The major fundraising event organised for this year to raise funds for the club room upgrade is a Trivia Night to be held on Saturday 7 September 2002. It is important that we once again have good support for this event to ensure that the club can fund the ongoing building works.

A flyer with a return slip is attached with full details of the night - TRIVIA NIGHT FLYER

Last year Mark Stewart's table took out the top honours. Who will be champion this year?

We are still looking for additional items to auction on the night, so if you have anything suitable, please contact one of the organising committee listed below. 

Date: Saturday 7 September 2002

Time: 7:00pm for 7:30 pm start

Venue: Box Hill Senior Secondary College

Dunloe Avenue, Box Hill

Cost: $10 per head.

For more information or to reserve a spot on a table, contact:

The time and funds not available to complete any more of the work this year, it is planned to complete the external walls and fitout of the upstairs section of the works next winter.

To enable final preparations to be made for erection of the roof over the grandstand and to prepare equipment for the upcoming track season, a working bee is being held at the track on Saturday 14 September 2002 from 12:00 noon until 5:00 pm. It is imperative that we have a good attendance to ensure that everything is in place for the Contractor to start work and we do not receive claims for extra costs due to delaying the start of the work.

Over 200 members, ex-members and friends of the Box Hill Athletic Club attended the 70 Anniversary Dinner of the Club held at the Eastern Golf Club on 27 July 2002. Highlights of the evening included presentation of a video showing club members competing in competitions in the 1970’s and 1980’s; various displays of old photos, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia and announcement of a men’s and women’s team of the century.

There was wonderful cross section members in attendance, with athletes from all eras stretching back to the 1940’s catching up with their contemporaries and remembering great deeds from the past. Special guest Allan Barlow was in great demand throughout the evening with a queue forming around his table which lasted for most of the night.

A copy of the video presented on the night is available for purchase as well as a CD showing photos taken on the night as well as the presentation of old photos which was on display on the evening. A return form is attached for ordering of these items. - CD ORDER FORM

TEAM OF THE CENTURY

The editor would welcome any feedback or comments!

It is with much sadness that we announce the passing of Mary Barlow on the early hours of Saturday 10th August.

It is well documented the input that Allan Barlow has had in the development, reputation and successful history of this club, however without the selfless support of Mary most of what we have now would never be. Allan would be the first to tell you of the strength he gained from Mary and of Mary's devotion to the running of the family home, supporting him and raising their two children.

Mary also spent many weekends in the years when competition was at Mentone driving car loads of athletes to and from competition with Allan.

To assist with the development and recruitment of new coaches to the sport, Athletics Victoria is offering to pay the cost of any member wishing to complete a Level 1 coaching course. If you are interested in becoming qualified as a coach then please contact the Club Coaching coordinator, Chris O’Connor for more details (ph 9882 6108 or email: coconnor@swin.edu.au)

Box Hill was well represented at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester and it was triple bronze for Box Hill.

Bridgid Isworth came in 3^rd in the women’s pole vault, Andrew Leatherby came 3^rd with an amazing finish in the men’s marathon, Tim Williams received a bronze for 3^rd in the 4x100m and led off the 4x400m team as well and former Box Hill athlete Anna Thompson performed beyond expectations in the women’s 5,000m.

Hopefully these athletes will lead Box Hill into another golden age as we look towards Athens in 2004.

Box Hill Athletic Club operates the Barlow Foundation as a registered project with the Australian Sports Foundation for the purpose of supporting elite athletes and coaches in state league interclub competition. The project makes grants to athletes and coaches from tax-deductible donations made to the foundation. These grants have played a significant part in the success of the State League teams over the past few seasons and the Club is committed to continuing to provide these opportunities for our State League athletes.

The distribution of Barlow Foundation grants made at the presentation night for the 2001/02 season were:

• $200 Reimbursement of expenses to the leading Female State League points scorer
• $200 Reimbursement of expenses to the leading Male State League points scorer
• $200 Reimbursement of expenses to the coach whose athletes (both male and female) score the greatest combined total of State League points.

To help ensure the continued success of our State League teams, we are requesting donations to help fund these grants. All donations are tax deductible. If you would like to obtain a donation form to send in a donation, or have any questions about the Barlow Foundation, please contact Colin Organ on 9813 3597 or via email (colo@bigpond.com). Alternatively you may wish to download a form directly from the Club’s web site at http://www.boxhillathleticclub.org.

