Sunday, November 16, 2014

2014 State Relays, 15th & 16th November

Well the fantastic Junior Striders training and importantly, team spirit, paid off at the State Relays this weekend. It was a really successful team event, with many Junior Striders, and parents involved in the Relays.

Battling some pretty strong heads, not to mention a bit of Sydney traffic, it was great to see that overall there was great fun and some fantastic results from the weekend.

Day 1: 5 Races; 22 Juniors running; 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medal win.


Tessa Constantine leading the girls off in the U16, 4 x 400m. 
Tessa Constantine handing off to Ciara Sinclair

Edita Grinbergs taking over from Emma O'Reilly in U16 Girls
Fantastic result for the young team, coming
in just 8 seconds behind the winner 

(Tessa Constantine, Emma  O'Reilly, Ciara Sinclair, Edita Grinbergs)


Later in the afternoon it was the girls back on the track, and after a tough race, with a great charge by Olivia Hogg moving the team from 6th to 3rd place, the team were rewarded with a Bronze medal!

Olivia Hogg in action
Edita Grinsberg, Nicola Hogg, Olivia Hogg and Ciara Sinclair with a Bronze Medal in the U 14 4 x 800



It couldn't get much more exciting for the U16 Boys 4 x 800 - Josh Phillips ran the first leg and broke 2 minutes for an 800m (very impressive!); each leg had a major tussle with Kembla Joggers, our main rival on the day and finished up with a Silver Medal. 

Jack Mills taking the baton from Josh Phillips
in the U16 4 x 800


Liam Gorman handing off to Bryn Lynch in the U16 4 x 800





Silver medal to U16 boys 4 x 800. (Liam Gorman, Josh Phillips, Bryn Lynch Jack Mills)

And they're off! Jack Coates and Hamish Longworth U14 and Daniel Francken U18 boys 4 x 1500

Cam Gorman in the U14 4 x 1500
Keiran Gorman U14 4 x 1500 A team


Tom Kirkland giving it his all in U14, 4 x 1500
Adam Halmy racing in the U18, 4 x 1500
Adam Halmy passes the baton to Harlan Mulherin

Keiran Tall enjoys the victory of Gold in U18, 4 x 1500
U18 Boys win GOLD! Daniel Francine, Keiren Tall, Adam Halmy, Harlan Mulherin

Day 2:6 Races; 25 Athletes; 1 Gold and 1 Bronze


Day 2 continued with more epic battles, athletes giving it their all.. and the winds playing havoc on the track! 


Jack Coates passes to Keiran

Dan and Jack half way through the first leg of the U14, 4 x 800
Hamish Longworth passes the baton to Raffi Gordon for a great finish to U14, 4 x 800 B's
It's a Bronze to U14 4 x 800 A team! (Dan Rasmussen, Keiran Gorman, Dan Cooper, & Jack Coates)
Luke Gorman for U18 4 x 800

Ben Jagger and Keiran Tall U18 Boy's
The two final races of the meet were the U16, 4 x 1500 boys and U14, 4 x 1500 Girls.  The boys have a great team right now and proved themselves by getting a well deserved Gold!

Josh Phillips taking the lead in first leg of U16, 4 x 1500
Liam Gorman passing the baton to 3rd runner Nick Corel

Jack Mills takes control of the race and 
leads the team to victory
Gold to U16, 4 x 1500 team! (Jack Mills, Josh Phillips, Liam Gorman and Nick Corel)
 It was a gutsy performance by the U14 Girls in the 4 x 1500, finishing in 4th position.

Hannah Lovlin taking on the senior girls

Emma Kirkland takes off!

Strong finish by Sophie Gocher

Smiles all round from U14's and their leader Caroline 
(Sophie Gocher, Emma Kirkland, Carline Yarnell, Hannah Lovlin, Olivia Hogg)

What a terrific weekend of team racing for the Junior Striders!  Big thanks to Caroline and Tony for training, organising, encouraging, counting laps, taking photo's, running, participating.. (and I am sure there was more!)

Caroline Yarnell keeping the teams organised
Tony Wong - trainer and runner!







NSW 3KM, 9th November

As they said on the night.. It was Personal Bests Galore! for Junior Striders at the NSW 3km Race in early November.

In what was a fantastic start to the summer track season, and a beautiful Sydney evening at the SOPAC, set the scene for PB's being achieved by David Jagger, Jack Coates, Hamish Longworth, Ben Jagger, Harlan Mulherin, Tom Davies and Adam Halmy.   

In particular, a great result for Josh Phillips setting a new club record with a PB of 8.48 for the 3km race. 


Jack Coates in his first 3km track race and PB; Hamish Longworth heading for a PB

Ben Jagger on the way to his first sub 10
Tom Davies crosses the line with a 9.51

Josh Phillips setting and holding the pace for almost the whole rest.  And while doing that.. sets a club record and achieves a PB of 8:48!
Harlan Mulherin racing for a PB

Adam Halmy gets a 9.14 PB
Tom Davies running to his PB of 9:51


It wasn't just the Juniors reaping the rewards, with a number of Junior Striders Dad's and Tony and Caroline putting in a fantastic effort for some fun on the night.

David's PB

Caroline achieves 1 sec faster than 2013!