June 2019- It was a cold month but Girraween’s athletes warmed it up with great performances!

June 2019, as we are all aware saw the start of winter with a vengeance and there was many a very cold morning and miserable afternoon for Girraween athletes to contend with. Nevertheless, there were a number of fine performances from Girraween’s athlete’s right across the board.

One of the major highlights was the performance of Lauren Tisdale in winning a bronze medal representing in the Women’s U18 Pole Vault in the Oceania Athletics Championships held in Townsville, North Queensland towards the end of June. Given that the summer season of athletics proper had concluded at the beginning of April, this was a mighty effort on Lauren’s part to stay focused and continue her training for almost a further three months. This paid off, with a well-deserved bronze medal coming Lauren’s way, with a leap not far off her personal best. Given that the conditions were incredibly windy on the day of her competition, it was very fine effort and all at Girraween Athletics Club send our congratulations to Lauren on her very fine achievement.

This year, Girraween only had one representative at the ANSW Cross-Country Championships held near Nowra in June, and that individual was Steve Mifsud. It was a very gutsy effort by Steve to travel to Nowra to compete, given the various health issues he has, as initially it appeared that he would not be able to participate. Nevertheless, he found a way to do so, and while he may have ignored doctor’s orders we have to congratulate him on a very fine run all things considered. Hopefully, when this event comes around next year, he will have a few teammates to keep him company.

We saw parkrun continue through June and there were a number of very fine achievements. Both Adam Etherington and Steve Oldridge, clocked up three new pb’s, an almighty effort, given that their new pb’s were in the realms of the low twenty minutes mark in cold conditions and challenging courses. Both gentlemen have been running well for months, and these faster times are a great testament to their endeavour. Interestingly, Steve also managed to slot in a parkrun whilst in for work and he maintained his consistency there as well. Tony Coles, Cristina Sotomayor, Alison Shaw and Brad Milosevic also obtained a new pb in June with some very fine runs. Brad’s rare appearance at parkrun was welcomed by one and all, and his run at Rooty Hill at the end of June was top-class. Geoff Sheargold also performed most consistently across at Parramatta parkrun through June, with a number of run’s in the low seventeen minute territory, no easy task on the Parramatta course. We also congratulate Girraween legend, Keith Mayhew, for reaching his 100th parkrun early in June. Keith is often spotted, at either Parramatta or Rooty Hill parkrun, and it’s wonderful to see him out on the course. We welcomed back Lynette Clark to parkrun In June and it was wonderful to see her out and about once again after her major health issues that she has confronted in recent months. It’s a great tribute to her determination and courage to see her back at parkrun and we all wish her well as she continues along the road to better health. Lynette is an inspiration to all her friends at Girraween.

A small number of Girraween athletes participated in the Western Sydney Marathon events at the Penrith Regatta Centre early June and there were some standout performances by Geoff Sheargold in the half-marathon and Tony Coles in the 10km event. Given that both gentlemen have had a heavy workload over recent months in terms of events they have run in it, it’s a testament to their overall fitness and endeavour that they are both continuing to run so well and we wish them all the best in their events over the remainder of the winter season.

While we traditionally think of the winter season as been primarily about cross-country and road events, there still were two track and field winter events held in June where Girraween athletes took part in. First of all in a meet at The Crest at Bankstown, Neelesh Srestha, Avilash Tharmanesan, Claudio Corvalan, Cristobel Corvalan and Vithussa Srisivaeaswaran all competed well in their respective events and it was wonderful to see them out competing in a series of events that are not held regularly over winter. Later in the month, Rob Giesler also competed in a number of events held at another winter meet that was held at Campbelltown, and he showed he has not lost any of his form from the last summer season with a series of fine runs.

It would be remiss of GAP not to forget to mention the efforts of Girraween athletes who took part in the various events at the Western Sydney Parklands Runs held at in the Western Sydney Parklands around Lizard Log within these parklands at Abbotsbury in late June. Both Wayne Thurlow and Rod Zammit did a fine job in the 19km event, whilst Tony Coles won his category in the 11km event with another superb run and Mischelle Otte and David Otte both had solid runs in this same event. Kim Coles and Hayley Zammit also had fine runs in the 4km version and all runners were pleased with their efforts on what was a challenging series of courses laid out in the parklands.

