Saturday, July 20, 2013

NSW state road relay championships Sat. July 13th 2013

NSW Road Relays
It was a mixed day for us. Eight teams competed and there were three team medals. A number of teams were under strength due to people being away for the school holidays, soccer and snowboarding injuries! What can you do??? 
 
Nerves at the 2K start line. Left to right we see Josh Phillips, Liam Gorman, Daniel Cooper and Hannah Gibson
 
The 2K start - how many Striders can you spot???

Corey Grace (top below) and Samuel Greenland both take on the girls in their 2K relay legs......


 

The under 12 boys A with Dan Cooper, Kieran Gorman, Jack Stockeld and Tom Kirkland were the stars of the day with their emphatic win in the 4x2k. This was especially welcome, after their very close second in Nowra.

Daniel Cooper, Kieran Gorman, Jack Stockeld and Tom Kirkland with their gold medals :)

Daniel Cooper ran 2K  twice: he ran in the 12 boys A and the 16 boys A! Go Daniel!!!
Our under 16 boys: Josh Phillips, Harlan Mulherin and Lachlan Cooper. The 4th was under 12 Daniel Cooper - so not our strongest under 16 boys team, but good enough for fourth!!
 
 
 In the under 18 boys 4x4k, David Gardiner opened with a 12.43 first leg. There were solid runs from Adam Halmy and Paul Loader. Daniel Francken made up 200m and brought the team home in third with a blistering 12.40.


Adam Halmy

Daniel Francken

David Gardiner

Daniel Francken, Paul Loader, Adam Halmy and David Gardiner
 
In the last race of the day the under 20 girls’ team of Bethany Halmy, Hannah Gibson, Jess Vernon and Amelia Gorman won silver in their 4x4k after an almighty tussle with Ryde Athletic Club, the eventual winner.

A great picture of Amelia Gorman who ran for the under 18 girls and the under 20 girls.



Hannah Gibson hands over to Jess Vernon.
The under 20 girls Hannah, Jess, Bethany and Amelia.

Tony Wong, who organized the teams and ran 4K in the open men's team himself on the day - doesn't he look happy?
Helen Kirkland, mum of Emma and Tom (gold medalist in the under 12s) runs in her second ANSW race as a Strider!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

NSW Cross Country Championships 2013 Sat. 22nd June Nowra

 We had our biggest turnout ever at Nowra with 30 juniors running in the various age groups. We took over a large under cover space near the finish, with parents, grandparents, our white board, chairs - there was a bit of a party atmosphere. This is incredible, as Nowra is 3 hours away for most of us, so it reflects the enthusiasm of the juniors. Parents were also enthusiastic, with some staying the night beforehand and  2 more mums joining Striders so they could run the 8K.
This shows the scene - a beautiful spot.
Full results can be found here:
http://www.nswathletics.org.au/customdata/index.cfm?fuseaction=CustomItem&ItemID=59185, We had a lot of individuals in the top 10 for their age groups, with Lachlan Francis best individual performer on the day coming 2nd in the U12 boys 2K. As regards teams U20 girls got gold, U18 girls and U12 boys won silver and U16 boys, U12 girls won bronze. Our U14 boys A and  U18 boys came 4th and our U14 boys B came 6th - so Go Striders!! 
The Under 12s 2K start
Under 12 Boys 2k
Lachlan Frances, Daniel Cooper and Kieran Gorman joined the lead group that broke away right from the gun. With 600 meters to go, Lachlan was part of the trio that broke away and he got himself into 2nd place in the finishing straight. It was a close race as there were two seconds between 1st and 3d. Not far behind after an almighty tussle, Daniel and Kieran came in 5th and 6th.  Young Jack Stockeld in his first season finished strongly in 16th place to fill the final spot in the team. Despite having three in the first six, our boys were narrowly beaten into second place in the team competition by Kembla Joggers (3 points).
Under 12 girls 2k
The girls were led home by Nicola Hogg who placed 5th overall with Ciara Sinclair not far behind in 7th. Nicola, Ciara, Emma Kirkland and Gemima Davies won a bronze team medal. All of them are at the younger end of the age group so well done girls.
From left to right you see our under 12 boys in their finishing order: Lachlan, Dan, Kieran and Jack.
Nicola Hogg leads from Samuel Greenland and Ciara Sinclair.
Under 12 girls win bronze: Nicola Hogg, Emma Kirkland, Ciara Sinclair and Gemima Davies
Under 12 boys Jack Stockeld, Kieren Gorman, Daniel Cooper and Lachlan Francis win silver.

  
Lachlan Francis second in the 2K!!

Under 14 boys 3k
Tom Davies was 2nd M12 and was the highest Strider placed in the race at 9th. The A team finished 4th and the B team was 6th.
The 3K Under 14s start, with Daniel Rasmussen and Jack Unterweger clearly visible, and Samuel, Tom, Will, Corey and Lauren and Dan Cooper somewhere in the crowd.
Tom Davies
Corey Grace
Lauren Grace
 
