Well the fantastic Junior Striders training and importantly, team spirit, paid off at the State Relays this weekend. It was a really successful team event, with many Junior Striders, and parents involved in the Relays.
Battling some pretty strong heads, not to mention a bit of Sydney traffic, it was great to see that overall there was great fun and some fantastic results from the weekend.
Day 1: 5 Races; 22 Juniors running; 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medal win.
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| Tessa Constantine leading the girls off in the U16, 4 x 400m. |
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| Tessa Constantine handing off to Ciara Sinclair |
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| Edita Grinbergs taking over from Emma O'Reilly in U16 Girls |
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Fantastic result for the young team, coming
in just 8 seconds behind the winner
(Tessa Constantine, Emma O'Reilly, Ciara Sinclair, Edita Grinbergs)
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Later in the afternoon it was the girls back on the track, and after a tough race, with a great charge by Olivia Hogg moving the team from 6th to 3rd place, the team were rewarded with a Bronze medal!
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| Olivia Hogg in action |
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Edita Grinsberg, Nicola Hogg, Olivia Hogg and Ciara Sinclair with a Bronze Medal in the U 14 4 x 800
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It couldn't get much more exciting for the U16 Boys 4 x 800 - Josh Phillips ran the first leg and broke 2 minutes for an 800m (very impressive!); each leg had a major tussle with Kembla Joggers, our main rival on the day and finished up with a Silver Medal.
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Jack Mills taking the baton from Josh Phillips
in the U16 4 x 800
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Liam Gorman handing off to Bryn Lynch in the U16 4 x 800
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| Silver medal to U16 boys 4 x 800. (Liam Gorman, Josh Phillips, Bryn Lynch Jack Mills) |
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And they're off! Jack Coates and Hamish Longworth U14 and Daniel Francken U18 boys 4 x 1500
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| Cam Gorman in the U14 4 x 1500 |
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| Keiran Gorman U14 4 x 1500 A team |
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| Tom Kirkland giving it his all in U14, 4 x 1500 |
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| Adam Halmy racing in the U18, 4 x 1500 |
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| Adam Halmy passes the baton to Harlan Mulherin |
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| Keiran Tall enjoys the victory of Gold in U18, 4 x 1500 |
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| U18 Boys win GOLD! Daniel Francine, Keiren Tall, Adam Halmy, Harlan Mulherin |
Day 2:6 Races; 25 Athletes; 1 Gold and 1 Bronze
Day 2 continued with more epic battles, athletes giving it their all.. and the winds playing havoc on the track!
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| Jack Coates passes to Keiran |
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| Dan and Jack half way through the first leg of the U14, 4 x 800 |
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| Hamish Longworth passes the baton to Raffi Gordon for a great finish to U14, 4 x 800 B's |
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| It's a Bronze to U14 4 x 800 A team! (Dan Rasmussen, Keiran Gorman, Dan Cooper, & Jack Coates) |
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| Luke Gorman for U18 4 x 800 |
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| Ben Jagger and Keiran Tall U18 Boy's |
The two final races of the meet were the U16, 4 x 1500 boys and U14, 4 x 1500 Girls. The boys have a great team right now and proved themselves by getting a well deserved Gold!
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| Josh Phillips taking the lead in first leg of U16, 4 x 1500 |
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| Liam Gorman passing the baton to 3rd runner Nick Corel |
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Jack Mills takes control of the race and
leads the team to victory |
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| Gold to U16, 4 x 1500 team! (Jack Mills, Josh Phillips, Liam Gorman and Nick Corel) |
It was a gutsy performance by the U14 Girls in the 4 x 1500, finishing in 4th position.
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| Hannah Lovlin taking on the senior girls |
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| Emma Kirkland takes off! |
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| Strong finish by Sophie Gocher |
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Smiles all round from U14's and their leader Caroline
(Sophie Gocher, Emma Kirkland, Carline Yarnell, Hannah Lovlin, Olivia Hogg) |
What a terrific weekend of team racing for the Junior Striders! Big thanks to Caroline and Tony for training, organising, encouraging, counting laps, taking photo's, running, participating.. (and I am sure there was more!)
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| Caroline Yarnell keeping the teams organised |
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| Tony Wong - trainer and runner! |
