Dates for
Your Diary

Sat  22 Sep   Tan Relays
Sat   6 Oct   Trivia Night
Sun   7 Oct   Melbourne Marathon
Sat  13 Oct   Working Bee - Box Hill
Sun  14 Oct   Club 10 Mile Championship
Sat  20 Oct   Shield Prog 1 - Nunawading
Sat  27 Oct   Shield Prog 2 - Box Hill
Thur  1 Nov   Shield Prog 3 - Box Hill
Sat  17 Nov   Shield Prog 1 - Doncaster
Sat  24 Nov   Shield Prog 2 - Box Hill
Sat   1 Dec   Shield Prog 3 - Box Hill
Sat   8 Dec   Shield Prog 1 - Nunawading
Sat  15 Dec   Shield Prog 2 - Doncaster
Tues  8 Jan   Shield Prog 3 - Doncaster
Tues 15 Jan   Shield Prog 1 - Nunawading
Tues 22 Jan   Shield Prog 2 - Doncaster
Sat   2 Feb   Shield Prog 3 - Doncaster
Sat  16 Feb   Shield Final - Doncaster

Trivia Night
2007-08 Track Season
Track Resurfacing Update
Vale Dot Cook and Rod Fraser
Working Bee
Tornado Hits Track
Half Marathon Results
75 Year Dinner DVD
National Cross Country Championships
Yarra Bend Cross Country
Sandown Road Relays
Bundoora Park Cross Country
Coliban Relays
Annual General Meeting
Geelong Cross Country
Harry Summers 50 Year Service Award

The annual Box Hill Athletic Club Trivia Night is being held on Saturday 6th October 2007 at the Ashburton Primary School.

As the Club's major fundraiser for the year, it is critical that we gain support for this event from all club members. Later this year the Club will be required to make a significant financial contribution towards the cost of resurfacing of the track, so it is most important that we maximise our fundraising efforts over the coming months to meet our financial commitments and ensure that the resurfacing proceeds this year.

A flyer is available for download from the Club's web site at the following link: Trivia Night Flyer

If you are able to attend or can assist in any way and have not already notified either Leana Tilley or Chris O'Connor, please return a copy of the flyer to the Club or else contact Leana on 0402 264 503 or by email at leana@bambooblinds.com.au.

The 2007-2008 track season commences on Saturday 20th October 2007 with the first round of competition being held at Nunawading. With the track at Box Hill planned to be resurfaced later in the season, four out of the first six rounds will be held at Box Hill, however for the second half of the season, we will unfortunately have to travel to Doncaster and Nunawading to compete.

The competition program will be quite similar, with 3 different programs in use and most events being held on 2 out of 3 weeks. There have been some adjustments made to the programs from last season in an attempt to shorten the program so please check the summer handbook carefully when it arrives to confirm the times and dates for each event. While most competitions will again be held on Saturday afternoons, a number of twilight meetings have also been scheduled to avoid clashes with other events on the Saturday.

The scoring system to be used will be the same as last season with all competitors being ranked and then gradings being selected on ranking, with no qualifying standards applying. This system rewards Clubs whose members compete in a number of events and thus fill all events in as many teams as possible so it is critical that we have as many members doing as many events as possible each week. Remember that there are no qualifying standards so it doesn't matter what your performance is, you will still score valuable points for the Club. Should you require more information about competition during the year, please contact one of our team managers - Robert Falkenberg, David Boyd, Cathy Tilley, Elissa Ward or Chris O'Connor.

As reported in the last newsletter, funds have been approved by both the State Government and City of Whitehorse to proceed with resurfacing of the track within the current financial year. A design consultant has been appointed to prepare detailed design drawings and specifications for the resurfacing and the design process is now nearing completion. It is planned to call tenders for the works within the next few weeks with the aim of having a contractor appointed to perform the work by mid-November and work commencing at the beginning of December.

We are hopeful that the resurfacing works will be completed by the end of Febraury 2008 and we will regain access to the track by early March, however until a contractor has been appointed, we will not be able to provide any definite dates that the track will be out of action.

We apologise to members for the inconvenience that will be caused by having the track unavailable for training for a large part of the track season, however we somewhat constrained by weather in that the resurfacing is best carried out in the warmer summer months. We are hopeful or reaching an agreement with another venue - most likely Nunawading, for our members to use their track while our track is out of action.

