Australian Junior Athletics Championships 2014

There were mixed fortunes for the 11 Junior Striders who made it to their start lines at the Australian Junior Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park.  Apart from this being held at the end of a very long season, efforts were hampered by injuries and illness picked up in the run up to these Championships. However, we should remember the effort everyone put in to make it here so here’s a big well done  to all Junior Striders. Having said that we had 2 National champions: Edita Grinbergs in the 400m and Lachlan Cooper in the 1500m. Edita also won silver in the 800m and Bethany Halmy won a bronze in the 400m relay - quite a haul. See the end of this post for a close up of what Nationals medals look like.

In the 400m, Edita Grinbergs dominated the field and won our second ever gold medal in these Championships in a new junior club record of 57.57. There were solid runs in qualifying from Bethany Halmy in the under 20 girls in 58.30  (she has had some time off for her HSC) and Tessa Constantine in the under 16 girls in 59.18.

Edita Grinbergs with her gold medal

Bethany Halmy quick off the blocks

Edita Grinbergs on the podium with her 400m gold medal

 

Tessa Constantine, 15, continued her success in the 400m hurdles with a 4^th place in the final of the under 17 event in a time of 65.21. She has one more year in this age group. Her dad took some excellent pictures which really capture the scene. It is very professional and serious at Nationals.



Before the race everyone's spike length is checked

Final check before they go out into the stadium



Every athlete gets to leave their stuff in their own personal basket.

Your name appears on the board for all to see - if only briefly

Post race

Post race massage for our athletes

 

Having won the 400m, Edita Grinbergs went on to claim a silver medal in the under 14 girls 800m in a time of 2.13.24 which is also a junior club record. Bethany Halmy also ran in the 800m. Sophie Gocher came 8^th in her heat of 2.26.25.

Sophie Gocher and Edita Grinbergs

Edita Grinbergs and fellow 800m medalists

Edita running her 2:13

 

Lachlan Cooper claimed gold in a tactical and physical under 16 boys 1500m final. Lachlan made his move on the last lap which took 60 seconds and his winning time was 4.14.28

Daniel Francken had a solid weekend of racing in the under 18 boys with a 9.12.44 3000m and a 4.10.02 in the final of the 1500m.

There was quite a crowd of juniors out to watch the steeplechases, as they were run just before and within the Sydney Track Classic event.

 

Here we have Amelia Gorman, Jack Mills, Harlan Mulhrin, Lachlan Cooper, Daniel Cooper, Tessa Constantine and Josh Phillips (Caroline Yarnell peeping through at the back).

 

In the Steeplechases, Adam Halmy and Paul Loader were 10^th and 12^th in the under 18 boys 2k event. Their times were 6.42.86 and 6.54.01 while Liam Gorman, nursing an injured foot came 8^th in 7.28.53. Adam was happy with his new water jump technique (looks great!), he did manage to almost clear the water.

 





 



Adam Halmy (step 1 in his water jump) and Paul Loader



Adam Halmy step 2 in his water jump - with Paul Loader



Adam Halmy step 3 in his water jump

 

 Amelia Gorman in her first year in the 3k Steeplechase came 12^th in the under 20 girls’ event in a time of 12.49.46. Finally David Gardiner, having recovered from illness earlier in the week had a baptism of fire when his race was combined with the Open Men’s 3k Steeplechase in the Sydney Track Classic after the huge thunderstorm we all witnessed. He went on to finish in a new PB of 10.25.29.

 

Bethany Halmy had an especially big carnival, being asked to represent the athletes at the cutting of the cake to celebrate the 20th anniversary of SOPAC opening and winning a bronze medal in the 400m relay. She only found out on the day that she would be in the 400m relay and was very excited. Even more excited to come away with a Nationals medal.

Bethany Halmy second from right

Bethany Halmy - guess which one?

The 400m bronze medal winning team

 

Edita's medals front and back

 

NSW Junior Athletics Championships

Well done to everyone who competed in our most successful NSW Junior Athletics Championships ever, 7th - 9th February, with 5 golds, 3 silvers and 3 bronze medals. There were also many PBs set and of course National Qualifications. If anyone has more pictures, send them in and we'll put them up.

Day 1

National All Schools Champions Josh Phillips coming back from injury opened our account with a bronze in the Under 16 Boys 3000m in 9.28.62, less than 2 seconds ahead of team mate Lachlan Cooper. Further back, there were PBs for Jack Mills, 9.41.23 and Fraser McKinley 10.19.45.  

Daniel Fracken (pictured above) won our first gold in the Under 18 Boys 3000m in 9.13.75.

