The past month has brought mixed fortunes for the Club and its members. As we move into the new millenium the Club faces many challenges and also many opportunities for continued success. I am greatly saddened to report the passing of long serving Life Member Fred Cron and tragic death of young 800 m runner Michael Maglovski. We are greatly indebted to these two for their input to the Club over many years and express our sympathy to their families.

The performance of the Men's State League team has been particularly disappointing with large holes in our team every week. We are currently floundering in 11^th position on the ladder which means that unless we can improve our performance drastically over the next few weeks, we will be competing in the promotion/relegation match in March - a prospect which is particularly unpleasant.

On a brighter note, the Women's State League team has improved dramatically after a slow start and is now on top of the table. Hopefully we can go one better than the last few years and win the premiership this year. We have also been selected to represent Victoria in the women's division of the National Club Championships to be held in conjunction with this year's National Championships in Sydney. This will be a great opportunity to compete on the Olympic Stadium for 14 of our athletes and we are hoping to have as strong a team as possible to beat the New Zealanders this year.

With the new track, drains and plinth rail now complete and well tested by several months of competition, the City of Whitehorse are holding an official opening ceremony for the new track on Saturday March 4 at 1:00 pm. I urge you all to come along to show your support for the Club as well as to lobby our local members to continue to demonstrate their support for the Club by funding an upgrade of the toilets and pavilion at Hagenauer's Reserve.

With championships and finals fast approaching I would like to wish all those competing every success and hope that the new millenium brings many PB's and much success.

Fred's athletic career was put on hold for a few years after he married Beth, joined the army and became involved with raising his four children. However when the family moved to Blackburn, he was able to renew his passion for the sport of athletics and joined the Box Hill Athletic Club, taking up the less demanding events of hammer, shot put and discus. He also convinced his children to join the Club and he became involved with coaching of juniors, in particular in hurdles and throwing events. He also joined the committee and as secretary for many years worked tirelessly to ensure that Box Hill maintained its position as the most successful athletics club in Australia.

TRAGIC DEATH OF MICHAEL MAGLOVSKI

The Box Hill Athletic Club has been selected to represent Victoria in the women's division at the National Club Championships to be held at the new Olympic Stadium in Sydney on February 27th. After finishing second last year behind a team from New Zealand, there is a big incentive to go one better and win the competition this year.

With a victory in the Cup Competition at the start of the season and the team currently sitting on top of the State League Ladder, there is no reason why the team shouldn't be able to carry this success on to the National Arena.

Good luck to the 14 girls selected to represent Box Hill in Sydney.

Would you walk out of your front door when going out for the evening leaving it wide open and free for anyone to wander in off the street? Unfortunately, several of our members are quite happy to do this when leaving the Club after training. If you are the last to leave, please make sure that you turn off the lights, lock ALL the doors and padlock the gate behind you. If you see someone running around the track, don’t just assume that they will lock up for you. Make sure that they are a club member and check with them that are planning to lock up when they leave. If you open the clubrooms for training, it is your responsibility to make sure that when you leave, that you lock up or else make sure that there is someone still at the ground training who will lock up when they leave.

State Relays may have been long over but this is the first opportunity to publish the results. Well done to the many medallists and finalists. This is not a complete list of results as Athletics Victoria did not send me a full list so apologies to those teams who did well and are not listed (like half the Open Women’s).

BOX HILL WEB PAGE

For those of you who have access to an internet connection, please take the time to check out the new Box Hill Athletic Club web page at www.boxhillathleticclub.org.

After a slow beginning, the site is slowly growing and becoming a useful resource for finding out information about the club, and in particular recent competition results. State League results for the Box Hill teams are currently being posted within 24 hours of the competition, while it is hoped to be able to publish all interclub results within a week of the competition.

If you have any information which you think might be appropriate to put on the web site such as photos, results, or historical information, please contact either Adam Pepper or Graeme Olden. Your feedback is most welcome.

