-in-all a pretty successful night for SKAAC in Newcastle.

Round 12 at Nunawading on 21 January 2017 saw a famous victory to the SKAAC Under 14 Men, holding out a strong Box Hill team to claim their 3rd Region Premiership in succession, the first of any grade SKAAC team to complete a “hat-trick” of wins in our 72 year history.

Every one of the 9 individuals to represent SKAAC at Mens Under 14 this season can lay claim to making a difference this season in securing the Region Premiership:-

Joel Imbriano – our lone competitor in Round 5 at Doncaster, and scored 20% of the teams points as its youngest member, without his efforts there would be no premiership;

Samuel Scroggie – scored a massive 5,156 points (16%) for the season, without his efforts there would be no premiership;

Jett-Paris Bedelis – tried many new events for the first time (including Pole Vault on Saturday for the first time) and along with Joel, the only other competitor in Round 2, without his efforts there would be no premiership;

Luca Di Conza – a star all season, scored 1,319 points in Round 12 alone (the most of any athlete for the season), without his efforts there would be no premiership;

Adam McGarry – doing the events that kept the team in contention, 4 PB’s and 1,145 points in Round 12 alone, without his efforts there would be no premiership;

Daniel Doyle – State Sprint Champion and doing the hard yards in the 90m Hurdles and a 400m whilst under injury duress during round 12, without his efforts there would be no premiership;

Angus Down – Massive PB in the 2000m Steeplechase (8:02.5) in Round 12 and a crucial 400m at the end of the day, without his efforts there would be no premiership;

Matt Dinan – Under duress for most of the season with severs, competed the last two rounds to earn vital points in the 100m and set himself for the Shield Final, without his efforts there would be no premiership; and

Matthew Kim – Super talented sprinter/jumper/hurdler, scored a massive 1,047 points in Round 8, without his efforts there would be no premiership.

Well done boys and good luck at the Shield Final on 12 February 2017 at Lakeside Stadium.

Mens 40+

Whilst the Under 14’s got the chokkies, the Mens 40+ team fell agonisingly short in their quest for finals, being edged out by a solitary premiership point by a very good Victorian Masters team. To make matters worse were the injuries to Joe Lynch and James Flinn in a tough day at the office for the fossils. Hats off to Dino Imbriano who has championed the cause of the 40+ team all season, regularly made personal sacrifice to get there to compete to keep the fires burning, a finals spot was deserving, however not to be this season.

Mens Div 1

Our best performance for the season by some margin. With strong 400m representation in the form of Steve Knuckey, Conor Fry (for his first 400m race since APS Sports), Adam Pyke, Jonathan Taylor (also 2nd in the 100m 11.65) and Chris Milne all running strongly. Our 4×100 team also had a win for only the 2nd time at shield this season.

Under 18

Again a strong showing from Phil Borg (400m in 51.82), Gabe Shaw, Ned O’Brien (with a PB in the 400m 55.24s) Callum Day (PB in the 400m 56.44s)

Under 16

What a great set of team members Thomas Scroggie, Tristan Day  and Marcus Osman have been this season. Regularly keeping the team in the hunt for that elusive Shield Final spot, their collective efforts can’t be faulted. It is a real shame this team didn’t make the Shield Final, as in this writer’s opinion they would have been super competitive. We wish each team member all the best as they continue their preparations for the Victorian Championships in late February / early March.

Round 3 of the Victorian Milers circuit has delivered SKAAC some stunning results.

Firstly to the two “A” Race winners, Steve Knuckey in the 800m stopping the clock in a new PB of 1:48.84, winning the race and taking 9th spot on the SKAAC all time list. Peter Bol was the other “A” Race winner taking out the 1,500m in 3:42.35 (good enough for 5th fastest for SKAAC All-time), closely followed by training partner Brad Mathas in 4th (3:46.66) in a staggering PB of over 10 seconds!!

Steve (you can’t give up now) Fabris ran 1:57.95, Aaron Little 2:05.80, getting over a battle with recent sickness and the two Scroggie lads, Thomas & Samuel smashing their respective PB’s running 2:02.75 and 2:37.63 respectively.