Adam Halmy was 12^th in 9.57.12.  In the Under 20 Boys 5000, David Gardiner was 6^th in 16.37.79.  

Day 2

Edita Grinbergs claimed our second gold by winning the Under 14 girls 800m in 2.17.01. 

Sophie Gocher was 5^th in 2.25.87.

Daniel Francken (above) added a silver to his gold from day 1 in the Under 18 Boys 1500 in a time of 4.07.09

Lachlan Cooper won bronze in a tightly finished Under 16 Boys 800m in 2.02.21. Liam Gorman ran 2.15.52 in his heat. 

In the Under 20 Boys 3k Steeplechase David Gardiner won silver in 10.36.36 

with Gus Wong in 4^th.

In the 2K steeplechase Paul Loader and Adam Halmy won silver and bronze in 6.41.26 and 6.48.07

Beth Murray, our only field event athlete in these Championships was 22^nd in the Under 16 Girls Long Jump in 4.13m. In the Under 20 Girls 400m, Bethany Halmy came 5^th in a PB of 58.00 while in the Under 14 Girls 200m, Sophie Wickham ran 27.95 in her heat.

Day 3

Edita Grinbergs, arguably the Strider of these Championships won her second gold with her first place in the Under 14 Girls 400m in 59.15. Lachlan Cooper came through strongly to claim gold in the Under 16 Boys 1500 in 4.18.66. Fraser McKinley was 5th in 4.45.55.

15 year old Tessa Constantine having qualified fastest in the heats of the Under 18 Girls 400m hurdles final, won gold in a time of 1.06.15. Tessa went on to line up not long after in the Under 16 girls 400m, having qualified 2^nd fastest in 59.88 earlier in the day.

In the Under 20 Girls 800m, Bethany Halmy missed out in place in the final by less than a second in 2.21.55 while Paul Loader came 5^th in his heat in 2.04.41 in the Under 18 Boys 800m. Sophie Gocher was 5^th in the Under 14 Girls 1500 in 5.03.31. Sophie Wickham came 4^th in 32.90 in the Under 14 Girls 200m Hurdles.

13 year old Liam Gorman came 4^th in the Under 16 Boys 2k Steeplechase in 7.01.56 while Jack Mills on his debut in the event came 9^th in 7.18.98. Amelia Gorman was 4^th in the Under 20 Girls 3k Steeplechase in 12:43.

15 year old Tessa with her gold medal in the under 18 girls hurdles.

12.45.19.

Youtube video of juniors sprinting at Passmore Reserve

A friend from our surf club made this Youtube video of our sprint training session at Passmore Reserve. A bit tongue in cheek, but quite good I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIhoJZe8yJw&feature=youtu.be

December round up - what a great month for Junior Striders!

It has been the busiest December on record for Sydney Striders Juniors - very exciting. 

First of all we had juniors Adam Halmy, Ben Jagger & Fraser McKinlay getting parts as extras, running, in Angelina Jolie's film 'Unbroken'. They had a great experience 'on set' and were paid too! They were in the papers - see links below....

http://www.camdenadvertiser.com.au/story/1960967/angelina-jolie-shoots-movie-in-camden/?cs=1184#slide=9

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/macarthur/angelina-jolie-films-scenes-for-upcoming-film-unbroken-at-camden-showground/story-fngr8h70-1226778972514

Next up we had Josh Phillips winning Australian All Schools - Nationals - under 16 boys 2K steeplechase, and he is 14. His time was 6:14. Lachlan Cooper, Daniel Francken, Hannah Gibson, Nicola Hogg & Jack Stockeld also made it to Nationals, all caming in the top 8.

Below we have Lachlan Cooper & Josh Phillips in the ANSW mile race at Wollongong. Lachlan won the u16 boys race in 4:30 and set a new state record. Josh was just behind in 4:32. These two are making us proud, and they are only 14. 

Will they catch the Sydney Uni guy?? Lachlan Cooper leading from Josh Phillips - EJ had one lap to go.

The boys have narrowed the gap...

Middle is Lachlan Cooper - new state record holder. To the right is Josh Phillips, 2nd and 2 seconds behind Lachlan.

Our 10K runners attended the Striders Xmas Brunch to claim their rewards and enjoy the good food, spot prizes and mingling with all the lovely Striders from the rest of the club. 

Gus Wong, Emma McGlinn, Hannah Gibson, Davis Gardiner, Angus Webber & Harlan Mulherin.

