On Tuesday 3 Februray 2004, the Box Hill men's State League team won the Athletics Victoria State League Premiership for the third year in a row with a comfortable victory in the final at Olympic Park. After a close contest for most of the night we pulled away over the last few events to win by 43 points from APS and Bayside to finish off a wonderful season for the team, remaining undefeated for the whole year.

The Box Hill women's State League team improved one place from last season to finish in second place in the final, just four points in front of Ringwood, but 80 points behind the strong Bayside combine. This was a great effort by the girls considering that there were several holes in the team.

There were numerous highlights from the evening's competition, however it was the team spirit which prevailed in the finish with athletes filling every event and qualifying in all of them except the triple jump where Theo Oostveen missed out by just 8 cm in his first ever State League competition. With Tim Williams ill and Mohamad Zeed injured, our greatly improved depth in the sprints meant that Lane Harrison, Steven Hooker and Chris Ferreira were still able to hold their own in the 100 m and then combine with Marty Duke to win the 4x100 m relay.

All three 1500 m runners ran PB's in their race to enable us to keep in touch with the other teams in what was our weakest event on paper. For the first time in many years we had two walkers qualify in the finals, as well as qualifiers in all of the throws with Ronnie Buckley (with a PB in the shot put), Chris Rutty and David Featherston all producing big throws when it was required. Steve Hooker showed his great talent by finishing second in the second heat of the 100, anchoring the 4x100 relay to victory and then winning the second heat of the 110 m hurdles while Marty Duke finished off the evening in great style with a PB in the first heat of the 400 to win in a time of 47.58.

Congratulations to team managers Chris O'Connor, Bev Power and Cathy Tilley on their fine efforts over the season to chase up athletes each week to make sure that we are fielding our strongest possible team. Congratulations also to Club captains Cameron Baker and Leana Tilley for their leadership and encouragement throughout the year. Cameron has the wonderful record of having been Club captain for three seasons for three State League premierships.

Many thanks to the coaches, officials, parents and supporters who have assisted throughout the year and without whose support we would not be able to enjoy the success which we have enjoyed this year. Lastly, thanks to all the club members who turned up at Olympic Park to cheer on our athletes and to those who sent messages of support from all around the world.

Ronnie Buckley broke his own Australian Under 20 discus record in interclub competition at Box Hill on Saturday 31 January 2004 with a throw of 59.04 m. This throw broke the previous record for the 1.75 kg discus by 2 cm that Ronnie had set several weeks earlier and registered yet another World Junior Championships Qualifier. Not content with this, Ronnie extended the record still further with a throw of 59.40 m on Saturday 21 February, also at interclub competition at Box Hill.

Congratulations to Ronnie and best wishes in his quest to make the Australian team to the World Junior Championships later in the year.

Box Hill has once again entered both a men’s and women’s team in the National Club Championships to be held in Canberra on Saturday 27 March 2004, commencing at 5:30 pm. The Australian Youth Championships are also being held in Canberra on this weekend and Athletics Australia are offering athletes in the National Club Championships team the opportunity to compete in an event in the Youth Championships, even if they don’t have a qualifying performance (provided they are also under 18).

Box Hill has once again had a most successful season in interclub competition and we look set to have a large number of teams qualified for the Venue Final on 13 March. At the time of writing, it appears that we will have the following teams in the finals:

Men: Division 1,2 & 4, Under 18 and Under 16

Women: Divisions 1 & 2, Under 18, Under 16 and Under 14.

To ensure that we have our strongest possible teams, it is essential that all athletes make themselves available to compete in the finals and notify your team manager of your availability. The winning team from each grade of competition at the Venue Final progresses to the Association Final at Doncaster on Saturday 20 March where we will compete against the winning teams from the other interclub venues.

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.

There are also copies of the video shown at the 70 Year Dinner and Presentation Night available for purchase in DVD format for just $30. The professionally produced video shows many of our members from the last 30 years in action and is a great record of some of the athletes who have competed for Box Hill.

For any of the above, or uniforms please contact Julie Milner on 9818 1278 or email mailto:juliem@brd.net.au/t1.

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 2002/03 season was:

• $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.

This month’s editor’s note goes out to Steve Hooker. Last week Steve jumped an A Qualifier for the Olympics, making him the fourth Australian male pole vaulter to do so.

With only three spots on the team available, one of these athletes is going to miss out. The only other event where Australia has more than two athletes with an A Qualifier is the Marathon, where we have three.

By the time this newsletter is out the nationals will have probably been completed, and we will probably know whether Steve has made the Athens team. So today I say: "GO STEVE!!!"

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

The Club’s pole vaulters have had a great start to the year, with the men making great strides to become a dominant force in Australian pole vaulting, upstaging the girls who have been at the forefront of the sport in Australia for many years.

