The Presentation Night for the 2002-2003 season is being held on Saturday 17 May 2003 at the Box Hill Community Arts Centre from 7:00 pm onwards. The cost of the evening is $20 for adults or $15 for Under 18’s which includes a 2 course meal and tea, coffee and soft drinks. As well as the presentation of awards and celebration of our successes throughout the year, a video will be shown showing some of the highlights of the past year, as well as a presentation of highlights from past years.

Please make sure that you return the attached reply slip by 9 May 2003 to reserve your place at this event - Presentation Night Reply Slip

It is the one chance for the year to see you fellow athlete in their evening finery. It is also where awards are handed out and stories are told. Will there be a repeat of last years balloon incident?

It is where we can celebrate our victories of summer before we all slip into cross country mood.

It is where the bookie keeping the tab on who will win the awards finds out whether he goes home crying or goes out partying. Anyone interested in putting forward their ideas on who will win what feel free to email them to vaultcam@hotmail.com.

The Box Hill Athletic Club men's State League team overcame a strong team from APS to retain our State League premiership in an exciting conclusion to the 2002-03 State League season. In a great night for the Club, the women's team improved from fifth position at the start of the night to finish in third position, just two points behind second placed Ringwood.

Congratulations to the men's team manager Chris O'Connor and captain Cameron Baker for bringing together a team which showed great Club spirit to withstand the loss of several key athletes through injury and a strong challenge from APS to emerge victorious with another premiership for the Club.

There were many highlights from the finals. David Featherston and Ned McLeod both ran fast times in the 400 m hurdles to share the points with APS in what was a strong event for them on paper. APS then took points off us in the walk, although Simon Ford continued his recent good form to place fifth. Marty Duke ran a strong race in the first heat of the 200 m but finished two places behind Michael Hazel from APS and at this point scores were level and our 10 point lead from last week had evaporated. However from this point on we didn't look back as Lane Harrison won the second heat of the 200 and Braden Fraser finished second in the third heat to re-establish a 14 point buffer.

However, it was in the field where the victory was clinched with Ronnie Buckley again throwing well in the hammer and discus to beat his APS opponent, following on from his successes at the Australian Youth Championships. John Peavey won the high jump, and when Adam Rabone produced a qualifying leap in the long jump with his third jump and Mohammad Zeed dead-heated for first in the re-run of the 110 m hurdles from last week, we had stretched our lead to 31 points.

The 800 m and 5000 m races produced some exciting clashes, however our team of Tim Cherry, Liam Rourke and Tim Renowden in the 800 and Marcus Tierney, John Meagher and Luke Yeatman in the 5000 shared the points with APS so that with just the 4x400 relay to run, the premiership was ours. Corwin Pusch, Marty Duke, Justin Clark and Michael Saunders duly finished the night in style by winning the relay to secure a comfortable victory in the end.

The women's team showed that they are not far off winning another premiership by winning the second night of competition, but we were unfortunately too far behind the strong Bayside combine team after the first night of competition. Congratulations to team managers Cathy Tilley and Bev Power and to captain Leana Tilley on a great effort this season to be so competitive after losing so many athletes over the last two years.

Female Team Scores

1 Bayside 365
2 Ringwood United 278
3 Box Hill 276
4 Athletics Essendon 217
5 Melbourne University 180

1 Box Hill 462.5
2 APS 424.5
3 Bayside 327
4 Athletics Essendon 308
5 Ringwood United 264
6 Ivanhoe – Yarra 229

While the A-Series is the elite competition in Australia, Interclub is the heart and soul of athletics in Victoria. The rivalry between Box Hill and St Kevins has developed over the years and their respective team mangers play mind games for the whole year. So it is not strange to find that the atmosphere at Venue finals is more intense then at State League finals or Nationals.

This year Box Hill had 6 successful teams at Venue finals with Division 1, Under 18 and Under 16 winning through in both the men’s and women’s competitions.