Will Lewis stamped his talent with a slashing 1,500m PB in 4:05.5, with Luca DiConza showing his class with a PB performance in the 1,500m running 4:35.3.

So by my reckoning, that would be 7 PB’s (Bol, Mathas, Lewis, DiConza in the 1,500m and Kunckey, Scroggie T & Scroggie S in the 800m)

By any measure, that is a pretty good nights work.

Go SKAAC.

A SKAAC quinella for Deluca Lawson-Matthew and Alex Rowe in the 400m event at the Cooks Classic in 17 January 2017 in 48.05 & 48.11 respectively.

Good signs for Del & Rowie for the big stuff around the corner.

Go SKAAC

 

Heat  2

1 Lawson-Matthew, Deluca     M St Kevin’s Amate          48.05

2 Rowe, Alex                               M St Kevin’s Amate          48.11

3 Ledger, Josh                            M Upper Hutt Athle         48.94

4 Atwell, Max                              M Cobu                               50.38

5 Turner, Liam                           M Winton                           50.73

6 Moulai, Tom                            M Papanui TocH               50.75

Please see attached for a copy of the program for Round 12, which is to be held at Nunawading Athletics track on Saturday 21st January 2017.

Competition starts at 1:30pm on the track (Sprint hurdles) and 1:30 for the big Discus (>35m), Big Long Jump (>6.00m) & Pole vault (>3.80m) competitions.

This is the last (& most crucial round for our Under 14, 16 & 40+ Men as they strive for finals spots.

We will be based in our usual Nunawading spot, on the hill just past the start/finish line.

Please see below for a copy of the program for Saturday.

White Zone – Rd 12 – Timetable

SKAAC colours have been flying high in New Zealand with Alex Rowe dominating the 800m, winning in 1:48.06 (which was a track record) and Deluca Lawson-Matthew taking out the 400m in 48.93sec.

Please see below for a link to the NZ Herald article summarising the SKAAC dominance.

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11782561

 

 

A far better set of conditions for the SKAAC finals contenders at Nunawading during Round 11. With strong wins for the Under 14 and Under 15 Mens teams, second placing for the Under 14 Women’s team and third placings for Mens Open and 40+.

A big welcome to Kim Whelan having his debut run for the club with an excellent 800m (2:39.15) & 3000m (13:05.17) being the difference in the Mens 40+ team.

Women’s Under 14

Congratulations to Alessia Acquaro for her High Jump Club Record of 1.17m and strong 200m in 31.73s. Alessia has had a super strong first season and is eligible for Under 14 again next season!!

Mens Under 14

With a Shield Final spot already sewn up, the boys were out to stake their claims for spots in the team with Luca DiConza (800m 2:16.77s, 3000m (10:40.22), Triple Jump (8.65m), Shot Put (5.66m), High Jump) having a super big day. Also impressive was Samuel Scroggie in the 200m Hurdles (40.12s), 200m (31.79s) 800m (2:49.08), Triple (8.21m) & High Jump (1.27m).

Matt Dinan, suffering with severs was a terrific runner for the team in the 200m clocking 30.24s

Angus Down completed a 200m & 800m showcasing his versatility and talent with 31.29s & 2:36.45

Adam McGarry had a day out. A 12cm PB in the High Jump with 1.32m and another PB in the Hammer with 20.54m along with a Shot Put (6.58m), Triple Jump (8.53m), 200m & leg of the Under 16 4x400m Relay plus a 3000m (14:15.70) to ensure top point for the team was a great display.

Round 12 is crucial with Shield Finals spots up for grabs and the chance to finish the White region on top of the ladder.

