Dates for
Your Diary

Sat  10 Dec   Shield Round 9, P1, Box Hill
17-18th Dec   Vic Club & Relay Champs, Newport
Sat   7 Jan   Kings Allcomers Meet, Box Hill
Sat  14 Jan   Region Final, Box Hill
Thur 26 Jan   Association Final, Doncaster
3rd-5th Feb   Australian Open Champs, Sydney
Sat  11 Feb   Kings Allcomers Meet, OP
17-19th Feb   Vic Open & U20 Champs, MCG
Sat  25 Feb   Kings Allcomers Meet, Ballarat
Sat   4 Mar   Kings Allcomers Meet, Box Hill
Thur 16 Mar   Vic Milers Club Meet, Box Hill
Sat   2 Apr   Australian Club Champs, Adelaide

Athlete of the Year
Club Room Upgrade Update
Firm Solutions Sponsorship
Victorian Relay and Club Championships
Security
Stadium Sports
Cleaner
Venue Final
Kings Allcomers Meets

At the recent Whitehorse Sports Awards, Steven Hooker was named the 2005 Whitehorse Athlete of the Year.

After earning his place on the 2004 Olympic team that competed in Athens and the 2005 Australian team that competed at the World Athletic Championships in Helsinki, Steven recorded his personal best height of 5.87m earlier this year.

This vault saw Steven ranked fifth in the world and also wrote him into the record books as he broke a long-standing Victorian record. He played a major role in the club winning the State League Premiership earlier this year.

Despite his international success, he remains a loyal member of the Box Hill Athletic Club and continues to train and compete locally.

The frustrations and delays with completion of the disabled access ramp to the Club rooms continue.

When design work for the project started in August, we were advised that construction should be complete by the end of November so we are most frustrated that we have reached the end of November and there has still been no construction work started yet.

The City of Whitehorse has awarded a contract to a builder to complete the works, however costs increases have meant that there has been a delay in starting the work as they consider options for reducing the cost.

The contractor is currently hoping to complete the work in February, however it appears likely that it will be March before we are finally able to gain access to the rooms.

The Box Hill Athletic Cub’s new sponsor, Firm Solutions is pleased to offer members and their family and friends a free junior or senior club membership with every loan arranged by Firm Solutions.

Whether it is for home purchase or refinance, commercial loans, business or personal loans, vehicle finance, construction or retirement funding, Firm Solutions Directors Mario Alfonso and Jamie Hall are committed to helping you save time and money by helping you to find the right loan.

Best of all, their service is provided at absolutely no cost to you. Firm Solutions receives a brokerage from the lender providing the loan that you choose, and this cost is not passed on to you in any way.

With over 35 lenders and 400 loan products available, you are sure to find the product that best suits your needs.

To see how they can help you, call Mario and Jamie on (03) 9853 4108 or apply online at www.firmsolutions.com.au.

Once again the Club Championships will be held in conjunction with the Relay Championships on 17 and 18 December at Newport Park Athletics Facility, North Road, Newport (Melway ref. 56 B4). The junior boys and the women will compete on Saturday morning and the junior girls and the men on Sunday morning for the club championship and the relay events commence at 1pm Saturday 17 and 1.30pm Sunday 18.

The National Club Championships will be held in Adelaide on 2 April 2006 and the National Relay Championships will be held in conjunction with the Open Victorian Championships at the MCG in February – quite an incentive to be involved.

As reigning National Club Champions the men will be keen to hold on to their title and the women, bronze medalists last year, will be aiming to move up a place or two. Don’t miss out on your chance to be part of these great club events - make your availability known to your team manager as soon as possible.

The club rooms are continuing to be left unlocked and lights left on. Most recently the door was left open, lights on and the gym open all night. This is becoming a major problem and we ask that members with keys be responsible and if you are not going to be last to leave, ensure that the door is in locked position and instruct whoever is remaining to turn off the lights and make sure the door and gate are shut and locked when they leave. This is even more important with the holiday season coming up.

If the problem persists we will have no option but to have designated opening and closing times for use of the gym.

You may have noticed that the club change rooms and toilets are looking very clean and tidy. Susan Lowe is cleaning, usually on a Wednesday, and is also helping Peter out with some ground openings. If you see her around please make her feel welcome.

Venue Final

To ensure that we have as many teams as possible progress to the Association Finals, it is important that we have as many athletes as possible competing in the Venue Final. Please let your team manager know if you are available to compete. Note that you can still compete by invitation even if your team is not in the finals.

As the season finishes very early this year, make sure that you take every opportunity to compete by supporting your club at the Venue Final.

Athletics Victoria is holding a series of Allcomers Meets in the New Year in place of normal Shield competition in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games. Two of these events will be held at Box Hill - on Saturday 7th January and Saturday 4th March.

Prizes are drawn each round, with the clubs having the most competitors competing having the greatest chance of winning the prizes which consists of new athletic equipment for the winning clubs.

With normal Shield competition completed very early this season you are urged to support the Kings Allcomers Meets to extend your season into March. It will also provide an excellent means of keeping in shape for our National Club Championships teams.