Please see attached for a copy of the program for Round 9, which is to be held as a TWILIGHT meet at Nunawading Athletics track on Thursday 15 December 2016. Competition starts at 6:30pm on the track (Walk & Long Hurdles) and 6:00 for the big Hammer (>35m); & 6:30pm for the big Triple Jump (>12m) competitions.

Please note that as a Christmas break-up we will have a free BBQ and drinks for all athletes in attendance on the night as we close out the last AV Shield meet for 2016.

Click on link below for the timetable:-

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Terrible conditions for high class athletics didn’t deter the brave athletes of SKAAC who electrified Lakeside Stadium with maybe one of the club’s greatest single nights of high class performances.

The night got off to a flyer, literally, with the Open mens 100 yards (a race rarely run, but should be run more often) with Michael Romanin and Joel Bee taking on a superstrong field. Joel Bee flew the blocks and ran a super race to win in 9.46 (+5.4) by 3 metres from the classy Will Johns, with Michael Romanin finishing 8th in 10.01. For his efforts Joel was duly crowned Victorian 100 Yards State Champion.

Thomas Scroggie was our sole representative in the Under 15 1500m, running in a bunched field that was a sit & sprint from about 300m out. Thomas was caught 3 wide at the bell and tried to get around for a clear passage, but the group had the same idea. Certainly, based on times Thomas was in the race up to his ears and will no doubt learn plenty from this race to take into the serious races in the latter part of the season.

The Mens 800m saw a historic quinella to SKAAC with Alex Rowe winning in 1:50.09 and just as impressive was Steve Knuckey holding off Christian Davis to run a strong 2nd in 1:51.30. It has to be said that the pre-race hold on the start line for a presentation of an officials award made little sense, with the rain, wind and plummeting temperature not the best way to get set for an 800m.

Alex sat in nicely behind the pacemaker and virtually led all the way in what was on viewing the conditions and pre-race delay probably worth a time significantly below that which stopped the clock. Steve’s race pattern was nearly perfect, got out from a crowded start beautifully and held a great spot all race, with a great lead-in to the last 250m, where he was challenged with 200m to go and responded in the home straight to finish a strong race and set himself for later in the season.

In a night where we honour the great Emil Zatopek with the running of the National Mens & Women’s 10k, it seems odd that a club relay race would stir the most from a sparse crowd in attendance. However, the Zatopek 4x400m Relay is one of the more successful additions to this program. Old Melburnians have taken this race to a new level in recent years, regularly having two teams in the final and for the previous 3 years at least, taking home the Gold medal. However, this year, it was SKAAC that had 2 teams in the final and it was SKAAC that took home a Gold Medal in a sensational battle with a very strong Old Melburnians team. Joel Bee ran the first leg and was sensational in handing the baton to Steve Fabris in 1st place, taking on a 2-time Olympian. By the 100m mark Fab had company and it was battle-on. Composure was critical and 150m from home, the SKAAC faithful could see something special happening. Fab had more than a sniff, he was closing and closing fast. Half-way down the straight Fab had taken the lead and taken down a key plank in the OM’s team, it was a herculean run and one that was warmly received by the entire SKAAC contingent after the race. Peter Bol has been training the house down of late and so it was to be in the 3rd leg, where shoulder to shoulder for the first 350m it was still anyone’s race. With 80m to go, the OM’s athlete had given it everything and Peter’s base allowed him to pull away ever so slightly in the last 30 metres to set Deluca on his way. Deluca was fantastic clocking a split time of 48.5 to extinguish any chance the competition had. 3:13.95 was the winning time with OM’s about a second away in 2nd place. SKAAC had secured our first ever State 4×400 crown and created a new club record, breaking the previous mark set over 25 years ago, that is still a State Junior Record.

The SKAAC second team was also a strong performer on the night, with Seb Purcell continuing his resurgence under the guidance of Mark Ladbrook, Gerard Kerr getting to experience the magic of the final and continue his own return from injury over the last few seasons. Alex Rowe and Steve Knuckey backing up from the earlier 800m ran sensational splits of 49.1 & 49.7 respectively. The team stopped the clock at 3:22.28, good enough for 10th All Time for SKAAC, and put a huge exclamation mark on what was a truly sensational night for SKAAC Athletics.

It was a pleasure to be there to witness it.

Thanks to  each and every athlete, their coaches and to JR for handling the teams during the night and on the heats so brilliantly.

Go SKAAC

With school finished for many of us and Zatopek a way better option than training (in my opinion :-)), get yourself Lakeside on Thursday night to witness a really great night of Australian Distance running with the feature event (Australian 10,000m Championship) containing our Olympian Sam McEntee as pacemaker. There is plenty of SKAAC athletes in action on the night as well:-

Hugh Pentland in the 10,000m lower grades at Aberfeldie on 6/12/2016

6:40pm Joel Bee and Michael Romanin in the Victorian 100 Yards Championship

7:00pm Thomas Scroggie in the Under 15 1500m

7:25pm Steve Knuckey & Alex Rowe in the Mens 800m

and at 8:45pm to round it all out from a State Relays perspective, the Open Mens 4×400 where SKAAC has two teams qualified for the final.

