Around the grounds

2016 Victorian Country Championships

A contingent of MUAC athletes ventured to Geelong to compete at John Landy Field on the banks of the Barwon River for the Victorian Country Champs. Jeanette van den Bulk both made the final of the 400m hurdles, only to find that running two races in one afternoon is tough work, finishing 5th and 8th respectively. Tim Thomas took 2nd in the 50+ 3000m in 10:18, fighting well in the humid conditions. A buzzing crowd on Saturday saw some fine track and field, including Cath Macrae taking another win in the Pole Vault, clearing 3.50m. Kath Iannello and Jem Gibbs shared 4th spot with 3.15m. Aaron Page’s 6.17m in the Long Jump garnered him 11th place as he prepares for the Decathlon. Mate Zahtila crack the 50m barrier to win the Javelin with 52.44m. Elizabeth Ruach won the U20 400m with a sub 60 second clocking (59.56) and would back it up with a fine 2nd in the 200m. Gwen Thornton took 5th in the 400m final running 59.08. Junkers Zhou and Al Cole hit the 100m placing 17th and 23rd respectively, with Zhou also taking 14th in the 400m. Tim Thomas held the lead in the Men’s 50+ 1500m until 150m to go and held on for third place in 4:42. Elizabeth Ruach continued her impressive carnival on the Sunday, with 4th in the Long Jump before combining with Thornton, Deane and van den Bulk to take 2nd in the 4x400m relay in 4:02.04 and 2nd in the 4x100m in 51.60. Thorton also ran well for 6th in the 200m in 26.18. Amy McCormick had a virus affected 3000m steeplechase that included a rest in the middle of the race and still look third place. Yohan Philip ran an impressive 9:50 in the 3000m steeplechase for 2nd place.  Ben Franzi’s 2:19.17 in the 40+ 800m was good enough for 5th place but he’ll need to improve if he’s to beat Gwen Thornton in their looming showdown.

AV Knockout 2

MUAC athletes were also out in force at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday for Round 2 of AV Knockout. Seamus Hayes took 7th in the 200m in 22.60 and 10th in the 100m in 11.39. Jarrod Pageot won the Long Jump with 6.50m in a good sign after a cautious start to the season. Sandro’s sprungers continued their good form with Hannah Adlerton winning the High Jump with 1.70m just in front of squad mate Kaitlin Morgan with 1.65m. Kath Iannello returned from Geelong to win the Knockout Vault with 3.30m with Dawn Hartigan winning the 40+ vault with 3.15m, and super coach Warren Hill winning the mens 40+ vault with 2.40m.  Nese Zutso jumped 12.53m in the triple for 5th place, with Kaitlin Morgan taking 5th as well with 11.82m just ahead of Hannah Alderton with 11.56m. Aaron Page continued his decathlon preparation with 5th in the 110m hurdles and 2nd in the discus with 34.47m, and 3rd in the Shot Put with 10.99m. Joel Baden took it easy, winning the high jump in 2.05m with Joel Mason taking 3rd with 1.90m in his first MUAC comp for the season.

Vic Country Championships Results

AV Knockout 2 Results