St Kevin's Amateur Athletic Club
Peter Bol has lowered his PB to 1:45.78 (from 1:46.51) to leap into the selection frame for Australia in the 800m at the Rio Olympic Games during a race at Wiesbaden Germany on Wednesday. This come hot on the heels of his 400m PB of 47.20 set in Madrid a week ago.
All at SKAAC acknowledge this magnificent effort by Peter to qualify for Rio and to his brilliant coach, Justin Rinaldi. Well done lads!!
Go SKAAC
After a fantastic few months of training with coach Steve Cain and a gym routine introduced in summer season Tristan Day has secured his first ever state medal in finishing 3rd in a super strong field in the Under 16 group at Bundoora, in super tough conditions that only Bundoora can serve up!
Well Done Tristan
This season marks the 30th Anniversary of the club’s first ever Junior Venue/Region Premiership in the Under 18 Mens Competition at Box Hill in 1986/1987. Luckily there is a great photo to enable the club to celebrate this feat. Please see photo below, taken at the Association Final held at Olympic Park in March 1987. The team L-R 2nd Row is Cameron Hayes, Garun Hamilton, Derek Francis, Andrew Heaton, Mark Forytarz, Justin Murphy. Front Row is Mark Brady, Travis Mullarvey, Nick Owen, Richard Hope, Jon Savedra.
Many of those pictured held and continue to hold SKAAC Club Records and had distinguished APS careers.
Cameron Hayes: 4 x Senior Cross Country Champion (BJ Jones Cup);
Mark Brady: 3 x Club Champion (Syd James Memorial), School Captain & 1st XVIII Captain 1988 and still ranked the SKAAC Top 10 for 100m, 110m Hurdles, Triple Jump, ;
Garun Hamilton: Career sadly cut short by back injury but 1988 School Vice Captain & Dux;
Travis Mullarvey: Still holds a SKC School record in U17 4x100m Relay and was 1989 School Vice Captain;
Richard Hope: Arguably our greatest distance runner. Club record Holder for the Tan 10:51, 2 x Senior Cross Country Champion (BJ Jones Cup) and Australian Representative in Cross Country;
Justin Murphy: Captain of Athletics & Cross Country 1988
Mark Forytarz: Current club record holder for Under 18 5.4kg Hammer
Andrew Heaton: Currently ranked 6th on the SKAAC All Time Javelin Performances
Derek Francis: Sensationally won the 1986 APS 800m, SKC’s only track winner for the day.
For those using the Eastern Freeway to get away early on the first day of the long weekend, the stampede of more than a hundred APSOC singlets running across the Yarra Bend overpass on the drizzly winter’s morning may have been a somewhat dissonant sight. Whilst the outbound motorists of the Eastern Freeway were dreaming of saunas in Falls Creek, bonfires in Gippsland or warmly lit log cabins in Phillip Island, the SKAAC contingent were focused only on completing the two four-kilometre laps that lay ahead.
The McPhail 8k saw a good representation of SKAAC runners at the front end of the pack with Xavier Chapman comfortably taking out second place overall, averaging a time of 3:16.5 minutes per kilometre. Chris Hibbert didn’t trail this effort by far, coming in less than 90 seconds later to take seventh place. The handicappers had, unfortunately, seen this coming and dealt Chris the second shortest handicap of the field to place him fifty-eighth in that regard.
The highlight SKAAC performance of the day, however, would have to go to the chase that lasted the full 8 kilometres between Dino Imbriano and Jeremy Weeks. With Weeks pulling out to an early lead and neither runner willing to give an inch, it was a testament to Dino’s unwavering stamina that allowed him to overtake in the final section of the race.
A superb performance was put on by the SKAAC junior side with the Joel Imbriano, Gabrielle Kopke and the Cornwells (John, Gabe and Charlie) all showing outstanding commitment and determination. The entire SKAAC team seemed to relish the “perfect weather for running”, all inclusive of the cold breeze, the occasional spray of rain and the slippery mud that characterised the Yarra Bend track.
By way of follow-up to the magnificent 800m Legends dinner held on 28 May 2016. I thought it would be of interest to put some videos of our 5 legends up for all to view.
John Higham
Peter Bourke
Simon Lewin
Luke Mathews:
Alex Rowe
On Friday 3rd June 2016 Justin Rinaldi was inducted as an Honorary Life Member of the St. Kevin’s Old Collegians Association (SKOCA) at the Annual Dinner at Kooyong Tennis Club.
Justin has been a fantastic servant of our club and this rarely bestowed honour is just recognition for his passion, enthusiasm and drive for all things St. Kevin’s Athletics.
Please see below for some picture of the night.
Justin Rinaldi being presented with his commemorative plaque by Nick Di Pietrantonio, the President SKOCA.
Members of the Athletics Club in attendance to celebrate with Justin. L-R Giovanni Gentiluomo, Simon Field, Simon Lewin, Justin Rinaldi, Tom Crowley, Nick Di Pietrantonio, Peter McGarry & Mark Fortarz.
Simon Lewin and Peter McGarry with Justin after the presentation.