Treloar shields have been very well attended, and there has been a lot of camaraderie. Tessa Constantine usually runs the 400m and 400m hurdles, but she has usually left by the time the 800m, 1500m, 3K and 2K steeplechase runners arrive. Competitors include Adam Halmy, Bethany Halmy, Paul Loader, Ben Jagger, Will Law, Gus Wong, Josh Phillips, Lachlan Cooper, Daniel Cooper, Amelia Gorman, Liam Gorman, Nicola Hogg, Olivia Hogg, Sophie Gocher & Tom Davies. A determined group of parents have been running too.

Daniel Cooper aged 11 - 2K steeplechase

Gus Wong aged 17 - 800m

Olivia Hogg & Nicola Hogg - 800m

Tessa Constantine

On Thursday 19th Dec. Fraser McKinlay won the VERY windy Xmas 5k handicap in Manly. He improved his PB by 27 seconds to 19.19. David Gardiner set a new course record in 16.39 while Hannah Gibson was the fastest female. An honorable mention for Harlan Mulherin, who was first scratch runner home in a very good time of 18.15. 

Fraser McKinlay wins the 5K Xmas handicap at Shelly Beach, Manly.

Also, some of our runners went off travelling over the holidays and ran races in their Striders tops while there.

Tom Davies  & Gemima Davies running a race in Geneva. 

The Christmas mile handicap Monday 23rd November 2013

Nineteen ran in the Christmas mile handicap, which may not sound like many, but it was a rainy night and thunderstorms were possible. Thanks to excellent helpers Wally Phillips, Anne Gardiner and Greg Constantine. Alexander Sinclair aged 8 won - improving by 1:23. Other than Alexander, 5 improved and won prizes. Josh Phillips and Lachlan Cooper both improved and ran the exact same time of 4:40, smashing the course record held jointly by Taiki Nakaya and Luke Gorman of 4:47. Tessa won best dressed, and you can see why in the pictures below.

Alexander Sinclair, handicap winner, with Christmassey Caroline

'The Boys' with their famous she collections. Liam Gorman, Josh Phillips, Harlen Mulherin, Dan Cooper, Lachlan Cooper, Jack Mills and Will Law. Josh and Locky are the record breakers.

Tessa Constantine - best dressed, with last year's winner Ciara Sinclair

All those who dressed up - even a little bit. At the back, Tessa Constantine and Caroline. At the front Ciara Sinclair and Torren Mulherin

 

 

NSW Sate relays 16 - 17 Nov. 2013

 

 

This proved to be a very exciting weekend of racing and we had for the first time a NSW Track Relay Champion, thanks to the Under 16 boys in the 1500m relay. We put in a whopping 12 teams - 4 girls' teams and 8 boys teams. The age groups start at under 14, so a lot of our 9, 10, 11 and 12 year olds were racing much older athletes. Overall we came away with 1 gold (under 16 boys 1500m), 2 silvers (under 14 boys A 800m and u14 girls 1500m)  and 2 bronze medals (under 18 boys 1500m and under 14 boys A 1500m). So, overall, it does look like as a club we are best at the 1500m. There was even a dads team in the 200+ 1500m on Sunday - Michael Halmy,Tony Wong, David Jagger and John Law. You can see how wet it was on Sunday in the pictures below.

 

More on that gold medal winning group. It was a very wet Sunday afternoon, Josh Phillips set off in the teeming rain in the first leg of the Under 16 Boys 4x1500 and came home first in 4.14. Fraser Mckinley and Ben Jagger kept us in touch on the second and third legs. Lachlan Cooper made up 60m on the last leg and regained the lead with just over 200m to go to claim gold. On Saturday Josh, Fraser, Lachlan and Harlan Mulherin won bronze in the under16 boys 800m.

Ben Jagger, Lachlan Cooper, Josh Phillips and Fraser McKinlay - gold in the 1500m

The Under 14 boys’ team of Liam Gorman, Will Law, Tom Davies and Kieran Gorman won a gallant silver in the 800m to go with their bronze in the 1500m. The two B teams did very well too and got some good practice.

The Under 18 boys had a mixed weekend. The team of Daniel Francken, Gus Wong, Adam Halmy and David Gardiner won bronze yesterday in the 1500m. Daniel’s 4.11 was the fastest time over 1500 this weekend. On Sunday the team of Gabe Corke, David Gardiner, Gus Wong and Adam Halmy finished 7th in a very competitive 800m relay.

Under 18s and Under 14s together. Daniel Francken, David Gardiner, Liam Gorman, Will Law, Adam Halmy, Gus Wong, Cam Gorman being carried and Tom Davies and Kieran Gorman helping carry Cam.

