Telstra Zatopek Classic

Preparations are now well advanced for the Telstra Zatopek meeting to be held at Box Hill on Saturday 4 December 2004. The event has created quite a deal of interest in the local community and we are hoping for a nice evening and big crowd to generate a great atmosphere and show that Box Hill is an ideal venue for holding athletics competitions at all levels.

 The Zatopek is the official Australian Championships for 10,000m. Named after one of the greatest distance runners ever, Emil Zatopek. Zatopek won the 10,000m and came second in the 5,000m at the 1948 Olympics. But it was in Helsinki in 1952 where he really stamped his authority and became the only runner to win the 5,000m, the 10,000m and the marathon at the same Olympics. Box Hill has athletes competing in the premier 10,000m and junior 3,000m events, as well as the pole vault, so come along and support our athletes. 

To enable the track to be swept clean and allow time for set up of equipment and other facilities for the evening, the track and weights room will be closed for training from 2 pm on Saturday 4^th December. If you are planning to train on that day, please make sure you finish before 2 pm and then stay around to help set up afterwards.

This is a huge event for the Club and we need as many volunteers as possible to assist with set-up of the ground and equipment and to assist with cleaning up and packing away afterwards. If you can provide assistance at any time either before, during of after the event, please contact Graeme Olden on 9885 0890 (h) or by email at golden@sprint.net.au.

Whitehorse Gift

The Box Hill Athletic Club is once again holding the Whitehorse Gift meet on Saturday 11^th December 2004, commencing at 12:30pm. This year’s event will be run in conjunction with the Athletics Victoria Allcomers Meet so there will be a variety of events to suit all of our members. The main events on the program will be the 400m Whitehorse Gift race which will be organised by the VAL, the Victorian One Mile Championship races for men and women and the Banksia Sports Clinic Pole Vault Handicap. Entry forms can be downloaded from the Club web site at http://www.boxhillathleticclub.org.

Commonwealth Youth Games

Congratulations to Club members Ronnie Buckley and Joel Pocklington who were recently selected to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in Bendigo in the first week of December. While Ronnie has now represented Australia on several occasions (hey Ronnie, am I ever going to be able to write a club news without mentioning your name?), this is the first time that Joel has been selected in an Australian team and it is a great reward for many years of hard work and consistent performances which have established him as clearly Australia’s best junior male pole vaulter.

 We wish them both good luck as they take on junior athletes from other Commonwealth nations in Bendigo.

2004 – 2005 Track Season

Shield Results

After some initial teething problems, the new format for the Shield competition is gradually settling into place. The venue is coping with the additional numbers quite well, with Ringwood and Nunawading adding welcome depth to the competition. After 3 rounds of competition, the Box Hill teams are in the following positions on the ladder: 

Men    -     Division 1 – 1^st

-           Division 2 – 2nd

-           Division 3 – 8th

-           Division 4 – 11th

-           Under 18 – 1^st and 3^rd

-           Under 16 – 4^th

-             Under 14 – 7th

 Women - Division 1 – 2nd

-           Division 2 – 3rd

-           Under 18 – 1st

-           Under 16 – 5th

-           Under 14 – 4th 

State League

So far this year the Box Hill Men’s State League team has continued its winning form of last season with victories in the first two rounds. With no finals this year putting our best team forward every week is vitally important. Stand out performers so far have been the regular team stalwarts of Marty Duke and Steve Hooker, but it is through first time State League athletes such as Joshua Ross, Grant Hodges and Amila Perera that we have enjoyed success. 

 The Women’s team has finished 7^th and 8^th respectively and are in need of more athletes to put their hand up and force their way into the team.

 Once again the club is offering free membership for next season to the State League athletes who excel throughout the season. Free membership will be offered to each male athlete who scores 125 or more State League points, while the qualifying limit for female athletes is 105 points.  

Club Captains

The committee is pleased to announce that Cameron Baker and Leana Tilley have been appointed Club Captains for the 2004-2005 track season. Congratulations to them both. Please give them your full support.  

Stadium Sports Sponsorship

The Box Hill Athletic Club is pleased to announce a new Gold Sponsor of the club for season 2004/5 in Stadium Sports, Box Hill. Stadium Sports are located at Box Hill Centro, Box Hill Shopping Centre, Box Hill. The store is only a few kilometres from the track. Corey and Scott who are the owners would like to develop a long standing relationship with the club. To enable this to happen all the members must embrace the sponsorship arrangement.

 Stadium Sports are providing 10% discount cards for all members which will be posted out prior to the commencement of the season. This discount is off everything in the store from runners to equipment, apparel and other footwear. If you have not yet received your discount card, please contact Julie Millner on 9818 1278. Please drop in and say hello to Corey or Scott and present your card if your are looking for any sporting goods. Ph. 9897 4563. 

National Club & Relay Championships

 The National Club Championships are once again being held in Canberra on Saturday 5^th February 2005 this season and Box Hill is keen to enter a men’s and women’s team in this event. This season, they will be held in conjunction with the Canberra Grand Prix meet and there is also planned to be a series of Club relay championship events held on the same weekend on Sunday 6^th February 2005.

 Athletics Victoria is holding a competition to select the teams to represent Victoria on the weekend of Sat/Sun 18^th/19^th December and will provide funding to assist the winning teams get to Canberra. If you are available to compete in these events, please contact either Chris O’Connor or Cathy Tilley.

 For those members who are elite athletes, well you will already be in Canberra, and for those who may not be competing in the Grand Prix, well last time the men’s team came home with a national medal and the after party was amazing. 

BUY A BRICK

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.

Barlow foundation

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 2003/04 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.  

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. 

EDITORS NOTE

You know you are getting old when you start telling “Back in my day” stories about how much harder we trained, how much tougher the competition was, and how much faster we ran back we I was young. 

I have previously made mention of the fact that within 2 years of my age group in Victorian Athletics there were such names as David Baxter, Paul Pierce, Casey Vincent, Clayton Veltman, Scott Thom, Eugene Bernardo, Bryce Barnwell, Michael Power, Paul Burne and Paul Cleary (apologies on spelling). “You had to run sub 49 just to medal in the 400m in my school sports” I have been known to say. 

But recently I heard that a Box Hill life member and coach was heard to say that today’s 3 time in a row winning State League team could not beat the Box Hill team from the 60’s. Well I don’t know about that Rob, but maybe we would have a hard time against the 70’s team. 

Looking at the club all time rankings over 1500m and you find that the top 7 and 15 of the top 20 best Box Hill athletes ever competed in the 70’s. Why is this the case? While the current Box Hill team of the 90’s or 00’s may be beaten in other events there is no dominance of an event by a decade that the Box Hill men had in the 70’s over the 1500m.

Was there something in the water? Did Graham Crouch drag everyone through with him? Is the stress of life today costing us? Or is it because back then Rob Falkenburg was not coach to our middle distance group? Heehee. 

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

Help Win a TV for the Club

On Sunday 5^th December 2004, Athletics Victoria is holding the 3.2 km Mega Mile Fun Run in Nunawading. Every finisher who completes the 3.2 km course goes into a draw to win a new car, while the sporting club with the largest number of entries wins a 51 cm television and a DVD player. This would be an excellent addition to our new club rooms so make sure that you and all your friends put Box Hill Athletic Club on your entry form and join in for a Sunday morning run or walk.