Association finals were held at Doncaster and while they started at 10:00am they still ran 2 hours overtime due to strict adherence to the rules by the officials and the inclusion of country teams in Association finals for the first time.

At the end of the day Box Hill walked away with two Championship winning teams. The Men’s Division 1 and Under 18.

Congratulations to the following Box Hill athletes who performed with distinction in cold and blustery conditions in the state championships. Due to so many awesome performances by dominant Box Hill athletes only those who won medals are listed. But congratulations go out to all the competitors.

Open Women

Nikki Chapple 5000m 16:55.6 2^nd
Wendy Muldoon 5000m Walk 24:10.3 3^rd
Georgie Power 100m Hurdles 14.52 1^st
Leanna Tilley 100m Hurdles 16.43 2^nd
Rachel Dacy 400m Hurdles 62.84 2^nd
Rosanna Ditton Pole Vault 4.25m 1^st

Under 20 Women

Hayley Tomlinson 3000m 9:58.4 1^st
Narelle Henderson Pole Vault 3.00m 2^nd
Jacqui Williams Pole Vault 3.00m 3^rd

Open Men

Lane Harrison 200m 22.19 3^rd
Steve Hooker Pole Vault 4.80m 1^st

Under 20 Men

Lane Harrison 100m 11.24 2^nd
                  200m 22.12 1^st
Mohammed Zeed 100m 11.24 3^rd
            110m Hurdles 14.65 2^nd
Liam Rourke 800m 1:56.30 2^nd
                1500m 4:05.7 2^nd
Michael Saunders 800m 1:58.4 3^rd
Andrew White 1500m 4:03.9 1^st
                  5000m 15:33.6 1^st
Ned McLeod 400m Hurdles 55.50 1^st
Chris Vergos 3000m Steeple 12:34.1 3^rd
John Peavey High Jump 1.95m 2^nd
Greg Heinrich High Jump 1.90m 3^rd
Dion Pocklington Pole Vault 3.20m 3^rd
Adam Rabone Long Jump 6.45m 3^rd
Ronnie Buckley Discus 49.98m 1^st
Ronnie Buckley Hammer 56.00m 2^nd

Under 16 Men

Matthew Coloe 3000m 9:21.9 1^st

Over 40 Men

Glenn White 100m 12.07 2^nd
                Long Jump 5.63m 1^st
Phil Coghill 100m 12.32 3^rd
Chris O'Connor 3000m 9:11.6 3^rd

Over 50 Men

Tony Bird 3000m 9:51.9 2^nd

Also on were the youth championships which for the first time incorporated some Under 23 events. As with the Open and Under 20 results there are way too many good performances to list anything other then medals.

Under 23 Girls

Beth Bird 400m 58.34 3^rd
         800m 2:16.2 2^nd
Georgie Power 100m Hurdles 14.97 1^st
Fiona Buchanan Pole Vault 3.30m 2^nd
Narelle Henderson Pole Vault 3.15m 3^rd

Catherine Allen 2000m Steeple 7:37.5 1^st

Under 16 Girls

Hayley Tomlinson 800m 2:09.9 1^st
            1500m 4:37.6 1^st
Sarah Cant 800m 2:14.65 3^rd
Melanie Adams 90m Hurdles 14.18 2^nd
                  200m Hurdles 30.92 3^rd
                  High Jump 1.65m 1^st
Jacqui Williams Pole Vault 2.90m 1^st

Under 14 Girls

Daina Neilsen 1500m walk 7:29.4 2^nd

Under 23 Boys

Joel Pocklington Pole Vault 4.50m 1^st

Under 18 Boys

Joel Pocklington Pole Vault 4.60m 1^st
Theo Oostveen 110m Hurdles 15.46 2^nd
Imran Zeed 400m Hurdles 56.65 2^nd
Ronnie Buckley Shot Put 15.45m 1^st
                  Discus 56.58m 1^st
                  Hammer 60.03m 1^st

Under 16 Boys

Navin Arunasalam 800m 2:03.9 3^rd
            2000m Steeple 6:45.9 1^st
Matthew Coloe 1500m 4:18.3 2^nd
Dion Pocklington 100m Hurdles 15.01 3^rd
Pole Vault 3.65m 1^st

Through out all the age groups, senior and junior, men and women, Box Hill has won 64 state championships medals this year (not counting the relays). This is a fabulous result for the club! We also had many other great performances that did not necessarily win medals.

