The Easter Bunny Handicaps 2013 - the mile, the 5K and the 6.7K

Junior Striders have a' handicap race week' three times per year. This gives us a chance to reward those who have improved the most. We have just had our Easter Bunny handicaps with nice trophies,  lots of Easter eggs and bunnies and an Easter Show ticket as prizes. At the moment we only have pictures from the 1 mile, which was won by Lachlan Cooper in 4:58 - an improvement of 16 seconds. Nine runners improved, which is pretty good going. New Striders Ciara won best dressed with an amazing Easter creation - a sort of bunny head / chic nest - see below.

 

Josh Phillips won the 5K handicap in 17:30, an improvement of 2:02! David Gardiner was fastest boy with 16:45 and also improved. Hannah Gibson fastest girl with 18:08. Also very impressive were the times some of our younger Striders (some under 12s still) ran - well under 19 mins. Our two new under 12 girls ran in under 24 minutes too! Sadly we have no photos of this race

 

The Nepean River 6.7K handicap was run on Thursday 4th April in very wet conditions. It was won by Gabe Corke, our u18s 400m runner, who improved by 33 seconds. Daniel Francken, holder of the course record, ran  22 mins. 28 seconds. Alex Jagger, son of the organizer, Janet, came straight from school with no time for a warm up and cruised round in 35:08. Well done all.

 

Lachlan Cooper, our mile handicap winner, with his trophy and bunny



Ciara Sinclair, best dressed winner, with Tessa, Sally and Amy



Our gorgeous trophy amidst just some of the eggs which were won by our nippy Striders.

Gabe Corke wins the much coveted trophy for 1st place in the Nepean River 6.7K handicap 2013

The rainy scene as runners prepared for a warm up before the Nepean River handicap.

Our 13 juniors at the Australian Athletics Championships 2013

 

Junior National Athletics Champs are now all done and dusted, and we have 9 Nationals medals to our name: Hannah Gibson silver in the u18 2K steeplechase (6:53.48) and bronze in the 3K (10:00.74), Ben Carter silver in the u14 boys 90m hurdles (13:87), Edita Grinbergs won silver in the u14 girls 800m (2:20.39), Luke Gorman won silver in the u16 boys 2K steeplechase (6:14.18), Josh Phillips won bronze in the u15 3K (9:28.99) and in the 2K steeplechase (6:39.47), Bethany Halmy won GOLD in the u20 girls 400m relay and Ben Carter won bronze in the u14 boys 100m relay.

It's been very exciting outside the medlas too: Tessa, 13, made the final of the u17 400m hurdles (71:35), Bethany made the 400m u20 girls final (58:41) and ran well in her 800m heat, Gabe Corke ran 51:66 in the u18 boys 400m, Daniel Francken (ill) came 9th in the u16 boys 3K with 9:08:80 and 5th in the 1500m (4:10), Adam Halmy (u17) and Joe Burgess (u18) came mid div. in their steeplechase races (6:48.25 & 6:37.58), and ran close to their PBs in the 3K (9:32.78) and 800m heat  (2:00.16) respectively. Amelia Gorman ran 7:47 in the 2K u18 girls steelplechase - in the middle of the field - with a massive PB, after a break through at last minute steeplechase training the Sunday before Nationals. Luke Gorman also came 5th in the u16 boys 1500m with a time of 4:13.60. Edita, aged 11 (!!!) made the u14 girls 400m final with 61:05 and came 4th. Lachlan Cooper qualified for the u15 boys 800m final with 2:06.1. Ben Carter was 5th in the u14 boys triple jump and long jump.

Adam Halmy leading the pack on the water jump in the u17 boys 2K steeplechase

 

11 year old Edita Grinbergs with her silver medal from the u14 girls 800m, which she ran in 2:20.39. Note what she is carrying - the Sydney Striders special issue back pack which we gave all our Nationals athletes - isn't it lovely?




Ben Carter is presented his silver medal in the under 14 boys hurdles by none other than Sally Pearson :)





Amelia Gorman and Hannah Gibson bonding before their 2K steeplechase.





Hannah on the podium for silver in the 2K steeplechase

Hannah Gibson leading the u18 girls 3K at 200m into the race.



Hannah still in the lead in the 3K at this point in the race. 



Hannah wins bronze in the u18 girls 3K with a PB of 10:00.74

Josh Phillips wins bronze in the u15 bopys 3K with 9:28.29

Josh Phillips on the podium again, this time for his 3rd place in the u15 boys 2K steeplechase, run in 6:39.47

Bethany Halmy on the no. 1 podium, far right, for the 400m u20 girls relay

Bethany at the start of the GOLD medal winning 400m relay u20 girls.

 

 



Daniel Francken, the juniors' overall fastest runner, in the 1500m. He's next to the guy taking a tumble!



 

  Under 16 boys 1500m - look at the running styles!





Tessa Constantine, 13, friendly as ever, in the longer NSW shorts, chats to the under 17 girls in her 400m hurdles race. She made the final and came 6th with a time of 72:14 (slower than her heat time of 71:35



Tessa again - can't anyone photograph her from the front, or even the side!!!???



Juniors Striders are a force to be reckoned with at 10K races

Striders have 8 certified 10K races Feb - Nov., which are open to those who turn 15 this year, but only if they are members of Sydney Striders. See the Sydney Striders website for more detail.

Over the first weekend in March Hannah Gibson and Paul Loader (both state under 18 state steeplechase champions) decided to add to their birthday celebrations by running the Striders 10K at Noth Head. David Gardiner, winner of the 14-15 age group last year, was there to defend his title. Hannah won the ladies race entirely in a time of 38:26. David was 17th overall and first 16-17 year old boy in a time of 36:26. Paul just caught Hannah, with a time of 38:22.

Hannah Gibson (17), Paul Loader (16) and David Gardiner (16) at the March 2nd Striders 10K at North Head 

At the state 10K on the track at Homebush, Daniel Francken, aged 15, won the B race in a time of 33:59!!! We have no photo of this event at the moment. His time was exactly the same as the time the Striders 10K was won in - what a coincidence.