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.

Valentines Day training with Junior Striders

At Sydney Striders Juniors we like an occasion. Valentine's Day happened to fall on a Thursday this year, when a lot of our regulars were tired from state youth champs or resting up for the Little As regionals, so we treated ourselves to a 'special' session. Most wore pink and training was arranged in boy / girl teams - and no one went home without some choccy hearts or love bugs.

 

 

 

 

Stretching our hamstrings

It is a pity you can't see Corey's socks (left) as they have pink hearts all over them. Kieren had pink shoes laces and Samuel (right) is all over pink. Corey won best dressed.

NSW Junior athletics championships Feb. 2013

21 Sydney Striders Juniors entered the NSW junior youth championships 8-10 Feb. 2013. The youngest age group is under 14s, but some as young as 11 ran just for the experience, and two of those qualified for Nationals in Perth in March despite competing against older athletes! 15 of our juniors qualified for Nationals and many were state champions, were in the top 3 or ran PBs. We don't have photos of everyone, but there are enough here to give you the idea.

 

The under 18 boys steeplechase. David Gardiner 3rd, Adam Halmy 4th and Paul Loader State champion!  Joe Burgess also qualified for Nationals in this event.Luke Gorman won the under 15 boys steeplechase and Josh Phillips also qualified for Nationals in the event. Hannah Gibson was state champion in the under 18 girls steeplechase, and Amelia Gorman qualified for Nationals. So... 8 steeplechasers from Junior Striders qualified for Nationals and 3 are state champions!

 



Adam and David at the water jump.



Paul Loader aged 15 state champion in the under 18 boys
 steeplechase. David Gardiner, 16, 3rd.

 

Edita Grinbergs wins the under 14 girls 800m,

competing against girls a year older than herself.



Ben Carter won 2 golds a silver and a bronze in the under 14 boys events.
He has qualified for Nationals in triple jump, 90m hurdles, the 400m and long jump.

13 year olds Lachlan Cooper and Josh Phillips battle it out in the 3K. Josh qualified for Nationals in the 3K and the 2K steeplechase, with Lachlan qualifying in the 800m and 1500m.



Josh Phillips second in the 3K to a boy a year older than him.

Bethany Halmy second in the under 18 girls 400m



Gus Wong in the under 18 boys 800m.

Liam Gorman in front and Tom Davies (11) leading the second pack in the under 14 boys 1500m.

 

Look at that running style! Tessa Constantine, aged 13, qualified for Nationals in the under 18 girls 400m hurdles!!!!

Hannah Gibson wins the under 18 girls steeplechase, making it look effortless as usual.

Striders try different things in the summer holidays

Locky and Daniel Cooper are both keen Striders Juniors like Gus Wong, so when, by chance, we were on holiday in Oahu at the same time, we did a bit of training - Striders style. We did not drop standards! We did the full warm up, then ten times 1 minute with a 1 minute jog in between, then a sprint relay and strength exercises at the seafront. Home from home. We met at the iconic 'Stupid Factory' before breakfast.

Daniel and Lachlan Cooper, cousin Cooper, Caroline and Gus at Waikiki Beach 10/01/2013

David Gardiner, Hannah Gibson and Caroline Yarnell had fun at the second Manly Dam 10.2K trail run. The next one is on Feb. 10th. Prizes are great - and most are spot prizes - so worth turning up. It's a lovely setting and you get a free breakfast thrown in. Hannah and Caroline were both second in their age group, and David was 4th - but as a lot of the top place runners were 18 or under (eg. 2nd), this is more impressive than it seems!

Hannah Gibson, David Gardiner and Carolline Yarnell at the Mountainsports Manly Dam trail run.

Christmas Handicaps 2012

Striders Juniors like to reward those that improve, so we have handicap races three times a year: the Easter Bunny races, the winter races and the Christmas races. We do a mile race on the track, a 5K race from Shelly Beach and a 6.7K race at the Nepean River. All three of our Christmas handicaps this year had quite low attendance, as we held them quite close to Christmas itself, so we will hold them earlier next year. Still ...... there were more prizes for everyone that was there! I only have photos from the mile at the moment, which was held on Xmas Eve!

The Nepean River handicap was won by Daniel Francken, who ran the 6.7K in a time of 22:37 and improved by 2 mins. and 36 seconds. The 5K handicap was won by Josh Phillips in 19:32 with an improvement of 12 seconds. The 1 mile handicap was won by 10 year old Samuel Greenland in a time of 6:12 seconds - an improvement of 4 seconds. Tessa Constantine won best dressed Christmas Strider again (see below)!! The mile was held at Passmore Reserve this time, as the track was shut on Xmas Eve.

Samuel wins, ahead of his dad Simon. Next we see Tessa and then Josh Phillips. Greg and Wally are timing.

Tessa unchallenged as best dressed. She didn't run in the booties.

Gus at his first Striders session for quite a while.

Samuel with his spolis. He also won the winter mile handicap!

Tessa the Elf sprinting home, followed by Josh and Caroline (me)



There's Caroline finishing, ahead of Gus Wong - both of us have been out of action and certainly didn't improve.

Daniel and Hannah both come 3rd at Schools Nationals in Tasmania

Here are some great pictures of Daniel Francken and Hannah Gibson. Daniel Francken, aged 15,  was 3rd in the under 16 boys 3K with a time of 8:55. We are very proud of him! Hannah, aged 16, was 3rd in the 17-18 girls 2K steeplechase with a time of 6:53, and 6th in the 3K with 10:17 - and she makes it al look so effortless.

Daniel is 3rd from left. What a nice setting for a running track.

What style! Look at that stride length! Is that Hannah watching to the left, or a look alike?

Daniel with the group.

Hannah looking very happy with her steeplechase medal.

Daniel on the right. This is what Nationals medals look like.