SKAAC’s own, Luke Mathews takes on 800m World Record holder David Rudisha this Sunday over 600m at the Birmingham Diamond League meet. What can be confirmed before that race is that Luke is sure to run a club record, as to this scribes knowledge no-one has ever raced a ratified 600m before… 🙂
Go Luke & Go SKAAC
The one concession that cross country runners must inevitably make to athletes of other disciplines is that this sport, unlike some others, requires little to no decision making. The APSOC runners at Westerfolds Park on Saturday, however, each had to make quite a weighty decision. Five, ten or twenty one kilometres?
For those who decided that they’d arrive first and conquer the least mini of the mini marathons, the 21.1km half marathon, a deceptive course lay ahead. The first eleven kilometres led the runners through a flat path, over boardwalks and past picturesque scenery. The second half of the race, however, dragged athletes up climbs both short and long, around farm gates and past precarious drops to the rushes below. Luke Goodman seemed to brush these distractions to the side as he courageously strode home to take an outright victory in this gruelling event, averaging a time of 4m15s per kilometre.
It was in this second half of the course that the 10km race took place. As well as battling the highs and lows of the track, runners had to deal with the varying pace of the stream of competitors; from the worn out pace of an athlete who has completed 18 kilomtres to the spritely bounds of one who is just finishing the 3rd kilometre. It was in this culminating charge that the likes of Tristan Mioni and the Cornwell family all put in for an inspiring effort. SKAAC runners for all events deserve to be commended.
On Saturday 28 May 2016, over 60 people from the SKAAC community came together to celebrate the five St. Kevin’s athletes to have won a Senior National 800m title. 4 of the 5 champions were in attendance on the night, with Luke Mathews currently in Europe preparing for the Rio Olympics in August offering probably the best excuse ever for being unable to attend on the night.
9 National 800m Champions since 1977 coming from St. Kevin’s can rightfully have us claim to be the 2nd most successful 800m production line outside of the famous St. Patricks in Kenya. Please see below for a list of the years in which a St. Kevin’s athlete has won the National 800m title:-
John Higham (1977, 1978, 1979);
Peter Bourke (1980, 1982, 1984);
Simon Lewin (1993);
Alex Rowe (2014); and
Luke Mathews (2016).
A wonderful meal shared by all at The Glenferrie Hotel, our principal entertainment sponsor was followed by two riveting interview sessions expertly conducted by Justin Rinaldi (a National 800m Champion in 1997). John Higham and Peter Bourke were first to address the room to discuss their toughest training sessions, which centred around never asking Franz Stampfel as to why you were doing 20 x 200m for soon it would be 30 x 200m. John spoke of being the only Australian to have ever won the 400m/800m double at a national Championship, and also why he chose not to compete at the 1980 Olympic Games.
Peter Bourke in his unassuming way spoke to a silent room about the buildup to his famous win in the 800m at the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games and the tactics that he took into the race. Peter also spoke of his preparation for big races seeking strong, PB level performances in distances either side of his specialist 800m event, in the 400m & 1500m.
Both John & Peter were unanimous in their views about the training methods employed by their coaches in the 1970’s & 1980’s being inferior to those methods of the current day coaching methods, particularly relating to the volume of training they completed.
A lovely dessert was soon followed by the final interview session with Simon Lewin & Alex Rowe (who leaves on Wednesday for Cologne, seeking a Rio qualifier). Simon Lewin spoke of his toughest session being in the sand dunes in Sorrento where the variation in rep performance would vary wildly between his best and slowest, due to incredible fatigue. Simon also spoke of mental preparation he completed to overcome long time competitor, Barry Acres to secure the 1993 National 800m title and also having Justin Rinaldi in the same race!! He also spoke of the form that he was in at the time, and that quite possibly he was possibly in better shape to win the 1993, National 1500m final, but the euphoria of winning the 800m took a little edge off – I say understandably!!
Alex Rowe spoke of his National 800m Record and the controversy surrounding him being in Monaco that famous night and the lead up to even receiving an invitation to contest the race. He also spoke of the heartbreak of injuring his hamstring soon after that record breaking run that was to rule him out of representing his country at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Each of the 4 National 800m Champions present were presented with a memorabilia piece outlining their athletic records and their connection to St. Kevin’s.
It was a wonderful tribute to five wonderful gentlemen and giants of not only our club, but our sport and our country. Please see below for some photos taken on the night. Key videos (including both interviews) will be up shortly.
While we were sleeping, Australia’s, Victoria’s and St Kevin’s rising middle distance star added a 1,500m Rio Olympic Games qualifier to his already secured spot on the Australian Team in the 800m.
On Wednesday 18 May 2016 in Nijmegan, Netherlands, Luke stopped the clock in a new PB of 3:35.99, taking 1.32sec from his previous best of 3:37.31, run at the Briggs Track Classic in Hobart in February this year.
Luke’s next race is over 800m on 22 May 2016.
Huge effort Luke. Keep it up.
Go SKAAC
P.S. Records and Rankings have been updated with this slashing run 🙂