June had been another remarkable month in terms of performances by all Girraween athletes and friends as can be seen by the results. We wish all our athletes all the best in another series of events in July that they will be competing in. Results follow: 1-6-19 Rooty Hill parkrun 5km 24th David Otte 24:37 90th Keith Mayhew 34:51 (100th pr) 1-6-19 Rouse Hill parkrun 5km 6th Adam Etherington 22:02 (new pb) 1-6-19 The Ponds parkrun 5km 153rd Karen Clark 30:06

1-6-19 Parramatta parkrun 5km 53rd Stephen Parkins 24:12 128th Terry Rose 28:33 167th Andrew Free 31:27 184th Michael Christie 33:47 1-6-19 Curl Curl parkrun 5km 32nd Lisa Grant 21:28 1-6-19 Cowpasture Reserve, Camden parkrun 5km 21st Steve Oldridge 22:21 (new pb) 1-6-19 Western Sydney Marathon- Penrith Regatta Centre Half Marathon 7th Geoff Sheargold 1:20:38 242nd Graham Sheargold 2:07:47 250th Alison Shaw 2:08:35 327th Mischelle Otte 2:26:05 10km 36th Tony Coles 41:02 (3rd 50-59 cat) 83rd Shane Clubb 47:27 163rd Kim Coles 55:26 5km 338th Richard Frost 1:05:06 (walker) 8-6-19 Parramatta parkrun 5km 2nd Geoff Sheargold 17:23 47th Steve Clark 22:22 105th Cristina Sotomayor 26:15 108th Alison Shaw 26:19 183rd Terry Rose 31:54 198th Keith Mayhew 33:39 207th Michael Christie 34:13 257th Rosemary Zammit 47:42 258th Rod Zammit 47:44 8-6-19 Rouse Hill parkrun 5km 10th Adam Etherington 21:38(new pb) 8-6-19 The Ponds parkrun 5km 439th Karen Clark 1:02:40 (walker) 8-6-19 Willoughby parkrun 5km 33rd Lisa Grant 21:41 8-6-19 Rooty Hill parkrun 5km 13th David Otte 23:33 58th Wayne Thurlow 28:54 8-6-19 North Sydney parkrun 5km 53rd Michael Free 25:10 8-6-19 Bois de Boulogne parkrun 5km, , France Steve Oldridge 24:39 (nb: no places available in results) 9-6-19 Sri Chinmoy Iron Cove Male 60-69 7km 3rd Terry Rose 43:17 9-6-19 Bankstown Winter Track & Field & Winter Distance, The Crest, Bankstown Men’s Triple Jump 2nd Neelesh Srestha 10.58m Men’s Discus Throw Open 6th Avilash Tharmanesan 27.83m Men’s Javelin Throw Open 2nd Claudio Corvalan 30.21m 4th Cristobel Corvalan 25.58m Women’s 100m Open 13th Vithussa Srisivaeaswaran 13.78 Men’s 100m Open 12th Neelesh Srestha 12.71 15th Avilash Tharmanesan 13.63 16th Claudio Corvalan 13.67 21st Cristobel Corvalan 16.48 Women’s 300m Open 13th Vithussa Srisivaeaswaran 45.59 15-6-19 Rooty Hill parkrun 5km 3rd Tony Coles 19:26 (new pb) 5th Nicholas Hanna 19:36 26th Greg Sargeant 25:32 32nd Wayne Thurlow 26:13 39th Mischelle Otte 26:49 48th Rod Zammit 27:08 116th Keith Mayhew 36:51 15-6-19 Rouse Hill parkrun 5km 3rd Adam Etherington 21:46 15-6-19 The Ponds parkrun 5km 1st Geoff Sheargold 18:05 94th Cristina Sotomayor 25:38 (new pb) 121st Claudio Corvalan 27:07