Jack Unterweger
 
Will Law
Under 16 boys 4k
The team was led home by Lachlan Cooper who finished 8th after tracking Josh Phillips (12th) for most of the way.  Lachlan, Josh, Ben Jagger and Kieran Gorman (on his second outing of the day) won a bronze team medal.
Lachlan Cooper and Josh Phillips are class acts! Lachlan ended up ahead of Josh, but they really pull each other along.
Ben Jagger was the only under 16 boy to stay around to claim the team bronze. Fellow team matesLachlan Cooper, Josh Phillips and Kieren Gorman are nowhere to be seen.
Under 18 girls 4k
Hannah Gibson led home the under 18 girls team, closely followed 13 year old Jess Francis.  The team of Hannah, Jess, Amelia Gorman and 11 year old Olivia Hogg won a remarkable silver medal.
Sally Rasmussen and Olivia Hogg in the Under 18 girls 4K - she is 11.
Hannah Gibson and Jessica Francis.
Under 18 boys 6k
The team that won silver at Miranda was narrowly beaten into 4th place. David Gardiner led the team home with a very gutsy performance which earned him 8th place in the race that was dominated from the start by the invincible Morgan McDonald.
From left to right: David Gardiner (just cut off), Daniel Francken, Adam Halmy and Paul Loader.
David Gardiner clearly giving his all - our fastest runner on the day.
Gabe Corke, our 400m runner, having a long run.
Under 20 girls 6k
Hannah and Amelia, having competed in the under 18 girls 4k event, put on another set of timing chips and lined up with Jess Vernon and Bethany Halmy in the 6k event. This proved worthwhile as the quartet won our only team gold medal of the day.
Amelia Gorman and Bethany Halmy by the lake
Here we can see Hannah Gibson, Jess Vernon, Bethany Halmy and Gabe Corke in the 6K
The parents
There were 2 debuts with Olivia and Nicola Hogg’s mum, Katherine, and Tom and Emma Kirkland’s mum, Helen putting their Striders’ uniforms on for the first time. Helen went on to win her first State Team medal as part of the F45+ team with Caroline and Jean King-Smith.
Our very own Tony Wong, Will Law’s Dad, John , Adam and Bethany Halmy’s Dad, Michael ran in the 12k event. 

Katherine Hogg leads Strider Mary Stringer in the 8K (Mary later took the lead).

Caroline in the 8K struggling round with a stitch.
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Monday, June 3, 2013

Miranda Cross Country Relays Sat. 1st June 2013

What better way to spend a cold and rainy first day of winter than at the Miranda Cross Country Relays running in a Sydney Striders team in the green and white!

This event is a very competitive event and we did well to come home with five bronze team medals ( under 12 boys, under 12 girls, under 14 boys, under 16 boys, under 20 girls) and one silver (under 18 boys).  We also had an under 14 girls team which came 5th, but there were just a few seconds between 3rd, 4th and 5th. We had two B teams - under 12 boys and under 18 boys - which ran well too. We have a lot of runners in the first year of their two year age band this year, and we had a few very last minute drop outs in the under 12s and under 14s to deal with too. So, taking these things into consideration, we achieved some very good results indeed.

Special thanks to Emily Gocher, Kieran Gorman and Dan Watts who ran twice for juniors teams and to Hannah Gibson and Bethany Halmy who ran for the under 20 girls and the women's open team.

Parents Caroline Yarnell, Tony Wong, Fiona McKinlay , Tom Highnam, Michael Halmy, Tom Highnam and John Law ran in 'adult teams' later on, when the course was extremely muddy!

Below are photos of about 26 of the 33 juniors who ran. Not pictured at present: Jack Stockeld, Sophie Gocher, Olivia Hogg, Hunter Kelleher, Gus Wong, Ben Jagger and Cam Gorman.

Emma O'Reilly in her first race as a Strider

Nick Corel working hard

Kieran Gorman, Ewan Shingler, Daniel Cooper and Benji Wilson - under 12 boys

Yes, here's Kieran again, in the under 14 boys team with his brother Liam, Tom Davies and Will Law.

Adam Halmy, Paul Loader, David Gardiner and Daniel Francken - our under 18 boys with their silver medals outside the Striders tent.
 
Amelia Gorman, Dan Watts and David Gardiner wait nervously in the changeover are to run last leg of their 3K relays.


Two Toms - Kirkland and Davies - sit down to remove their timing chips after the race.


The under 12 girls won bronze with Emma Kirkland, Nicola Hogg, Emily Gocher and Ciara Sinclair.
The under 20 girls with their bronze medals - Jess Vernon, Amelia Gorman and Bethany Halmy. Hannah Gibson was also in the team - pictured later on.
Hannah Gibson racing past the speed cameras! 


Fraser looks the happiest here. The under 16 boys, who won bronze but don't seem to have their medals yet here. Lachlan Cooper, Dan Watts, Josh Phillips and
Fraser McKinlay.
 
 
 

Sunday, May 19, 2013

The Sydney Striders Awards 'do' on May 10th 2013

Juniors have their own awards party in September, but the two most prestigious awards of all,  Winter athlete of the year and Summer athlete of the year, are presented in front of the whole club at their awards event in May. Recipients get a perpetual trophy to keep for a year and a small trophy to keep forever. The trophies are presented by the guest speaker - in this case Olympic marathon runner Lisa Weightman :)

This year, as always, we had a juniors table. Caroline and Tony were there to talk about the winners, Josh Phillips's whole family were there to see him get his 2012 Winter athlete of the year award, Hannah Gibson's mum came along with Hannah to see her get the 2012 / 2013 Summer athlete of the year award, and rising star and sociable Strider Tessa Constantine came along with her dad. A gtreat time was had by all, as you can see from the photos below.
What a glamorous table!, from left: Josh, Caroline, Tony, Greg, Tessa, Hannah, Dzung, Wally and Rietta.
Caroline and Tony looking very happy indeed.
Tessa, Hannah, Lisa Weightman and Josh

Caroline sings Josh Phillips's praises

Josh makes a very good acceptance speech

Josh and Lisa
Hannah makes her acceptance speech - telling everyone what fun training was :)

Hannah with Lisa and her trophies.