16 December 2015 is a very special date for the club.

For on this day 25 years ago a wonderful record was set, that still stands 25 years later. Toby Grainger, Matthew Burmeister, Simon Lewin & Justin Rinaldi set the Victorian State Club Under 19 4x400m (3:14.6) Relay Record that stills stands today. This record has stood as not only the Victorian Record since, but also the Open SKAAC 4×400 Relay since 1990 by a staggering 4.23s.

2 days later, on 18 December 1990, the Under 19 & 20 Victorian State Club 4×800 Record was also knocked off by Toby Grainger, Julian Dwyer, Justin Rinaldi & Simon Lewin (7:40.72) this record also stills stands today and is recognised as our club’s 3 fastest ever 4x800m team.

These athletes are legends of our club and on the 25^th Anniversary of their amazing efforts we acknowledge the quality and longevity of these two records.

A lunch was convened today with Matthew Burmeister, Simon Lewin, Justin Rinaldi and Julian Dwyer able to attend. See photo below. Thanks to club sponsors The Elephant & Wheelbarrow for a great day to acknowledge this magnificent achievement.

L-R – Julian Dwyer, Matthew Burmeister, Justin Rinaldi, Simon Lewin

Please see the link to the Victorian State records where you can see our great club’s name!!

 http://athsvic.org.au/events/records-rankings/

Or if you are still in doubt, see the certificate issued to Julian Dwyer…

The entire club congratulates club member Marco Sgro on his perfect VCE Physical Education Result of 50 announced on Monday 14th December.

Well Done Marco

The Committee of SKAAC.

 

Round 6 Doncaster Thursday 10th December 2015

Carnage is all that can be said for the Mens Div 1 team following Round 6 at Nunawading. Being towelled up by the Box Hill second team, given the stakes, was a terrible outcome for the team dropping us from second on the ladder to third. On the upside, many athletes were unavailable for the Round and we still have a chance to redeem ourselves in the remaining four rounds.

Tempering the result for the Mens Div 1 team was the performance of our junior teams (U/14, U/16 especially securing their first win for the season).

Plenty of debuts for the club as well with Marco Sgro, Daniel Webb, Sam Forbes and Stefano Mazzocca all having their first runs in the famous club colours.

Mention also to Lachlan Chan having his first run, but not quite registered in time to compete for points.

Open Men

Pretty light on for highlights, But Shaun Hargreaves picking up 2 PB’s in the Shot & Hammer with 11.01m & 31.30 respectively was probably the key take out for the night. Mention also to the 5000m runners who were forced to wait until nearly 10:00pm for the start of their race.

Under 18

Great to see 5 strong 800m runners race well with James Hanlon (2:03) , Callum Day (2:08), Ned O’Brien (2:08), Konrad Debicki (2:09) & Marco Sgro (2:20)

Under 16

Nearly the highlight of the night for the club with the boys securing their first victory for the year. Full fields in the 200m, Triple Jump, High Jump went a long way to the team result falling our way. Marcus Hope’s two hurdles runs (30.41 & 63.1) and Phil Borg’s 200m (23.81) the standouts.

Under 14

Our top side by ladders position, saw the lads secure another strong win on the night to further consolidate top spot on the ladder. Tom Scroggie was everywhere securing 133 points on his own, the largest for any Under 14 this season. Great to see 4 200m Hurdlers and also a super 800m run by Hugo Goodman (2:25). Very handy points scored by debutant Daniel Webb in the Shot Put (5.36m) and Joel Imbriano in the Triple Jump (6.35). In a lesson to all other SKAAC teams the boys only had gaps in the Walk, Hammer & 3000m.

Full Results can be found here:-

AVShield-White-Round-06-Graded-Results

Ladders at the end of Round 6 can be found here:-

AVShield-White-Round-06-Ladders

Congratulations to Lauren McGarry on securing the Bronze medal in the 10 year old girls Shot Put at the School Sport Australia National Track and Field Championships in Canberra on 5th December 2015.

Presently the only SKAAC female track athlete, Lauren was able to throw 10.05m, just under her personal best of 10.11m. Lauren was the only Victorian to win a medal in the event.