15-6-19 Parramatta parkrun 5km 102nd Alison Shaw 26:38 141st Andrew Free 29:27 166th Terry Rose 32:14 177th Michael Christie 33:15 226th Lynette Clark 45:15(walker) 227th Amelia Clark 45:16(walker) 236th Shane Clubb 47:04 (walker) 15-6-19 Cowpasture Reserve, Camden parkrun 5km 14th Steve Oldridge 22:36 15-6-19 Centennial Park parkrun 5km 72nd Michael Free 24:35 15-6-19 Curl Curl parkrun 5km 40th Lisa Grant 21:19 15-6-19 Eden Park project (in Cornwell, UK) parkrun 5km 81st Carly Eager 26:31 15-6-19 Dolls Point parkrun 59th Stephen Parkins 24:21 15-6-19 Rouse Hill parkrun 5km 11th Adam Etherington 22:08 22-6-19 Curl Curl parkrun 5km 40th Lisa Grant 21:38 22-6-19 Parramatta parkrun 5km 3rd Geoff Sheargold 17:27 23rd Shane Clubb 21:42 51st Stephen Parkins 24:13 94th Andrew Free 26:49 120th Terry Rose 29:14 155th Michael Christie 31:59 207th Lynette Clark 41:06 22-6-19 Picton parkrun 5km 6th Steve Oldridge 22:25 (new pb) 22-6-19 Rooty Hill parkrun 5km 3rd Nicholas Hanna 19:18 33rd Carol Adams 26:30 22-6-19 The Ponds parkrun 5km 47th Michael Grogan 24:00 79th Steve Clark 26:39 162nd Karen Clark 32:03 22-6-19 North Sydney parkrun 5km 41st Michael Free 25:11 22-6-19 Western Sydney Parklands Trail Run 19km 25th Rod Zammit 1:53:50.7 26th Wayne Thurlow 1:53:51.7 (3rd 50-50 cat) 11km 5th Tony Coles 51:11.3 (1st 50-59 cat) 103rd Mischelle Otte 1:18:41.4 127th David Otte 1:23:36.4 4km 4th Kim Coles 29:28.0 41st Hayley Zammit 41:49.8 22-6-19 Waratah Cross Country Challenge incorporating NSW Cross Country Championships Tapitallee via Nowra Men’s 8km CC U20 & 50-69 43rd Stephen Mifsud 42:47 23-6-19 Campbelltown Winter Track and Field Men’s 60m Open 24th Rob Giesler 9.13 Men’s 200m Open 22nd Rob Gielser 29.54 Men’s 300M Open 16th Rob Giesler 49.92 25-6-19 – 28-6-19 Oceania Athletics Championships Townsville 28-6-19 Women’s Pole Vault U18 3rd Lauren Tisdale 2.90m 29-6-19 Rouse Hill parkrun 5km 9th Adam Etherington 21:32 (new pb) 29-6-19 North Sydney parkrun 5km 36th Michael Free 24:58 29-6-19 Cowpasture Reserve, Camden parkrun 5km 27th Steve Oldridge 22:19 (new pb) 29-6-19 The Ponds parkrun 5km 100th Cristina Sotomayor 25:50 175th Karen Clark 30:26

29-6-19 Rooty Hill parkrun 5km 1st Brad Milosevic 15:26 (new pb) 6th Nicholas Hanna 19:30 48th Alison Shaw 26:20 (new pb) 50th Carol Adams 26:16 56th Mischelle Otte 26:42 63rd Wayne Thurlow 27:20 70th Rod Zammit 27:51 29-6-19 Parramatta parkrun 5km 3rd Geoff Sheargold 17:23 36th Shane Clubb 21:47 117th Terry Rose 28:10 182nd Michael Christie 33:26 197th Keith Mayhew 34:51 220th Lynette Clark 42:48 (walker) 29-6-19 Phillip Island (Vic) parkrun 5km 10th Andrew Free 29:19

Michael Christie (GAP)