In an exciting conclusion to the 2002 – 2003 track season, the Box Hill men’s team finished just out of the medals at the National Club Championships in Brisbane, finishing just 5 points behind third place and only 32 points behind the winning team from Queensland University. With only a small team of seven athletes, the Box Hill women’s team also put up a good fight, but were unable to fill all the events and finished in eighth place.

With the men’s team looking strong on paper in the lead-up to the Nationals and following on from victories in the State League Finals and Association Final, we were hopeful of achieving our first top three finish in the history of the competition. However, injuries and illness to several key athletes in the lead up to the competition meant that we were reduced to just 11 athletes from a maximum allowable team of 14. Despite these late withdrawals, the team put up a brace effort to stay in touch with the strong teams from Queensland and New South Wales. With several athletes having to compete in 4 events after a heavy weekend of competition at the Nationals, our lack of depth meant that we were unable to bridge the gap to the other teams and finished an agonising 5 points out of the bronze medal position.

Highlights of the men’s competition included a brilliant run by Mohammad Zeed to win the 200m hurdles, David Featherston finishing a close second in the second heat of the 200m hurdles and throwing 51.26 m to finish second in the javelin and Cameron Baker jumping a PB of 4.25m in the pole vault. The outstanding performer in the women’s team was Beth Bird who finished second in the 800m with a time of 2:13.35 and then ran 58.4 in the 400m for third place.

It was a great effort by the Club to finish so close to the winning team despite having no male finalist in an Open event at the Nationals and demonstrated the great club spirit which has developed at the Club over the past few years. Special mention also goes to Cameron Baker, Kerry Putt, Toby Pallett and Graeme Olden who travelled to Brisbane for the sole purpose of competing in the Club Championships, to Steven Hooker for his enthusiastic support and to Julie Milner and Chris O’Connor who travelled to Brisbane to manage the teams.

From the disappointment of this performance has come a resolve from the team to return to the Nationals in Sydney next year with a full team to go at least one place and show the northern states that we can match it with them.

On Saturday 26 April, the annual Box Hill Athletic Club 5 km Handicap race will be conducted along the bike paths along Gardiner’s Creek. The race will commence at 1:00 pm from the Bennettswood Bowls Club carpark. To those unfamiliar with the course of starting location, a group will leave from the Club rooms at 12:30 pm to travel to the start. A BBQ lunch will be provided back at the club afterwards where prizes will be presented to the leading runners and an opportunity provided to register for the coming season and fill in winter entry forms. Make sure you complete the attached Club registration form and bring it with you to the handicap race so that you can be registered in time for the cross-country relays the following weekend.

Registration Form

If you are interested in running, please contact either Ian Sloane (phone 9459 4486, e-mail sloane@goldenit.net.au), Chris O’Connor (phone 9882 6108, e-mail coconnor@swin.edu.au) or Graeme Olden (phone 9885 0890, e-mail golden@sprint.net.au) to let them know that you are planning to run, along with a recent time for 1500m, 3000m or 5000m.

5km Handicap Entry Form

The Athletics Victoria winter season commences on Saturday 3 May 2003 with the Cross Country relays. The relays are being held this year at the Werribee Equestrian Centre for the first time and the Club will be entering teams in most grades to provide opportunities for all registered members to run who indicate that they would like to run. To enable us to enter teams beforehand, it is essential that you let either Ian Sloane, Chris O’Connor or Graeme Olden know whether or not you are planning to run by Saturday 26 April (see contact details above). Note also that you will not be able to run in the relays if you are not registered, so make sure that you complete the attached registration form and return it to the Club Registrar, Angela Robbie, or else bring it along with you to the 5 km Handicap race on April 26.