Steve Hooker has led the charge, improving the Club record from 5.45m to 5.55m to 5.65m with two magnificent performances in Perth. Not only is 5.65m an Olympic "A" qualifying performance, it also breaks the long standing State record of 5.53m set by Don Baird of Glenhuntly at Long Beach, California way back in 1977. Congratulations to Steve and coach Mark Stewart on a great performance. Steve has improved the Club record from 5.25m to 5.65m over the past 3 years and is only a good competition on the weekend away from a trip to Athens.

At the recent State Championships, James Filshie cleared a PB of 5.00m to claim the silver medal behind Steven Hooker. It is great to see James back competing at an elite level and hopefully he can continue to push on up to even greater heights.

Joel Pocklington has been jumping consistently all season and has improved his personal best to 4.95m, but frustratingly has not been able to break through the elusive 5m barrier, despite numerous close attempts at the height. He is just 15cm off achieving a World Junior Championship qualifying performance, so we wish him well in his efforts to jump that little bit higher.

Also pushing for international selection is Rosanna Ditton, who after a frustrating period with injuries returned to her best form in Perth with a jump of 4.20m, just 20 cm off the Olympic "A" qualifying standard. Rosie was recently invited to compete in South Korea where she managed to beat a strong international field, jumping 4.12m in poor conditions.

Robin Barclay continues to set new benchmarks for the sport in his age category, recently raising the Australian record for the 65 and over age group to 3.20m. As this is his first year in this age group, he will be no doubt keen to push the record a bit higher before the end of the season.

Unfortunately, due to an increase in the manufacturing costs, the price of club singlets and women's bodysuit tops will be increased to $30.

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 - file:///C:/Program%20Files/AboutClub/BarlowFund/barlowbuildupgrade.PDF - or obtained from Colin Organ – phone 9813 3597 or email at colo@bigpond.com.

 INTERNATIONAL NOTES

Congratulations to Club member Andrew Letherby on his selection in the Australian team to compete at the World Cross Country Championships in Brussels next month. Andrew joins Steve Moneghetti, Lee Troop and Craig Mottram in the team to compete in the long course race (12 km). This is a very strong team and gives them a great chance of achieving a strong team showing. Following on from this, Andrew is planning to run the Boston Marathon with the aim of posting a fast time to push his name forward for Olympic selection. We wish Andrew well in both of these races over the coming months.

 Open State Championships

Women Under 20

Sarah Stewart 100m 12.84 6^th
                  200m 26.04 5^th
Sarah Quinn 400m 59.53 5^th
                    400hurdles 66.33 3^rd
Catherine Allen 3000m 10:38.93 4^th
                  3000steeple 11:27.77 1^st
Sarah Alexander 5000W 30:47.65 2^nd
Ellie McArthur 100hurdles 16.57 1^st
High Jump 1.52m 5^th
               Long Jump 4.98m 5^th
Melanie Adams 100hurdles 16.63 2^nd
High Jump 1.62m 3^rd
Veronica Kirby High Jump 1.66m 2^nd
Jacqui Williams Pole Vault 3.50m 2^nd
Georgia White Pole Vault 3.00m 3^rd
Jennifer Chan Pole Vault 2.70m 7^th

Open Women

Hayley Tomlinson 1500m 4:32.07 4^th
Nicole Sansonetti 5000W 26:36.47 2^nd
Wendy Muldoon 5000W 27:14.81 3^rd
Vivienne Lee 400hurdles 68.28 8^th
Rosanna Ditton Pole Vault 4.10m 1^st
Juliet Chaffey Pole Vault 3.50m 3^rd

Men Under 16

Domenic Aloisio 3000m 10:37.17 4^th

Men Under 20

Kevin Craigie 800m 1:56.85 4^th
Daniel Clark 800m 1:59.31 7^th
Andrew White 1500m 3:58.11 2^nd
                     5000m 14:56.14 2^nd
John Peavey High Jump 2.01m 2^nd
Greg Heinrich High Jump 1.85m 5^th
Joel Pocklington Pole Vault 4.90m 1^st
Ronnie Buckley Discus 57.63m 1^st

Open Men

Tim Williams 100m 10.55 2^nd
                     200m 21.36 2^nd

Lane Harrison 100m 10.74 5^th
                     200m 21.78 4^th
Marty Duke 200m 21.68 3^rd
                        400m 47.24 1^st
Andrew Wilcox 400m 48.13 3^rd
Mohamad Zeed 110hurdles 14.70 3^rd
David Featherstone 400hurdles 54.91 7^th
Paul Boxshall 3000steeple 9:44.18 3^rd
Kynan Dawes 3000steeple 9:50.18 4^th
John Peavey High Jump 2.00m 4^th
Steve Hooker Pole Vault 5.30m 1^st
James Filshie Pole Vault 5.00m 2^nd
Joel Pocklington Pole Vault 4.60m 4^th
Chris Rutty Hammer 45.36 4^th

Men 40+

Colin Pocklington 100m 12.76 3^rd
Phil Coghill 100m 12.83 4^th
David Ayers 800m 2:03.94 2^nd
Simon Evans 3000W 14:35.88 5^th