St. Kevin’s Athletics Club is pleased to announce The Glenferrie Hotel as a major sponsor of the club.

Managing Director of National Hospitality Management Mark O’Reilly (the owner of the Glenferrie Hotel), is pleased to be involved with a local sports club to expand his company’s support of local sporting clubs.

“I am ecstatic to become a major sponsor of a sporting club such as St. Kevin’s Athletics Club. Sport is a great passion of mine and I look forward to a long association and opportunity to welcome all people involved with St. Kevin’s Athletics Club to come and experience the great atmosphere and dining at the Glenferrie Hotel.”

A huge thanks to Mark O’Reilly and Mr Drayson Bushell, the Manager of the Glenferrie Hotel, as all at St. Kevin’s a rapt to have The Glenferrie Hotel on board as a major sponsor.

Needless to say, get down to The Glenferrie. I can personally recommend the Porterhouse – sensational.

Peter McGarry

President, St. Kevin’s Athletics Club

 

Round 5 of the AV Shield Competition is scheduled to be held at Doncaster track on Sunday 22nd November from 1:30pm to approximately 5:30pm.

It should be another great weekend of athletics with Matt Bertacco (club record holder for 100m) possibly having his first run for the season. Along with some handy debutants.

This is the last week to stake your claim to be a part of the St. Kevin’s Relay teams for the following week’s State Relay Championships at Lakeside Stadium.

The club has entered the following teams:-

4×100: Open, Under 16 & Under 14

4×400: Open x 2 and Under 14

4×800: Open & Under 18

Medley (2×200, 400, 800): Open & Under 16

Please see attached below a copy of the timetable of events for this week.

White-Zone-Timetable_Round_5

AV Shield was held at Nunawading on 14 November 2015, with the memory of John Lewin everpresent in all club member’s minds.

With the approval of the Lewin family, each athlete wore a black armband a mark of respect for the contribution of John over many years and to his son Simon Lewin, a Life Member of the Club and his grandsons Will Lewis and Angus Birrell who are also club members. Deepest sympathy to the extended Lewin family from all at St. Kevin’s Athletics Club.

Back Row: Luke Goodman, Phil Borg, Jeremy Weekes, Chris Milne, Ned O’Brien, Chris Hibbert, Xavier Chapman

Front Row: Shaun Hargreaves, Steve Fabris, Conor Fry

Congratulations to the following 4 athletes who made their debuts for the club this week: Matt Dinan, Stefano Mazzocca, Hugh Pentland and Daniel Webb.

Highlights were:-

Michael Romanin being fastest over 200m for the day running 22.38

Dylan Johnson’s massive 14.14m Triple Jump, taking him to second all time for SKAAC.

Steve Fabris cracking the 2 minute barrier for 800m running 1:58.1, paced by Australia’s best, Alex Rowe.

Ned O’Brien racking up 3 PB’s for the day

Hibbo & Fab unable to be separated in the High Jump 1.52 each.

St. Kevin’s winning the Open Mens 4×400 in 3:31.8

Lucas Webb jumping 1.57 in the High Jump

Phil Borg winning the Under 16 200m in 24.03

Matt Dinan coming a narrow 2nd in the Under 14 200m in 29.41

Results can be found here:

AVShield-White-Round-04-Graded-Results

The entire St. Kevin’s Athletics Club mourns the loss of John Lewin.

Deepest sympathy is extended to club life member Simon Lewin on the loss of his father, and to club members Will Lewis and Angus Birrell on the loss of their grandfather.

SKAAC is delighted to announce that Justin Rinaldi was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the St. Kevin’s Old Collegians Association (SKOCA) at last night’s SKOCA AGM. The SKOCA will publically present Justin with this honour at the SKOCA Annual Dinner in June 2016.

Please see below for some further information relating to Justin’s contribution to our club:

On the track, Justin has been a multiple State Champion and one-time National Champion at 800m, famously and proudly wearing the SKAAC singlet to victory during the 2006 Victorian State Championships held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Justin was amongst Victoria’s best championship performers over a 10 year period from the mid-1990’s to the mid-2000’s.