 

The 1500m start - Tom Davies, Tom Kirkland and Daniel Francken all on first leg.

Under 14 boys with their silver medals for the 800m: Liam Gorman, Will Law, Tom Davies and Kieran Gorman.

The Under 14 girls team of Olivia Hogg, Ciara Sinclair, Emily and Sophie Gocher won silver today in the 4x1500 relay. Sophie made up the length of the straight in the last leg from 3rd to 2nd. Her time of 5.05 was the fastest time for a girl Strider over the weekend. On Saturday the team of Sophie, Emma Kirkland, Nicola and Olivia Hogg came in a very good 7th out of 12 in the 800m relay. We also had an under 14 girls 200m team with Sophie Wickham, Amy Polikowski, Emma O'Reilly and Nicola Hogg, which did well. Our under 16 girls 400m team with Tessa Constantine, Emma O'Reilly, Amy Polikowski and Sophie Wickham put up a good fight against girls much older than them.

Sophie Gocher, Ciara Sinclair, Olivia Hogg and Emily Gocher - silver medal winners in the under 14 girls 1500m.

Sophie Wickham in the under 14 girls 200m

Tessa Constantine, the only girl who actually was a true under 16 girl in the 400m relay.

A scene from the stands on a rainy Sunday - the Hoggs.

State 3K Championships November 9th at SOPAC - spectacular results

It was an enthralling night of racing at the NSW 3000m Championship with most of us on our feet cheering on our athletes who were on the hunt for personal bests. Conditions however were far from ideal. The temperature did drop with the arrival of the cool change which also brought a gusty head wind blowing down the home straight.

Lachlan and Josh, shoe experts, superstars, friends and rivals limber up.

 First up was the Men’s H race with Michael Halmy (Bethany and Adam’s dad), David Jagger (Ben’s dad) and our president, Joe Degabrielle sporting his new spikes. Michael was first home in 11.42 while David held off our president.

 

 In the Men’s G race, Dan Cooper limped off the track mid-race through the race after injuring his hamstring. We wish him a speedy recovery, hopefully in time to run in next weekend’s State Relays. New member, 17 year old Joe Jones, in his track debut came second in 10.14.08 while 15 year old Ben Jagger ran a PB of 10.28.82 not far behind.

Left to right: Ben Jagger, Dan Cooper before he hurt his hamstring and Joe Jones

It's exciting to see your result on the board.

12 year old Tom Davies ran a personal best of 10.15.39 in the Men’s F race. Incidentally, Tom ran faster tonight than Josh Phillips when Josh was 12.



Tom Davies up with the big guys

14 year old Lachlan Cooper launched his usual late run for glory with 600m to go and finished second with a time of 9.09.33 in the Men’s D race which had most of us thinking this was going to be the fastest time of the night. Behind Lachlan, Adam Halmy ran a solid 9.38.70.

 

The start of the men's D race

 

Look at the effort: Adam Halmy and Lachlan Cooper

The series of men’s races were interrupted by the Women’s C race which was won by 12 year old Sophie Gocher on her debut in the event. Sophie took the lead in the last kilometer and came home in 11.06.06. Not far behind was another 12 year old, Olivia Hogg again in her debut finished strongly in fifth place in 11.20.10. Another 300m behind was one Caroline Yarnell, the only Senior Female Strider and the oldest female competitor in the event finished in 12.25.85.

 

The start of the C race

 

Sophie Gocher who ran 11:06:06 to win the race

Olivia Hogg has just overtaken no. 12

The men’s C race was arguably the highlight of the evening which featured 14 year old Josh Phillips, 17 year old David Gardiner, Joe Burgess who recently left us to join Sydney University and one Nick Bromley whose Little Athletics 3000m record was broken by Josh last year. The start was fast and had us spectators wondering whether the field was going to try to run 8 minutes. Like all the races that took place earlier, the field stretched out into the back straight with the wind blowing behind and came back together on the home straight in the head wind. David and Josh did everything right and covered all the breaks. Soon after 4 laps, the field began to split into packs. Josh looked the strongest and began to move through the field which had us all on our feet. Josh eventually came in eighth in a time of 9.02.10, a massive personal best and the fastest time by a Strider on the night. Not far behind, David came in 15th with a time of 9.14.81.

Soon after the start. David Gardiner is ahead of Josh Phillips

 

 


David Gardiner moving through the field

 

David Gardiner now ahead of Nick Bromley

Josh Phillips pulls away from Joe Burgess to finish in 9:02:10