Western Athletics Inc. www.westernathletics.com.au

Club Newsletter April Edition 2013

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My Trip of a Lifetime. Recently I was lucky enough to have been selected in the Australian team for for the World Cross-country Championships held in snowy Poland, in which I competed in the junior event! It was a massive surprise for me, qualifying 3rd place at the trials, which the selectors believed was good enough for me to go! The World Cross-country Championships are the only event in which the juniors and seniors travel together, train together and watch each other race. For me this was one of the major highlights of the trip as individuals I idolised were suddenly eating dinner with me and sitting next to me on the plane.

We went to London first to acclimatise to the weather as we were heading from 37 degrees in Australia to a high of -2 in Poland, so London at 5 degrees was a good start. I was able to train at the famous Bushy Park, and touch the deer, which is an Aussie tradition. Poland itself was freezing, getting to a low of -17. I’m pretty sure most of us girls looked like we were there for the sumo wrestling championships with the amount of layers we had on! When we arrived in Poland, it was crazy as there were cameras everywhere, the local news station, and in the end a picture of Sam Prime and me ended up in the local newspaper of us at the airport, which was surreal. For many of us it was the first time seeing snow, so the experience of running in it was a new one.

The course itself was challenging and many people actually said it was one of the toughest courses/weather they have had, and would be great at the Winter Olympics (Let’s hope it can become part of it). I was lucky enough to be able to talk to the likes of Collis Birmingham (2 time Olympian) Steve Kelly, Mitchell Brown, and most of the other seniors who had already represented Australia, about how to handle the race, as they shared tactics, and advice on how to best tackle it. Race day was incredible. It snowed during my race, I came 50th with a PB of 20:48 over the 6km, and my team was 8th. There was an enormous crowd, and I will never forget the feeling of running up the hill, hearing the Americans, Irish, Polish and just random people cheering us Aussies. We got asked for autographs and people wanted photos with us.

Watching the other Aussies, was great, however the senior men’s race will be one I will always remember. It was a surreal experience watching Collis leading the race up the hill, and mixing with the Africans. Every single country was cheering him.

At the end of the championships, all the athletes from all countries came together for a banquet and celebration. Over all it was the best lifetime experience I could have asked for, the team bonding, the healthy eating, the training, the snow, the travel, the condition during the race, and the life -long friends from not only Australia but other countries.

Lastly, I want to say a huge thank you to my coach Burkie, my parents and family, my training partners and everyone from Western Athletics! You are like a second family, the support has been incredible and definitely helped me to get to where I am now!

AMY CASHIN is the pinnacle of professional . The 120m gift worth $40,000 is the highlight of the competition. There are a variety of different events at the Stawell carnival, and everyone wants one of those prestigious Stawell sashes. Professional athletics is where athletes are handicapped in distance to run a race and to a specific time, in theory everyone should cross the line together making it close race and normally the person who beats their handicap as in running faster than expected is the winner. This allows all athletes a fair chance and an even race.

Leading into Stawell this year I was running well, making many finals but unlucky not to win. When the marks came out for Stawell, I was unlucky with most of my marks which were very tight due to my recent good running and form. I competed on Saturday in the 70m heat where I came second but did not qualify to the semis. I ran in my heat of the 120m gift, where I ran 2nd to the eventual runner up in the gift, but ran a good time to qualify me to the semi finals. I also ran in the 400m backmarker heats. I was the furthest back runner in the field, off 5m. I knew I was too far back to win, but wanted a hard run due to my lead up to nationals in Sydney. I finished mid field but was happy with my time of 48.1 running on a soft grass track going around people.

The Sunday is a quieter day where I only had the 200m heats on in the afternoon, My handicap off 10m saw me win my heat with a comfortable run and the 3rd fastest time. Monday is the main day of the carnival with all the finals being held. I had the 200m semi final first up in the day, which I was lucky to just win. My time was slow compared to the others but I made it through to the final. I now only had about 1 hour before I had to run my semi final of the 120m gift, I had a short massage then got the spikes back on to run down the track again. I was in the 6th semi final which was won by the eventual winner of the race, with myself finishing 4th in a time of 12.23 off my 7.75m handicap. This run gave me a lot of confidence going into the 200m final, which was only like 30 minutes after my gift semi final. No time for a rub, just a few run throughs and keep the body warm. I was off a 10m handicap in the 200m final which put me as the back marker in the race and in the inside lane, I was giving the front marker a start of 20m in front of me. The 200m at Stawell is a little different as well as being on grass it is mainly bend with only a 70m straight to finish on. In the final I ran a strong bend and kicked into the straight hard. I was in the lead coming into the finish but on the line the runner in blue caught me and dipped hard at the finish line.