Get down to Lakeside Stadium for a great night and plenty of SKAAC athletes in action.

National All Schools Wrap-up

Tristan Day

The weekend saw the breaking of a record held by one of the club’s legends in Richard Hope. It will come as no surprise to many that Tristan Day has smashed his PB in finishing 4th in the Under 16 3000m at the National All Schools Championships in Canberra on the weekend.

Tristan has lowered the old mark of 9:08.0 set by Richard Hope in 1986 to 9:03.47 to take 10 seconds off his PB. Everyone at SKAAC knows how far Hopey went with his running, so get excited, as there is a super talented distance runner starting to shake up the Club Records.

Phil Borg

Phil took on the nations fastest Under 18’s in the 100m & 200m. Phil ran a super race in the heat of the 100m to miss the final by 0.01, in clocking 11.06. Returning on Sunday for the 200m, Phil ran 22.28 to place 3rd in his heat and qualify for the final. Phil ran 22.24 in the Final to place 8th in Australia. Well done Phil.

Round 7 Interclub at Yarra Ranges

Juniors

A great weekend for the Mens Under 14 team, taking the win and in doing so, reclaiming top spot on the ladder. Well done to Joel Imbriano, Samuel Scroggie, Luca DiConza, Jett-Paris Bedelis who were able to secure the crucial win by getting out and doing heaps of events between them.

Thomas Scroggie is getting close to the Under 15 Triple Jump Club record, jumping 11.60m

Great also to see Harry Livens back in action getting through plenty of events

Callum Day was sharp in the 800m running 2:04.3, in PB zone

Lauren McGarry broke her own Under 13,14,15,16 Hammer throw Club Record with 31.16m

Mens Div 1

We welcomed Seb Purcell & Jonathan Taylor into the sprint ranks with Nigel Self (24.13) Chris Milne showing that the hard training with JR is paying off with a strong 200m & 800m (2:04.5). The Men’s 4×400 of JT, Seb, Gerard & Milney ran 3:40.3 to finish 2nd.

Mens 40+

A narrow 3rd place to VMA hinge on a fraction, but numbers were strong in the field with all spots filled. James “two-spin” Flinn in the Hammer for only the second time ever was great with 26m+ and Jack Howard was Mr efficiency with an 11.66m Shot and 31.53m Hammer.

A Club record was set in the 4×400 with Joe, Thommo, Dino & Aaron getting home with the win in 4:01.

However, the 40+ run of the day went to Aaron Little in the 800m who ran a slashing 2:03.9 to be the fastest 40+ athlete for the day.

All at SKAAC wish Tristan Day (Under 16 3000m) and Phil Borg (Under 18 100m & 200m) all the best for the National All Schools Championships this weekend in Canberra.

Do yourselves and your club proud lads!!

Please see attached for a copy of the program for Round 7, which is to be held at Yarra Ranges (Mount Evelyn) Athletics track on 3 December 2016. Competition starts at 1:30pm on the track (Walk & Long Hurdles) and 1:00 for the big Hammer (>35m); & 1:30pm for the big Triple Jump (>12m) competitions.

If any athlete(s) would like assistance to get up to Mt Evelyn for competition, please give me a call (0458 083 992) and I’m sure that we can sort it out.

Click on link below for the timetable:-

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Please see below for a close-range aerial view of where the track is located.

Congratulation to Lauren McGarry for her Bronze medal in the 11 years Shot Put at the SSV National Championships in Sydney on 27/11/2016 in a new PB of 12.18m.

Windy & changeable conditions greeted the small SKAAC contingent that ventured many miles to Mt. Evelyn on Saturday 12th November. Despite the distance travelled by everyone, there were some great highlights on the day

• 1 National Qualifer in the Women’s Under 14 Hammer for Lauren (29.71m)
• The Under 14’s winning their competition for the day with massive performances from (Joel Imbriano (6 events), Samuel Scroggie (5 events), Matthew Kim (5 events) and Matt Dinan (1 event).
• 9 Club Records for the day:-

                    Lauren McGarry Under 13-18 Womens 3kg Hammer Throw 29.71m

                    Joe Lynch Mens 40+ Triple Jump in 10.04m

                    Mens 40+ 4x400m Relay (Dino Imbriano, Joe Lynch, Peter McGarry, Andrew Thomas) in 4:32.3s

It was also great to see Gabe Shaw make his debut for the club in the Under 18 200m – a big welcome to SKAAC!

Tristan Day rang 2:10.6 in the Under 16 800m closely followed by Thomas Scroggie in 2:11.0. Chris Milne backing up some slashing recent form with 2:04.7.

Also back in action was Club Legend Steve Cain getting plenty done at high quality 200m = 24.53; Triple = 11.79m; 400h 59.79; HJ = 1.80; Shot 12.05m; Hammer 31.49m

It will be great to get back closer to “sea level” in Round 6 this SUNDAY at Doncaster.

Please click on the link below for the results from Round 5:-

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