Season 2016/2017 marks the 10^th Anniversary of the club’s first ever Junior Association  Final win in the 2006/2007 Mens Under 18 Division on 31 March 2007.

Prior to season 2006/2007, SKAAC had won several junior Venue Premierships, as they were known as at the time. However, had never scaled the rise to claim a State Junior Club Championship.

A remarkable performance was required to win this pennant along with some luck.

Final scores were:

St. Kevin’s              262.3

Western Athletics 240

Knox                       199.6

Chilwell                    0

The luck came in the form of no club competing in the final having any competitors in the Walk event – so often a tough event for SKAAC to field competitors.

SKAAC were pitted against Western Athletics, Knox & Chilwell, a small group, as at the time, only the Venue Premiers advanced to the Shield Final, as opposed to the top 2 teams advancing like they do in current Shield competition.

The amazing thing about this premiership was that there were only 6 SKAAC athletes that competed on the day, compared with 11 for Western Athletics and a staggering 15 for Knox.

 

The SKAAC Premiership heroes are:-

Shaun Hargreaves

Daniel McKay

James Tamouridis

Mark DeLuca

Gerard Kerr

Peter Shearman

 

Daniel McKay was an excellent athlete who regularly travelled from Gippsland to compete with St. Kevin’s. His involvement in this premiership was as a sprint/hurdler/jumper and his quiet, steely determination. On the day he competed in 6 events. 100m…12.05s; 200m…24.68s; 400m Hurdles…61.1s; Long Jump…5.64m; Triple Jump…12.07m and also a leg of the 4x400m relay. Daniel’s points tally for the day was 40.25.

James Tamouridis was a multiple State Champion and APS Shot Put Record Holder. However, he was also a very capable multi-event athlete and was crucial to the teams’ success. On the day he competed in 5 events. 100m…11.89s; 200m…24.20s; Discus…40.45m; Shot Put…14.01m; Javelin…46.98m. This was against his long time rivals the Peska brothers from Western Athletics. James’ points tally for the day was 46.75.

Mark DeLuca remains a state level distance performer who ranks highly on virtually all of SKAAC’s Top 10 rankings boards. Whilst he moved to Sydney in 2015, he retains his passion for SKAAC and has continued his running whilst in Sydney. How’s this for a day of distance running – 800m…2:03.1; 1500m…4:10.2; 3000m…9:17.7. A truly legendary single day to deliver the club a long cherished premiership. Mark’s points tally for the day was 30.0, but critically allowed SKAAC to exploit weaknesses in the distance squads of the other clubs.

Gerard Kerr, who would be named SKC Captain of Athletics in 2008, ran all of his juniors with SKAAC, where his prodigious talent saw him win many Victorian medals. Gerard competed in 4 events for the day. 800m…2:06.7; 1500m…4:28.9; High Jump…1.65m and a leg of the 4x400m Relay. Gerard’s points tally for the day was 21.55.

Peter Shearman took on the same distance program as Mark DeLuca and similarly was crucial in the securing of the Premiership as SKAAC exploited the distance weaknesses of our competitors. Peter has competed for many seasons with SKAAC since finishing school. 800m…2:05.6; 1500m…4:22.8; 3000m…9:40.0. Peter’s points tally for the day was 25.0.

Shaun Hargreaves. In this scribes view, among the most amazing individual efforts you will ever see. 10 events on the day, 4 wins, 2 second places, 2 third places and nothing lower than 4^th place. This is one of the most brilliant performances ever by a SKAAC athlete – period. Shaun competed in every sprint, throw and jump on the day and scored a staggering 98.75 points. His individual results were: 100m…11.89s; 200m…23.66s; 400m Hurdles 58.1s; Discus…38.31m; High Jump…1.75m; Javelin…58.82m; Long Jump…6.21m; Shot Put…12.10m; Triple Jump 13.69m and to finish his “decathlon in a day”, a leg of the 4x400m Relay. Shaun was duly crowned Under 18 Club Champion for season 2006/2007. To the very many current SKC students that now have the privilege to call Shaun their coach, once you have read this article, make sure that you go up to Shaun and acknowledge his courage, stamina and skill to be able to perform at a level such as this. For we may never see a day of Athletics like this from an individual again.

