Nowra Athletics Track and Field second night of competition was held on Wednesday 24th October. There was a great showing of athletes with many of our newcomers returning after last week – clearly not put off by Week 1 and keen to give Nowra athletics another go! The sausage sizzle was popular – big thanks to Lisa Carroll for her BBQ skills – and participation levels were high.
In the first track event of the program, the senior 800m, there were 17 participants. Ethan Havadjia showed early season form to take the win in 2.30.49 minutes. Marcus Baxter ran in second in 2.40.29 and Martin Stiles was third in 2.45.23. Erin Smart was the first female home, crossing in fifth place in 2.50.68.
In the junior girls’ race Emily McLaren maintained her early lead to take the win in 3.17.57. Lily Sproule was second in 3.31.22 and Molly Boundy was third in 3.37.45. Lizzy Stiles was fourth and Evie Smart, looking very ‘smart’ in her new Nowra uniform, was fifth. In the boys race it was a strong win from Cooper Barrett in 2.38.59 in front of Toby Dyball and Harrison Baxter who both crossed in 2.46.21.
In the junior 2ooom there was a family trifecta! First home was Harrison Baxter in 7.46 followed by brother Oliver Baxter in 8.05 and then third was Cameron Baxter in 8.40. Go team Baxter!
It was fabulous to see Evie Smart pairing up with Heidi McLaren to complete the junior 2000m. Heidi’s first 2000m! Heidi only managed 1 lap of the 800m earlier in the night, but with a bit of running friendship formed, pushed herself to finish the 5 laps of the 2000m. Great job Heidi! Great sportsmanship Evie!
Lucas Johnston took out the senior 2000m in front of the three training partners Chelsea Pascoe, Ella Dyball, and Lexie Charalambous who encouraged and supported each other around the track.
The sprint program consisted of the 60m and 200m and certainly kept the timers and place judgers busy with the number of athletes and number of races. In the vets 60m newcomer Jeffrey Power was the fastest in 8.60 followed by Paul Musgrove (8.72) and Pete Berry (8.84). In the women’s event Erin Smart was fastest in 8.90 with new member Julie Tinker second in 9.54 and Tracey Barrett third in 10.60. In the junior women Hannah Brian was fastest in 8.64. Alexandra Smith ran through in 9.58 and Olivia Davis clocked 9.78.
The senior 200m was a great race to watch, closely contended amongst three A grade runners at the front. Emerson Brian crossed the line first in 23.98 followed by Cooper Thomson in 24.43 and Ethan Havadjia in 25.13.
In the discus circle junior athlete Taj Barrett was impressive throwing 27.10 metres. Also achieving 20+ metres were Hamish McLaren with 22.95, Cooper Barrett with 20.29 and Patrick O’Leary with 20.09.
The junior girls also threw well with Talea Miller recording the biggest throw with 24.90 metres. Not far behind was Olivia Davis with 24.12 and Hannah Brian recorded 22.06.
Cooper Thomson demonstrated his strength with a throw of 37.48 in senior discus while our new recruits showed that they have some good throwing techniques. Kane Barrett achieved 29.84 metres whilst Daniel Hughes threw 27.62 and Mark O’Leary threw 23.28.
In the shot-put circle there were great efforts by all. Cooper Thomson was again the lead thrower with 11.49 metres. Kane Barrett threw 10.05, Daniel Hughes 9.24, Mark O’Leary 8.18 and Carl Heidke 8.07.
Meanwhile the veteran women field events saw Alissa Beresford achieve the biggest shot-put distance of 6.22 metres followed very closely by Kerrie Jones with 6.08, Tracey Barrett with 5.90 and Leanne O’Leary with 5.76. In the discus the finishing positions differed with Leanne O’Leary recording the biggest throw of 17.42 metres followed by Kerrie Jones with 15.56 and Tracey Barrett with 15.23.
In the sand our juniors jumped for joy. Olivia Davis was the biggest female jumper, soaring to 3.67 metres. Emily McLaren jumped 3.51 metres and Elysha Davis jumped 2.89 metres. The boy’s event was hotly contested. Charlie Heidke jumped 4.30 metes for the biggest jump whilst Riley Power jumped 4.01 metres and Hamish McLaren jumped 3.86 metres. Our youngest athletes had fun jumping with Tom Smart jumping a distance of 2.17, Aiden McLaren 1.99 and Ben Sproule 1.44.
Whilst our juniors jumped long our seniors (a very small collection of them) jumped high. Daniel Hughes cleared the bar at 1.45 metres; Paul Musgrove cleared 1.35 and Steve Thomson 1.30. Pete Berry and Dean Bryce gave it their all, but unfortunately didn’t manage a clean jump this week; maybe next time.
It’s great to see so many people enjoying the sport of athletics and we love seeing the family participation. Results can be found on our website or through the link on our facebook page. Next week we will compete with Series 3 of the program. See you there!
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