The inaugural Athletics NSW Regional Championships took place in Wollongong for the Southern region on Sunday 26th November. Nowra had 31 athletes involved!
This was an opportunity for our youngest athletes, previously not offered such a competition through ANSW, to compete for medals and FUN! Nowra was well represented by 14 athletes from the Under 8 to Under 12 age groups, across a variety of both track and field events.
In the Under 9 group, Kiefer Spearpoint scored a bronze medal in the long jump with 2.15m and another bronze in the 100m with a time of 17.17. Kiefer was also 4th in the shot put with 2.83m and 4th in the 200m with a time of 40.73. Lhiam Crook enjoyed his 1st competition and also earned an Under 9 bronze medal with his 9.46m discus throw (taking after Dad, no doubt!). Lhiam went one better in the 100m where he took a silver medal with a time of 16.72. In addition, Lhiam was 5th in Under 9 shot put with a throw of 2.38m. Atlas Baillie also contested the Under 9 events and took bronze in the 200m with 38.08 and was 4th in the 100m, finishing in 17.69.
In the girls Under 9 events, Addison Galloway collected 4 medals. She won gold in the 100m in 16.02 and gold in the 200m, with a time of 33.68. In the discus, Addison won another gold medal with a throw of 10.61m and in the long jump, Addison took silver with a leap of 3.06m. Phoebe Armstrong took bronze in the 200m with 37.98 and was 4th in the 100m (17.87) and long jump (2.65m). Skylah Reilly was 4th in the Under 9 200m (43.19), 6th in 100m (19.11) and 6th in the long jump (2.37m).
Thor Jackson won 4 gold medals, taking the win in the Under 11 discus with a throw of 14.90m. He won the shot put with 7.04m, the 400m with a time of 1.13.71 and the 200m with 33.15. Kai Thirwall took 2 Under 11 gold medals with a win in the 1500m, clocking 5.34.61 and another win in the 800m in 2.48.89.
Evalyn Norris took the win in the Under 11 200m in 30.15 and another win in the 400m with a time of 1.06.80. Evalyn added a 3rd gold medal to her tally with a jump of 3.70m in the Under 11 long jump, and then added a 4th gold medal with her win in the 100m in 14.13.
Willow Dwyer contested the Under 11 100m and earned herself a silver medal with her time of 14.21.
Emerson Boatswain took the win in both the Under 12 1500m and 800m, clocking 6.00.02 and 2.57.81 respectively. In the javelin Emerson speared gold with 16.20m whilst in discus Emerson threw 16.93m for silver.
Isla Baillie cleared 1.25m for gold in the Under 12 girls high jump and Phillip Ansah took gold in the male event with the same height. In the 100m, Isla took another gold medal in 14.25 whilst Phillip took silver in his event in 13.89. In the 200m, Isla won silver in 31.81 whilst Phillip achieved bronze in 29.69. Isla also added another gold to her collection with a winning jump of 3.56m in the Under 12 long jump.
Macca Davis won gold in the Under 12 800m in 2.42.51 and took silver in the Under 12 1500m in 5.23.80.
For athletes in the Under 8, Under 9, Under 10, Under 11, and Under 12 age groups who finished 1st or 2nd, they have now qualified for the NSW Youth Championships. These Championships will be held in conjunction with the NSW Open Championships, allowing our youngest athletes to share the track with some of NSW and Australia’s best athletes. Congratulations to Lhiam, Thor, Kai, Addison, Evalyn, Willow, Emerson, Isla, Phillip, Macca.
In the Under 14 events, Nowra had 5 athletes.
Archie Higgins leapt to gold in the Under 14 long jump with a distance of 4.46m. Archie also took silver with PB’s in the Under 14 100m (13.15), 200m (27.24) and 400m (1.01.57) whilst Hugh Thirwall won silver in the Under 14 800m, in a time of 2.20.24.
Skyla Jackson took bronze in the Under 14 400m in 1.10.99 and bronze in the 100m with 14.48. Skyla was also 5th in long jump with a jump of 3.28m. Elizabeth Davis was 3rd in the Under 14 200m sprinting 31.52 and 4th in the 400m in 1.13.00.
Madeline Oke won silver in both the Under 14 800m and 1500m, clocking 2.50.59 and 5.34.59 respectively. Madeline was also 4th in the long jump with 3.66m.
In the Para events, Kashava-Lee Essex won the gold trifecta with a win in the shot (2.41m), long jump (3.24m) and 100m (18.82).
In the Under 18 groups, Nowra was represented by 4 athletes. Alisha Mustapic backed up after running in Canberra the day before, taking gold in the 800m with an 8 second PB of 2.32.69. Jonah Watson also backed up after a run in Canberra, taking silver in the 100m with 11.69, silver in the 200m in 23.79 and silver in the 400m with 54.89, setting new PB’s in all 3 sprint races.
Lily Sproule took silver in the Under 18 1500m, clocking 5.16.80 whilst training partner Mia Monkerud was 3rd in 6.09.66.
Daniel Wood was the sole open athlete for Nowra. Daniel had a great run in the 1500m to take silver in 4.38.79.
In the master’s events Nowra was represented by 6 athletes. Anne Boatswain bagged 2 gold medals with her winning throws in the shot (8.22m) and discus (23.38m). Kerrie Jones contested the same events and took bronze in the discus with 14.42m and was 4th in shot with 6.30m. Geoff Crook also took home some masters medals with a gold winning throw of 30.36m in discus and a bronze in the 200m with a time of 36.30. In addition, Geoff was 6th in the 400m (1.25.51) and 8th in the 800m (3.30.26). 
Matt Watson was 5th in the masters 400m in 1.20.49 and 7th in the 800m with 3.16.72
Loretta Norris won gold in the masters 800m with a winning time of 2.38.05 whilst Scott Armstrong contested the male 800m and took the bronze medal in 2.32.37. Scott also took silver in the 1500m in 5.06.54.
It was a fantastic competition, and it was great to see Nowra so well represented. Overall, in the pointscore Nowra came 2nd with 1364 points behind Athletics Wollongong who scored 1868 points.
We hope this is an indication of the level of participation we can expect for Country Championships in January next year.