The Committee is becoming very frustrated that more and more of the workload involved in running the club is being left to a small group of dedicated volunteers who donate hundreds of hours of their time every year. With the start of the track season again there is a desperate need for help from parents, friend and club members to help out with the numerous tasks involved in running a club so that teams can compete each week. Some of the tasks which we need help for include:

• Helping in the canteen
• Officiating at competitions (teams lose points if we don’t have enough officials)
• Assisting with managing junior teams
• General maintenance tasks
• Setting up the ground for competitions
• Packing away equipment
• Assisting with fundraising
• Helping to chase sponsorship
• Serving on the committee or sub-committees (social, financial planning, sponsorship)
• Attending Venue and AV meetings
• Club Statistician
• Club Historian
• Selling club merchandise
• Coaching athletes.

If we don’t get more help with these tasks then you will find that teams will not be entered in relays, the facilities will gradually deteriorate, there won’t be anyone there on Saturdays to organise your team, your team will lose points for not supplying officials and we will no longer be one of the most successful clubs in Australia. Most of these jobs do not require much time or effort. Even an hour or two spent holding the tape at the long jump or serving in the canteen makes a huge difference and is greatly appreciated. If you can help in any way, please contact the Secretary, Julie Milner on 9428 7679.

All athletes keep a look out for the Club Decathlon Championships at the end of the season. Reigning champion Kiron Robinson has come back from overseas specifically to defend his title. He was recently seen touching up on his javelin in a vain attempt to retain his title.

Following many years of confusion regarding the correct shorts to be worn by Box Hill male athletes, agreement has been reached with Athletics Victoria that for the next 12 months, either plain black shorts or the grey shorts with black and white stripes on each side may be worn. Following this transition period, the official uniform will revert to plain black shorts. There is no change to the rules with regard to the singlet – a grey singlet with black trim and white horse on the front. There have also been no changes made to the female uniform. We hope that this will make it easier for ALL athletes to be attired in the correct uniform every week.

The Committee is interested in reviewing the design of the male and female singlets to attempt to come up with a design which is cheaper and simpler to fabricate and can also be worn by both male and female members of the Club. The design should be essentially similar to the present design being a grey singlet with a white horse on the front. If there is anyone with suitable skills or interest in helping create a new design, please contact Tom Waters on 9803 2565.

The end of season BBQ has been moved this year to the day of venue finals. This is due to Jamie Strudley ,one of our organizing committee, getting himself married on the day of the last round of interclub. When this was brought to my attention it was followed by the comment. "Yeah I know. Who would want to marry him?"

REBEL SPORTS SPONSORSHIP

The club has come to a sponsorship arrangement with Rebel Sport in which the both the club and members of the club benefit. When you make a purchase at one of the Rebel Stores quote our rebate code, 3418, and receive a 5% discount.

All members are encouraged to support arrangement where possible. Below is a list of all the Rebel Sport locations in Victoria.

Rebel Sport Knox Tower Point 10 Melbourne Street Knox Tower Point 3152	Rebel Sport Frankston Shop M4 Balmoral Shopping Centre Shannon Street Frankston 3199
Rebel Sport Geelong 118 Gheringhap Street (cnr McKillop Street) Geelong 3220	Rebel Sport Ringwood 99-101 Maroondah Highway Ringwood 3134
Rebel Sport Highpoint Shop 2076 Highpoint Shopping Centre 120-200 Rosamond Road Maribyrnong	Rebel Sport Melbourne Shop 201-206 Centrepoint 283-297 Bourke Street Melbourne 3000
Rebel Sport Prahran 296 Chapel Street Prahran 3181	Rebel Sport Northland Shop K29 Northland Shopping Centre Murray Road Preston 3072
Rebel Sport Greensborough Shop 7 108 Main Street Greensborough 3088

The canteen now has a variety of healthy foods for you to choose from every Saturday. We now have fresh seasonal fruit, and tubs of fruit available for those hot summer days of competition. Guaranteed to provide you with an instant energy source.

With the hot sunny days of summer now upon us club members are urged to protect their skin as much as possible by; avoiding as many outdoor activities as possible between 11 and 3, wearing a shirt and hat, and applying sunscreen before you go outside.

Mushrooms were once considered a luxury but are now a welcome source of nutrition. Mushrooms are a good source of B complex vitamins and dietary fibre. Many of these vitamins are necessary for division of cells that accomplish repair of the body’s tissues. Mushrooms have no fat and are very low in kilojoules. Cultivated mushrooms should be wiped rather then washed before use, as washing will cause a loss of flavour.