 

We salute and remember a significant day in SKAAC’s history on 31 March 2007, and congratulate Daniel, James, Mark, Gerard, Peter & Shaun for being our first ever Junior Association Premiers.

All at SKAAC salute and congratulate our 3 Olympians, Luke Mathews, Peter Bol & Sam McEntee. Each are first time Olympians and will forever be recognised as SKAAC’s first-ever Olympians.

I will never forget the excitement at seeing our first ever Olympians face the starter in the 800m, 1500m & 5000m. All present will similarly remember the gathering at the Glenferrie Hotel on 12 August 2016 to witness the 800m as a club in a coming together to acknowledge the struggle and effort required to compete at this level. Each of Luke, Peter & Sam can claim to being within the Top 50 athletes for their events in the world!

Whilst the racing might not have gone to plan, in no way will this define what really is an outstanding achievement.

Undisputed champions are our Rio Trio – Luke, Peter & Sam.

All at SKAAC thank them for the joy and pride instilled in each and every St. Kevin’s supporter during the last 2 weeks.

We similarly wish them safe travels in their respective returns to Australia, when we can congratulate them in person and hear more about the detail of being Australian Olympians.

It is with great pride that SKAAC formally congratulate club member Conor Fry in being named as 2016 SKC Captain of Athletics.

Conor has been a member of SKAAC for many years and is the current Under 18 Club Champion.

At the APS Sports in 2015, Conor was the first leg runner for the Open 4×400, which won so brilliantly in APS Record time of 3:19.64

Conor had a stellar AV season last year culminating in his 3rd place in the national Under 20 400m Hurdles Final in Perth (53.54s)where he came oh-so-close to breaking the SKAAC Open Club record. This performance was  recognised at our Awards Night in April as the 2015/16  Outstanding Junior Performance.

All at SKAAC wish Conor and the entire SKC Athletics Team the best for season 2016.

Peter Bol has dominated the 800m race in Ninove Belgium, to record a PB in taking the win in 1:45.41. This run ranks inside the Top 10 All-time Australian 800m runs. The run also improves Peter’s time on the SKAAC all-time list (which has been updated), but as a testament to the talent within SKAAC, still sees him in 3rd position all-time at SKAAC.

In getting a super start, Peter made the pacesetter earn his Gatorade, opening up a sizable gap on the chasing pack in the first lap. His composure in the last 300m shows that the work Peter and coach Rinaldi is paying off at the right time of the season.

JR flies out later this week to oversee the final aspects of Peter’s Olympic quest, where he will have his 800m heat run on 12 August at 11:10pm Melbourne time.

After 71 years of going so close many times to having our first Olympic athlete, we are delighted to announce the selection of the following 3 legends to represent themselves, their families, their country and our great club at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Luke Mathews (800m & 1500m)

Sam McEntee (5000m)

Peter Bol (800m)

All at SKAAC are so proud of the work that each of these men have put in with their coaches (Justin Rinaldi & Nick Bideau) to cement their spots on the team. Luke becomes the first Australian male in 32 years to contest both the 800m & 1500m at the same Olympics.

All are reminded that our sponsor “The Glenferrie Hotel” have made available a large screen and private area for us to take in the 800m heats which will be held at about 11:10pm on 12 August 2016. There is no need to book, just join us on the night from 7:30pm as there is plenty of AFL Footy to watch as the curtain-raiser.

Please see below for the heat/semi/final times for the 800m/1500m/5000m so that you can set yourself for a massive 2016 Olympics.

Event	Rio Race Time	Melb Time Description
m 800m Heat	12/08/2016 10:10	Friday 12/8/2016 Night 11:10pm
m 800m Semi	13/08/2016 22:05	Sunday 14/8/2016 Morning 11:05am
m 800m Final	15/08/2016 22:25	Tuesday 16/8/2016 Morning 11:25am
m 1500m Heat	16/08/2016 10:30	Tuesday 16/8/2016 Night 11:30pm
m 1500m Semi	18/08/2016 20:45	Friday 19/8/2016 morning 9:45am
m 1500m Final	20/08/2016 21:00	Sunday 21/8/2016 Morning 10:00am
m 5000m Rnd 1	17/08/2016 10:05	Wednesday 17/8/2016 Night 11:05pm
m 5000m FINAL	20/08/2016 21:30	Sunday 21/8/2016 morning 10:30am