There was a short wait but I ended up winning by 0.006s! I was so happy and relieved that all the hard work and training we had been doing had paid off, and also winning the 200m as there are very few raced through out the season. I was now the owner of a Stawell sash. . For many that is the end of the season, but for myself this was a great lead up to going to the National Championships in a week and a half's time. Over the 3 days I competed in 7 races and ran some great times and came home with a win. Now onto Nationals in the Men's 400m where I am hoping to lower my PB of 47.83s and see how fast I can go!

MATT HARGREAVES

Recent races

On the weekend of 16th and 17th March 8 of us from Western Athletics made the journey to Burwood Athletics Track to compete in the 2013 Victorian Track and Field Masters Championships. The weather was not kind to us at all for the entire weekend we ran, jumped and threw in strong winds and heavy rain, despite this some of us still managed to produce PBs. The support and encouragement for each other whilst we were competing was nothing but the usual Western Athletics style. For all of us it was a great way to complete the track and field season and everyone said that we would all be back next year to do it over again.

Despite the small representation of athletes we still managed to bring home 24 medals over the 2 days:

Allan Cook 3 Gold Adam Knowles 1 Silver Carolyn Huell 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze Sue Rebesco 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze Stan Peska 2 Gold, 3 Silver John White 1 Silver Wayne Bingham 3 Silver Tony Bradford 1 Gold, 3 Silver

2013 Australian Masters Track and Field Championships.

During the Easter long weekend seven mastersRecent athletes from races Wyndham competed at the 2013 Australian Masters Athletics Championships in . We were blessed with beautiful autumn weather that set the stage for some great performances.

Tony Bradford M70 was the busiest of the group competing in 8 individual events, a Pentathlon and Relay – a total of 14 events! Tony had solid performances across all events: 60m 6th, 100m 6th, 200m 6th, 400m 4th, Discus 6th, Javelin 6th, High Jump 6th and Shot Put 8th. But his standout performance was the Pentathlon (200m, 1500m, Long Jump, Javelin and Discus) on the last day of the championships. Thirteen M70 athletes competed in this event and Tony went home with the Bronze medal.

Wayne Bingham M55 competed in 5 events. On the Friday Bing won Bronze in the 60m and Silver in the 100m. A strong performance in the Long Jump saw him finishing 4th. On Saturday he qualified 7th in the 200m heats and finished 8th in the final. On Sunday Bing continued a successful weekend by taking out Gold in Triple Jump.

Stan Peska M55 travelled to Canberra for one event. He made sure it was a memorable trip as he went home with Gold! He smashed the competition with his winning throw of 12.53m, more than a meter further than his closest competitor.

In the M50 Middle Distance races Allan Cook dominated. Racing on each day of the championships, Cookie took home Gold in the 800m, 1500m and 400m. Each win was by quite a big margin, setting him apart from the rest of the field.

In the M45 Julius Weitsz and John White battled it out. John finished 8th in the 100m breaking the 13 second barrier for the first time. On the Saturday John finished 6th in the 200m final and 9th in the 400m heats (more PB times). Sunday saw him take home Bronze in the 400m Hurdles. Julius finished 10th in both the 100m and 400m in times that were close to his PB. Alida Weitsz W40 was the only female in the group. On Friday she took Bronze in a PB time in the 60m and then 4th in the 100m. On Saturday she was rewarded with Gold in the 80m Hurdles after improving her PB by 1.78 seconds. Another PB in the 200m saw her finishing 4th.

The medal tally didn’t stop with individual performances. On Sunday Tony Bradford and John White went home with Silver in the 4x100m Relay (240+ category). And on Monday Allan Cook added another Gold medal to his stash with a win in the 4x400m Relay (M180+ category). The team smashed their competition in a strong win, finishing 20 seconds ahead of Western Australia in second place.

Most went home with medals but it is the memories of this weekend that will linger – the friendships formed, the sportsmanship, the laughter. These are the true rewards.