All members will be kept informed of the latest developments and notified of arrangements when they have been finalised.

The last couple of months has been a sad time for the Club with the passing of two long serving Life Members, Dot Cook and Rod Fraser.

Dorothy Cook passed away on 9th August. Dot was a President of the Womens Club and a Life Member of Box Hill and a very dear friend to many members of the Club. For many years, Joan Hines, Dot Cook and Martha Fraser travelled wherever Box Hill women were competing. Originally, Dot and Joan were timekeepers and Martha was a field Referee and together they formed the backbone of the Club and were great friends and support for many members over many years.

Rod Fraser, a long-time member (Life member), stalwart supporter and active official, passed away on 19th September. Rod was a tremendous person and held his membership of the Box Hill Athletic Club dear to the end. He gave outstanding service to athletics as an official and Box Hill AC, in particular, over an extended period.

We all pass on our sincere sympathy to the families and friends of both Dot and Rod for their sad loss

With the track season fast approaching, there are a number of maintenance tasks that need to be performed at the ground ready for the start of the season so a working bee has been arranged for Saturday 13th October from 12:00 noon until 5:00 pm.

The main tasks which need to be undertaken include:

Lunch will be provided for those who assist at some time during the afternoon.

Note that because there is a need to paint lines across the track, it will be necessary to close the track for training from about 2:00 pm onwards.

On Saturday 15th September, a mini tornado passed through the ground and across the track, giving a big fright to several members and scattering the pole vault pit at the south end of the ground all around the ground.

Breanne Cross, who was on the pole vault pits at the time received the biggest scare as she was physically lifted up and deposited on the grass several metres away. The impact cover on top of the mats was deposited over near the sheds while one of the uprights was bent over and the mats were lifted up and dumped on top of the horizontal bar, bending the bar and breaking the guy ropes.

The photos gives some indication of the carnage caused on an otherwise fine, calm sunny afternoon!

The Annual General Meeting of the Box Hill Athletic Club was held at the Club Rooms on Tuesday 10th July. After 13 years as President, Graeme Olden did not stand for re-election and Colin Organ was elected as the new President of the Club.

After 17 years as secretary, Julie Milner has resigned from the position and the Club is now seeking someone to fill this position.

Chris O'Connor, Barry Whittle, Sam Scherma and Barbara Johnson were elected onto the committee at the meeting. Click here to download a copy of the 2007 Annual Report which was presented at the meeting 2007 Annual Report.

The new committee is:

Colin Organ (President)
Cameron Baker (Vice-President)
Angela Robbie (Treasurer)
Barbara Johnson
Chris O'Connor
Graeme Olden
John Peavey
Sam Scherma
Barry Whittle

Please feel free to contact any of the committee members should you have any issues that you wish to raise regarding the operation of the Club and the facilities at the ground.

Box Hill had a good turn out for the longest of the AV winter premiership events.

Andrew White ran a great race to finish 4th, while Steve Kelly also ran well in his first half marathon to finish in 12th place. Amanda Harper ran a 2 minute PB to take 14th place in the women’s event. Both our men’s and women’s division 1 teams finished in 2nd place. See the video highlights on the AV website.

The Box Hill Athletic Club DVD, as featured at the Club’s 75th anniversary dinner, can be purchased for just $15. Stocks are limited, so get in quick. This DVD features film and pictures from about 1970 through to the present of Box Hill athletes competing at interclub, national and international competition and would be enjoyable viewing for all members, past and present.

To purchase your copy of the DVD, please contact Chris O'Connor on 9882 6108 or by email at coconnor@swin.edu.au.

National Cross Country Championships

Other good results by Box Hill athletes include, Matt Coloe finishing 4th in the under 20 event, Daniel Clark 14th in the open men’s race (and 4th under 23), Jayde Anderson, 5th in the women’s under 14 event and Cassandra Raselli, 7th in the under 14 national road walking championships.

The Victorian Cross Country Championship were held at Yarra Bend on Saturday 18th August.Box Hill was well represented in the senior men’s division, with a team in the women’s competition and other competitors in the underage divisions.