Congratulations to all the Box Hill Athletes who competed with distinction at the Australian Youth Championships in Sydney. Special mention to those athletes listed below who were successful in winning medals.

Under 18 Boys

Ronnie Buckley Gold Medal Discus
                    Silver Medal Hammer
Joel Pocklington Gold Medal Pole Vault

Under 16 Boys

Matthew Coloe Gold Medal 3000m
            Silver Medal 1500m
Navin Arunasalam Gold Medal 2000m steeple
               Gold Medal 4x400m relay
                4th place 1500m
Dion Pocklington Silver Medal Pole Vault

Under 16 Girls

Hayley Tomlinson Gold Medal 3000m
                        Gold Medal 1500m,
                        Bronze Medal 800m
Sarah Cant Silver Medal 4x400m relay
                    4th place 800m
Jacqui Williams Bronze Medal Pole Vault

Congratulations to all these athletes and to all the others who competed in the national championships.

Nationals 2003 can be described in one word: HUGE!! From the moment we stepped off the plane and picked up the hitchhiker who was struggling to make coherent sentences, to the start of winter training with a run from Rydges to Adrenalin at 2:15am it was one of the best nationals trips I have been on (the fact that I jumped a PB probably helped).

With the National Club Championships on the Sunday there were a lot of Box Hill athletes in Brisbane and with them being held in the afternoon this year there was no excuses (we all remember: "Bridgie’s sick").

For the whole weekend ANZ Stadium echoed with the rambunctious cheers of Cameron Baker whenever one of his friends, or even just someone who he might have met, was announced or won a medal.

No one will ever forget Rob Stevens running the last leg of the 4x100m relay for Victoria with half a hamstring or Justin Anlezark (probably not how you spell it) breaking the Australian Record in the Shot Put, or Beth Bird running a PB in the heats of the 800m and carrying her form through to the Club Championships.

The morning of the Club Championships, captain Cameron Baker spoke to Graeme Olden on the phone to say that: "I don’t think Georgie Power will compete today. I don’t think she is feeling too well." Graeme responded that he would see when she got to the track. Unfortunately Cameron was correct as Georgie had been hospitalised overnight. We sincerely hope you are feeling better now Georgie.

And to rub it in to Marty Duke the Victorian 4x400m relay team successfully defended their title without him and he easily would have made the team had he turned up.

As always the team showed great spirit over the weekend and if will alone could have won medals at Club Champs then both Graeme and Cameron would be covered in gold along with the rest of the team. Next year Nationals are in Sydney and I encourage all Box Hill athletes to turn up if they are competing or not.

I leave the final word to Under 20 athlete Liam Rourke: "I have just been going round with Kris McCarthy and Jai Taurima. This is the highlight of my athletic career!!"

Open Women

Georgie Power 100m H 14.32 6^th
Rosie Ditton Pole Vault 4.20m Gold

Under 20 Women

Narelle Henderson Pole Vault 3.20m 10^th
Sarah Stewart 4x400m relay 4^th

Open Men

Corwin Pusch 4x100m relay 5^th
Lane Harrison 4x100m relay 5^th

Under 20 Men

Mohammed Zeed 100m 10.96 2^nd
            110m H 14.02 Gold
Lane Harrison 200m 21.99 4^th
Liam Rourke 800m 1:58.9 9^th
Andrew White 5000m 15:13.1 2^nd
Corwin Pusch 4x400m relay 3^rd
Joel Pocklington Pole Vault 4.50m 2^nd
Ronnie Buckley Discus 54.80m 2^nd

With the roof over the grandstand now completed and providing much needed shade and shelter for spectators, athletes and officials, the Club now needs to start focusing on raising funds to complete the external walls and fitout of the upstairs rooms. Time and funds not available to complete any more work on the upstairs facilities this year, however it is hoped that they can be completed next summer. The Club still needs to raise a significant amount of money to enable this to happen so all Club members are urged to support the upcoming fundraising events and provide donation to the tax-deductible building fund set up for this project to enable it to happen. The outlook from the upstairs rooms will be most impressive, however there is still a lot of work to be done until we can take advantage of it.