Results: Australian Junior T&FRecent Championships: races

Day One: U20 110m hurdles heats - Anthony Bermejo - DNF U20 5000m - Jack Rayner, GOLD - 14:29.34 U18 800m heats - Nathan Pearce, 1:58.66 3rd in heat, Q U18 long jump - Christopher Mitrevski, 5th - 6.58 U18 2000m steeplechase - Claire Hodgart, 6th - 7:46.35 U17 2000m steeplechase - Conor Lynch, 11th - 7:07.32 U17 800m - Jeremy Kirkham - DQ IAAF 163.3 Day two: U18 Hammer – Matthew Chamley, 5th – 35.65 U20 Long Jump – Paul Parker, BRONZE – 6.90 U18 Shot Put – Matthew Chamley, 14th 12.93 U18 3000m – Claire Hodgart, 7th (6th Australian) 10:51.57 U18 3000m – John Camilleri, 11th 9:21.57 Day three: U20 800m heats – Rochelle Kennedy, 2nd – 2:15.33 (Q) U18 Long Jump – Dana Delaney, 15th – 4.77m U18 800m – Nathan Pearce, 8th – 1:58.75 U16 400m heats – Billie Arch, 1st – 59.86 (Q) Day four: U20 800m – Rochelle Kennedy, BRONZE – 2:10.32 U16 Hammer – Connor Lachlan Macaulay, 4th – 44.18m U16 Discus – Teagan Newman, BRONZE – 38.77 U15 400m – Billie Arch, GOLD – 58.17 U15 2000m Steeplechase – Christiaan Weitsz, 10th – 7:08.08 U14 Pole Vault – Daniel Masini, 7th – 1.80m Day five: U16 Hammer – Teagan Newman, BRONZE – 41.04m U15 200m heats – Billie Arch, 1st – 26.87 (Q) U15 200m - Billie Arch, BRONZE - 26.41 Day six: U14 Hammer – Daniel Masini, 7th – 11.99m U15 Pole Vault - Nicholas Masini, 5th - 2.40m

Well done to all of the Western Aths athletes, coaches, parents & supporters!

. TRAINING TIP Relax to the max "When running, let your jaw hang loose, don't bunch up your shoulders close to your ears, and occasionally shake out your hands and arms to stay relaxed." -Dave Martin, Ph.D., exercise physiologist WeeramaRecent races On the 24th March, Western Athletics had a stand at the local Weerama festival. Adrian Jeffkins and Brenda Cashin, along with Jordan Jeffkins, set it up at 8 am Sunday morning and found that there was a lot of space we could utilise. Adrian had brought starting blocks and we set up a small straight. Many thanks to Shani Cashin, who organised for timing watches, bean bags and hula hoops from the Werribee Gymnastics Club so that were able to have a small shot put throw with the bean bags and time races

. We were able to watch the parade and afterwards handed out pamphlets promoting Western Athletics and the benefits of running. We spoke to people about the social benefits of joining the club. Quite a few people had never heard of us and showed interest in finding out more information. We also gave out information on Werribee Little Athletics as VLAC had their State Championships on the same day. Next year we hope to be able to walk in the parade, which would enable us to pass out more information to the community

. We would like to thank Peter Cashin, Liam Cashin, Brenda Cashin, Adrian Jeffkins, Jordan Jenkins, Janice Hodgart, Luke Hodgart, Claire Hodgart and Mechelle Lane for helping on the day by running the races for children and handing out pamphlets. Lastly, thanks to Sam Mahoney who organised for us to get the space. It was a great way to promote ourselves within the local community.

Stuart Macaulay 1st Indi Cooper 12th Kyle Lambly 3th April Birthdays Nicole Svoboda 15th Charlotte Gemmell 7th Anne Cross 16th Aaron Joyce 7th Alyssa Tobin 17th Melinda Messig 7th Claire Hodgart 22nd Lachlan Rich 9th Amanda Missale 27th Matthew Chamley 9th Belinda Keogh 27th Matthew Callard 10th Adam Clark 28th Nicholas Masini 11th

BUNNINGS BBQ The club will be holding a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle at the Hoppers Crossing Store on Sunday 14th April. Brenda has the working timetable. We are still after some volunteers to cut onions the day before. If you cannot commit to working on the day perhaps you can come down anyway and buy a sausage!!! For further enquiries about how you can help contact Janice 0400 68 0070 Recent races Winter Season As the summer season has come to an end the winter season begins. Cross country is a challenging yet extremely rewarding experience, with team and individual races. As winter approaches the tracks get wet and slippery, the terrain is like no other. There are races with a more scenic route to others with trees, trees and more trees. You get to run with some of the elite runners and also have great competition with athletes of your own age or ability. With regular competition every two to three weeks you have time for recovery and improvement over the winter season. The first race for the season begins on SATURDAY 27th April 2013 at Jells Park. With the first race being a team event it is a great way to see who you are running against and your competition. The winter season consists of road races and cross country races. The winter season is a great way to keep your fitness up and have a race every now and then. You will need to register before hand to compete. Please check out our webpage with registration forms or see Phil Dunstone Winter Team Manager. Winter Registration If you need to register you can download form from our website and please give your payment and form to Kylie Smith If paying by EFT please e- mail the remittance and registration form to [email protected]. http://www.westernathletics.com.au/images/stories/files/Regi strationForms/2013-14_membership_forms_av-wes.pdf Sponsorship

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