With the retirement of Val and Les Armstrong from active involvement, the Women’s State League team needs help. We have no team manager and no officials. Failure to provide the required 2 officials results in loss of 36 points per night – it would be impossible to make the finals with that sort of handicap. The club pays $1400 to enter a team (this figure is sure to increase this year) in order to provide the top level competition for you – so how badly do you want it – Are you prepared to put your hand up to help manage the team and bring a friend or parent to officiate?

The female athletes of this club, both past and present, have a poor history of "putting back". It’s interesting to note that the male members of the club have always taken on roles such as team managers, coaches, committee members, officials, maintenance and looking after the equipment - why is this so? In this age of equality why don’t more women get involved?

Are the women of this club prepared to stand up and take responsibility for the team and officials?

Will there be a Box Hill Women’s team in State League this season? It’s up to you!!!

For those who are new to the club, or just unaware of the fact, each Saturday at Interclub competition (and State league), we must supply at least 1 official per team entered into the competition. With teams in every division and age group, this requires a lot of officials. In addition, we need people to help out in the canteen.

The penalty for not supplying enough officials for a day of competition is at least a 10-point deduction from EVERY team entered by the club, for EVERY official missing. This means that if we are 2 officials short, EVERY Box Hill team will loose at least 20 points from their scores for that day.  This makes winning the competition very difficult, for all teams!!!

To eliminate this possibility occurring, an Officials Roster is going to be constructed. EVERY athlete will be responsible for providing an official/assistant for at least one round of interclub for the next summer season. This means that the athlete will have to make sure that either a parent, husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, uncle or auntie is available to help out on their rostered day. If you are unable to get someone down to the track to assist, YOU will have to become the rostered official. More details of the roster will be supplied closer to the track interclub competition (commencing on Saturday 19 October), however, expressions of interest from people willing to help out would be most appreciated. These can be forwarded to any member of the committee. It is envisaged that people would only need to help out for 2 hours. However, the more people we get, the less time they will have to officiate. No experience is necessary, as you will be taught everything you need to know "on-the-job".

Angela Robbie 9898 3052

Joan Hines 9859 5081

Marcus Tierney 9497 3521

David Featherston 9467 2262

Registered AV athletes who have not previously registered with the VAL can do so for a fee of $20 for one season. A VAL registration form needs to be completed (available at AV office).

A joint registration is also being offered at the special discounted rate of $200 (excluding club fee) for an Open Metropolitan Athlete.   Registration forms of both bodies need to be completed, indicating on each form that you want a joint registration.

Athletics Essendon and the Aberfeldie Venue are thinking about holding a one hour decathlon on the 12th October and were wondering if there was enough interest in running this. They are holding a PB meet on the same day and the one hour decathlon would be incorporated into the schedule (Sat Arvo).

Cost would be around $15 and there would be electronic timing available. Depending on numbers there would be groups of around 5 maybe 6 individuals starting, with a ten minute time difference between groups. Aim to have the 1500m started within the one hour, good hard fun especially trying to get 3 strides in the hurdles after the 400m.

If anyone is keen please let contact Nick Foley at FoleyNJ@cba.com.au or try Cameron Baker on 9898 4316 and he can put you in touch with Nick.

For a limited time there are some "State League" Long Sleeve Training Tops now available  for only $20. Also a new order of Club Tracksuit tops has just arrived so get in early before they all go for $85. For either of the above or uniforms please contact Julie Milner 9818 1278 or email juliem@brd.net.au.

An interesting point was brought up at the 70^th Anniversary Dinner. Imagine our team of the century verses our current Commonwealth Games team. It would be a close battle. I wonder how many other clubs round Australia would have people who had represented their nation miss out on their best club team.

It really makes you think about the strength and tradition of our club. Box Hill Athletics Club, the most successful club in Australia.

Our Section 1 team had a flying start with Luke Yeatman racing at his best, probably recording his finest performance in Box Hill uniform. Luke made it clear that he meant business from the moment the gun was fired, running in 4^th position at the end of his first lap. With a strong finishing kick, Luke just failed to catch his Glen Huntly opponent but passed the Doncaster runner to hand over in third place at the changeover point. Luke recorded the fastest time of the day for Box Hill, 18 m. 09 s. John Meagher has been our most accomplished runner in most winter races this year and he set out in a very determined fashion. Our Geelong opponents remained 22 seconds ahead of Box Hill at the end of the this leg, but Doncaster’s Quilty ran an excellent leg wresting the lead from Hulbert from Glen Huntly, with our team 27 seconds down on 2^nd place in 4^th position. John recorded our third fastest leg.