Our Junior Men’s (Under 20) competitors both performed well on the two lap 4 k. course, with Chris Hamer winning the silver medal and Matt Coloe holding fourth position, also a very creditable performance. Cameron Nagle managed to finish in 24th position in the Under 18 race.

The women’s open 6km race also had a very strong field. Rachel Johnson showed that she is continuing to return to form after a long lay off due to injury with Jocelyn Keage following right behind her and Amanda Harper not too far behind. Kerry Putt was running steadily further back in the field, with all runners recording their best results for the season with Rachel finishing in 26th place, Jocelyn 27th, Amanda, 36th and Kerry 90th.

Hayley Tomlinson won the silver medal in the Women’s Under 20 6 K Cross Country. Hayley improved her position the whole way and closed on the leader until the concluding stages, where her rival, Stephanie Kondogonis (KSB), gradually extended her lead. In the Under 16 race, Harriet Hodgkinson finished the 3000 m course in 12 minutes 13 seconds, running tenth, a solid performance.

For a full report, photos and results, please click on the following link: Yarra Bend Cross Country.

Box Hill performed well at the Sandown relays held on Saturday 4th August. In the men’s division 1 a great last leg from Andrew White just failed to grab second place, with the team finishing third behind Geelong and Doncaster. Our men’s division 3 team also finished 3rd while our division 5 team ended up in 5th place.

Graeme Olden, John Meagher and Chris O’Connor combined to win the over 40 division and Alex Dioretes, Jackson Dyer and Cameron Nagle won the silver medal in the under 20 division.

Our division 1 women’s team finished in 6th place and the division 2 team was 11th out of 14 teams.

Box Hill athletes performed creditably in strong fields at the Vicotrian Cross Country Championships held at Bundoora Park on Saturday 21 July. In the Open Men's 12 km race, Daniel Clark finished 12, Andrew White 20th, Steve Dineen 23rd and John Meagher 24th. In the Open Women's 8 km race, Rachel Johnson finished 24th and Amanda Harper 35th.

In the men's Under 20 race, Chris Hamer finished 4th, Steve Kelly 5th and Matt Coloe 7th while Hayley Tomlinson was 10th in the women's Under 20 race.

The All Schools Championships were held at the same venue on the same day and special mention is given to Jayde Anderson who won the girls under 14 championship. Other outstanding performances included Mark Poli’s 6th place in the under 18 men’s competition and Helen McCrae’s 11th place in the women’s under 18 race.

Despite a number of runners being unavailable for this event, Box Hill still filled 3 men’s teams and one women’s team at the Coliban Relays on Saturday 7th July.

In what was a close competition, Box Hill finished 4th in men’s division 1. Our division 3 team finished 2nd and we came 4th in division 5. Our women’s team was 8th. Despite not coming away with a win, it was great to see more than 20 runners and supporters making the trip to Bendigo for this event.

Unfortunately a number of our best runners were unavailable for the cross country championships at Geelong on Saturday 23rd June. We had 10 runners in the men’s open 16km event, just one short of filling our division 3 team. Andrew White was the team’s best finisher, coming 9th. The under 20 event over 6km was closely fought with several interstate runners finishing in the top 10. Chris Hamer was the third Victorian across the line, winning a bronze medal, while Matt Coloe and Navin Arunasalam made up the rest of the club's winning team. Cameron Nagle ran well to finish 17th in the under 18 event over 8km in a time of 36:26.

We had seven competitors in the women’s open 4km race. Jocelyn Keage continues to improve and was our first finisher. It was also good to see sprinters Kate Ackland and Erryn Barlow pushing themselves over the cross country. Congratulations to Hayley Tomlinson who won the under 20 3km event in a time of 11:34. In a closely fought race with the first 5 runners finishing within 10 seconds, Hayley took the lead at about halfway and ran strongly up the last hill to record a good victory.

Congratulations to Life Member, Harry Summers, who was recently awarded a 50 Year Service Award by Athletics Victoria in recognition of reaching 50 years membership of Athletics Victoria. Harry still competes regularly for the Club and is the Athletics Victoria Coaching Portfolio Manager, as well as coaching several Box Hill athletes. We hope that Harry will still be actively involved with the sport for many years to come.