Mens Under 16

What a super talented group this age is for SKAAC. Headline acts everywhere. Where do I start? Massimo Acquaro, Marcus Osman, Thomas Scroggie & Tristan Day were a 4 man team and took out a great win. Massimo scopping 412 point for his 23.57s. Marcus Osman having his first season with the club has been a wonderful addition and can’t he get through some work? 200m (25.49s), Triple, High (1.47m) , Relay all in days work for this young man. Thomas Scroggie, so talented that no event is beyond him…200m Hurdles (31.16s), 200m (26.08s) , 800m (2:08.72), Triple Jump (11.20m), High Jump (1.57m), and 4×400 Relay. Tristan Day again is crafting a super season, after winning the Club’s most improved trophy in 2015/2016 contributing over 800 points for his 800m 2:08.37 & 3000m 9:24.11.

Mens Under 18

Phil Borg with a 23.10 200m & 1.57m High Jump and Callum Day 2:07.10 800m were the only performances for this team that has been hit with athletes still being on holidays.

Mens 40+

This grade is nearly the most competitive age group in the whole of Victoria with 2nd spot in the Shield Final up for grabs next week in Round 12. The SKAAC team, whilst undermanned with injuries (when are we ever going to be not hit by injuries, I hear you say) was fantastic to hold on to 4th spot and keep our finals chances alive. VMA won the round, with Box Hill second, leaving a tantalising last round showdown in a virtual “Region Final”. Those that can remember back that far will recall the great memories of the region final, where SKAAC somehow seemed to always bring our best to the table. Whilst officialdom has relegated this great day to the scrapheap (hopefully only temporarily) the 40+ Men get to turn back that virtual clock in Round 12 as we try to cling onto second spot.

Mens Open

Jonathan Taylor 200m 23.74s and Jason Kozica 3000m Walk (13:03.62) an effort that was worth over 500 points were the standouts with support from Nigel Self 200m (24.02s) and Chris Milne running a PB in the 3000m (10:51.34).

 

It is a fine line between success and failure in this sport and Round 10 could not have dished up more polar opposite results for the SKAAC warriors that took to the track in extreme heat in Round 10.

Let’s start with the good, as there was plenty of it:-

* What a great 100m run by Joel Bee, clocking 10.52 at the Essendon track as part of the AV “roaming” round, his fastest since joining SKAAC (2nd fastest All time) and coming after a hectic schedule racing the pro circuit in Adelaide in Bay Sheffield and in Burnie (3rd in the Gift Final off 0.25m)

* Cainie, doing plenty with a 100m, Long Jump, 110m Hurdles & Javelin.

* A slashing debut by the James Tamouridis coached, Jackson Bennett taking out a classy “Heat 1” field in 10.66. All at the club are excited to have Jackson on board and can’t wait for his season to take off. A very exciting time for the club’s Open sprint ranks!!

* Samuel Scroggie might only be small, but he is tough. In searing heat he gobbled up a 1500m and 400m and in between had enough energy for a PB in the Long Jump with 4.03m. Samuel, along with Joel Imbriano has been a trojan for the Under 14 Mens team.

* Harry Livens, Marcus Osman & Thomas Scroggie were a 3 man band working SO hard to keep the Under 16 team’s hopes alive. Harry cleared his first height ever in Pole Vault, threw a >31m Javelin, Marcus had a crack at the Long Jump and Thomas was a mere 3 seconds off his 1500m PB in 4:31, in the most extreme conditions (38 Deg when he raced) for the day.

* Luca DiConza left nothing in the tank, completing his first ever 2km Steeplechase (7:59) and backed this up with a 1500m and a leg of the 4×100 relay

* Joel Imbriano completing the 2k steeple in 9:16 along with 6 other events (400m, 1500m, Relay, Discus, Javelin, Long)

* Joe Lynch under 60 sec in the 400m for the first time this season

* Jack Howard winding the clock back in the Javelin with 33m

* Dino Imbriano doing plenty of work with 7 events

 

But, and unfortunately this week there are a couple…

* The under 14’s lost narrowly to Box Hill, falling 1 event short;

* Same for the Under 16’s where the result was nearly the tightest miss in any grade this season;

* and Men’s 40+ teams who finished third, but thankfully ahead of AWA.

 

Plenty of work to do in Round 11 to rectify the bad luck from Round 10.

Come-on SKAAC, let’s make the last 2 rounds count.