Dale Bickham was next out, finding conditions not to his liking. Glen Huntly stretched its lead over Doncaster and Paul Wilson ran a smart third leg propelling APS into 3^rd place. Geelong started to drift backwards in this leg, completing the leg 24 seconds in advance of our team which was in 5^th place. At the conclusion of Paul Boxshall’s first lap, we had conceded another place, with Shane Nankervis running a brilliant first lap. His effort took Ballarat YCW to third place, a position they maintained to the end of this fourth leg, being only 23 seconds behind the second-placed Doncaster, which was 11 seconds behind leaders Glen Huntly. The tiring APS runner was caught and passed by Paul as he ran an even faster second lap, and when he handed over we were one second down on Geelong, so we were back in 5^th place, effectively equal 4^th. This was a key leg for Box Hill because we managed to maintain contact with the two teams which we ultimately caught and passed later in the race.

Marcus Tierney had the distinction two years ago on leading in our Section 1 in first place in the first leg, a striking accomplishment, and although probably not in such great form this year, he was very determined to do his best. With a powerful display of fine distance running, Marcus first picked off his Geelong opponent to get the team to 4^th and then in the second lap caught and passed his Ballarat opponent to bring our team into 3^rd place, just 8 seconds in advance of Ballarat YCW, in fourth. Graeme Olden has found himself in similar tight pressure situations previously, but this year, was delighted that he was actually defending a lead for 3^rd position rather than having to come from behind. With an emphatic first lap which destroyed his Ballarat YCW opponent’s self-confidence, he slowly but surely extended the team’s lead to a 1 minute 18 second advantage, and if there had been an additional leg, may have given Box Hill an opportunity to take silver with Doncaster only finishing 250 metres in front of our team for second place.

This team result was very pleasing because we had not anticipated being a strong chance of placing and also because of the evenness of the individual team members’ performances, with only 1 m. 03 s. separating our fastest and slowest legs.

Our second team, in Section 3 performed well, too, placing 4^th. Barry Lynch ran a sizzling first leg and this was followed up with a very encouraging performance by Sam Hassett who looks to be regaining his fitness and confidence. Tony Bird and Adam Pepper ran solid legs and Chris O’Connor anchored the team with a very strong finishing phase, running his second lap 25 seconds quicker than his first in an attempt to catch his Traralgon opponent.

Section 6 runners were remarkably even in their leg times to finish in second place, just thirty seconds behind the winning team.

Unfortunately, a full report on the women’s races is not available for this edition of Club News, however the Open Women’s team finished in 6^th place, while the Under 20 girls continued on their great form this season to win their race, with the Under 18 and Under 16 teams both finishing in third place.

Box Hill was well represented in the early stages in the first quarter of the field, with all athletes moving freely. John Meagher ran his best race at this venue for some time, starting strongly and passing other athletes as the race progressed. With a strong finishing burst he finished in the top 10, a wonderful achievement, showing he still has many more excellent performances in him. Luke Yeatman has had some spectacular races this year and he was expecting a strong performance. However, he picked up a cold during the preceding week and ran a steady race further back in the field than his excellent relay form would have suggested. Dale Bickham has also performed well in the Winter races this year and he managed to place third of the Box Hill team in 32^nd position. Not far behind him was Sam Hassett, 37^th, who is slowly but surely getting fitter and improving with every run. Graeme Olden also competed with a bad cold and plugged away for 42^nd place, probably one of his lower placings in recent years. Many lesser athletes would not have toed the starting line, and Graeme’s determination to compete and run for his club ensured the team placed third, a very pleasing performance without all available runners in the race. Chris O’Connor completed the Section 1 team with an unexpectedly good performance, given his unlucky run with injuries this year. He placed 49^th on this tough unrelenting course. Adam Pepper and Tony Bird have been close to each other all season and this week Adam turned the tables on Tony again by a narrow margin, finishing 75^th to Tony’s 76^th, one-and-a-half seconds in advance.