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 to be made at the presentation night for the 2002/03 season are:

• $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.

We are seeking a suitable person/persons to manage the canteen. Duties will include stocking, food preparation and organising a roster of helpers. Preference   will be given to applicant available to open weekdays as required by hirers of the track. Salary $15/hour.

The Club’s tax deductible Barlow Fund also includes a separate building fund. With additional funds needed to be able to fund the Stage II Pavilion Upgrade (upstairs extension), donations to this fund are urgently required. Any donations made to this building fund will be directed solely towards the club room upgrade. Now is an excellent time to help the Club to fund your new club rooms and reduce your tax bill. Any donation of $100 or more will be recognised with a plaque recording your donation prominently displayed on a brick in the new clubrooms. Donation forms can be downloaded from the Club’s web site - www.boxhillathleticclub.org - or obtained from Colin Organ – phone 9813 3597 or email at colo@bigpond.com.

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.

New email for Editor

Would everyone please note that the Club News editor, Cameron Baker has a new email address as Monash Uni finally caught up with the fact that he is no longer enrolled there. You can now contact him at vaultcam@hotmail.com.

Rosanna Ditton

Well done to Rosie who came third in the female jumps section of the A-Series meets. A big fat cheque waits for Rosie even if AA snubbed her and didn’t invite her to the official dinner. We still love you Rosie.

 Trust Athlete Scholarships

Marty Duke

Last years Box Hill Athlete of the year had a season of ups and downs this year. With the middle of the season rubbed out due to injury Marty was just starting to regain form going into the Vic Champs only to be cruelly denied a chance to defend his title when an over zealous official ruled he had stepped out of his lane. But as a consolation prize, based on his early season form, Marty came 4^th in the State League Athlete of the year.

This year the victors were Kyle Vander Kuyp and Gab Neighbour.

Double Decathlon

This years World Championships in Double Multievents are on 4th / 5th October in Austria. The maximum capacity is 48 men (thats many), but more than 35 already checked in. It is hoped that also some guys from Australia will participate.

If somebody wants to compete please see the online-entry-form on the homepage at http://www.mehrkampf.at and pay the entry-fee. There are not many places left on the entry list so get registered quickly

What was going on at this years Victorian Championships? The blue ribbon event of the championships, the Open Men’s 100m, was a straight final and the time needed to qualify for the final of the 200m was a pedestrian 25.7. "What has happened to the days when you had to run sub 1:50 to make the final of the 800m" asked Justin Rinaldi on OzTrack recently in an echo of my sentiment.

Is athletics really in that bad a shape or are people just not prepared to enter the Victorian Championships unless they feel they can medal?

The Vic titles are supposed to be the pinnacle of athletics in Victoria. Why are we in athletics if we are not striving to be the best and win the Victorian title? On a regular State League night there are at least 2 invitation heats of the 100 or 200m, which at $7 a pop is approximately the same price as the entry fee to Vics.

For the first few years when I hit open I did not enter the Victorian titles as I thought it was above my standard. But now I enter every year even if purely so I can have a competition that I don’t have to run off and do another event for. It also gives me an excuse to get ridiculously excited and go for a PB in the highest standard of competition for the year.

To all those sprinters out there who didn’t enter Vics, next year use it as an experience. Learn about check in and call room. And get a run with the quickest guys in the state who are guaranteed to drag you though to a great time.

To submit articles either see Cameron Baker or el Presidente Graeme Olden down at the track or email Cameron on vaultcam@hotmail.com.