He has been a fierce competitor ranking in the Top 10 performances for SKAAC from distances from 100m to 3000m Steeplechase, for which he is the current club record holder at 9:20.2. A small excerpt of his achievements on the track are listed below:-

• 1990/1991 Member of St. Kevin’s Under 19 State Record 4 x400m Relay team. (3:14.6)
• 1990/1991 Member of St. Kevin’s Under 19 & 20 State Record 4 x800m Relay team. (7:40.72)
• 1996/1997 800m National Champion. (1:47.78)
• 1995/1996 800m Victorian State Champion. (1:47.89)
• 2005/2006 800m Victorian State Champion. (1:50.27)

In season 1992/1993, Justin as a junior athlete, was awarded the Syd James Trophy recognising him as the SKAAC Senior Club Champion, an amazing feat.

Justin also served the SKAAC Committee during the 2002/2003 season.

However, over the last 6 years Justin has gained national and international exposure, as coach and mentor to current joint Australian 800m record holder and Old Collegian Alex Rowe (2010). The time, effort and finance sacrifice personally taken by Justin to guide Alex has been incredible and culminated in the amazing run by Alex in Monaco in 2014 in equalling the Australian 800m record at 1:44.40.

Justin is presently committed to establishing a middle distance coaching group of excellence, attracting athletes from across the country to train with him with the aim of maximising the number of 800m athletes that are selected in the 800m for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Nearly everyone in the Australian Athletics community acknowledges Justin as St. Kevin’s “through and through”. On 11th November 2015, the St. Kevin’s Old Collegians formally recognised Justin’s immense contribution to all things St. Kevin’s Athletics by awarding him Honorary Life Membership.

Well done and thanks Justin.

2015/2016 SKAAC Committee

APS Athletics Championship 2015 (October 17^th)

The headlines will read St. Kevin’s win the APS Athletics Premiership, SKC make it 5 in a row, 8 is great for SKC Aths! These tell only a small part of the greatness achieved on Saturday 17th October 2015.

The bullet points highlights would read:

• Record 21 out of 23 A Grade Finals on Heats Day.
• SKC 2^nd Highest Point Total 461.5 (best 463.5 in 2013)
• Record 93.5 point win over second place Xavier College
• APS Record Open 4x400m Relay 3.19.64 (previous best 3.22.01)
• SKC Equal Record 12 APS Winning events, including: (SKAAC Clubman) Phillip Borg U-16 100m and 200m, (SKAAC Clubman) Will Lewis U-16 1500m, (SKAAC Clubman) Max Gray U-17 High Jump, (SKAAC Clubman) Harry Livens U-15 Triple Jump, Jack Anderson Open 400m and 800m, Jack Mahony U-14 100m and 800m, Murray Griffin, Daniel Doyle, James Hill, and Jack Mahony U-14 4 x 100m Relay, Campbell Smart, Sam Forbes, Owen Rush and Phillip Borg U-16 4 x 100m, (SKAAC Clubman) Conor Fry, Ryan Losty, Jack Anderson and Tuth Jok Open 4 x 400m.

In needs to be noted that each of these winners has an amazing story to tell, the most common aspect of them all is that each athlete started their SKC athletic career not as winners, some not in A grade and others not even in the team. Each has worked to develop themselves and strive for continued improvement.

Special mention to the SKC Captain Jack Anderson. His efforts on the day were outstanding, winning the first event of the day the Open 800m in a PB 1.55.11, then backing up to run two sub 50 second 400m to win the Open 400m and then 4x400m. The historians are still searching through the record books but it is believed that this is the first time the Open 800/400 has been achieved by any athlete in the 110 year history of the APS Athletics!

However the winning of a single event does not make a premiership side. Rather it is the size, dedication and desire of an entire athletics squad that wins schools a premiership. So the real story of how greatness was achieved by St. Kevin’s comes in the sheer number of students competing each and every week on the training track (including all through the holidays) and weekend competition. The student that worked to lift his performance and motivated his team mate to do the same is a premiership player. Which is why the premiership photo, that will sit proudly amongst the other great teams in the school pavilion, will record a team of over 75 athletes for the 53 contested events. They did not all win an event, some did not get to compete on the day but they all contributed and thus all finished the 2015 Premiership race as winners!