One could be forgiven for thinking that Nowra Athletics Club is the ‘800 Club’ after recent high levels of participation in this distance at competitions.
In the most recent competition, four Nowra athletes travelled to Canberra to compete in the AACT Championships on Friday 24th January to contest their respective 800m events. Cam Musgrove was 3rd in his seeded heat, clocking a new PB of 1.56.00. Will and Toby Dyball both took home a bronze medal with Will finishing 3rd in the Under 16 race with a PB of 2.06.77 and Toby equalling his PB of 2.32.91 for 3rd in the U14’s. Ella Dyball also ran a PB in her 800m clocking 2.34.04 for 8th place.
At the end of last year, on December 14th 2019 eight Nowra athletes competed in the 800m at the 2019 NSW Club Championships at SOPAC as individual athletes. Quickest on the day for Nowra was Cam Musgrove who finished 1st in heat 2 in 2.01.13 and was 4th fastest overall. Will Dyball was next fastest with a 2.08.50 in 4th place but Nash Hay was right on his heels in 5th clocking 2.08.72. Lachlan Kaszonyi stretched his sprinter legs over the 800m and crossed in an impressive 2.11.22 in 8th place. Cooper Barrett competed in heat 3 and finished 3rd with a time of 2.26.32 whilst Toby Dyball was unfortunately forced to withdraw half way through the race due to injury.
In the female races Erin Smart was 6th in 2.22.26 and Ella Dyball was 11th in 2.37.11. The Nowra athletes certainly had a strong presence as individually competing athletes and the cheer squad was loud and proud.
In addition, at the recent NSW Country Championships in Dubbo 28 athletes from Nowra contested an 800m event across 17 races. From these events Nowra athletes won 18 medals.
In the Under 9 race Liam O’Leary finished 3rd for bronze followed by Tom Smart in 4th. In the Under 10 event Taj Goddard took gold with Noah Dyball scoring the bronze, whilst in the girls’ race Rose Atkins won silver in the closing metres of the race, Elsie Proctor claimed bronze and Evie Smart was 5th. Representing Nowra in the Under 11 event was Flynn O’Leary who finished 6th. In the Under 13’s Kalani Hay took home silver in her first ever Country Championships and in the boys race Charlie Fay won bronze with Jett Goddard 4th and Patrick O’Leary 7th. Toby Dyball was 4th in the Under 14 race and Cooper Barrett attained a bronze medal in the Under 15 event. Will Dyball added another gold medal to his collection in the Under 16 event, and sister Ella Dyball added a silver to her tally in the Under 17 race. Nash Hay, another Country Championship debutante took gold in the Under 17 boys’ event whilst training partner Jacob Pepper, also a Country first-timer, won silver.
In the Opens race Erin Smart gave 22-year-old Rosie Davidson from Illawarra Blue Stars a run for her money, clocking 2.25.89 for silver just behind Rosie who snared the gold in 2.25.02. Cam Musgrove also claimed a silver medal for his run of 1.57.7 in the Opens male race behind gun runner Lawson Fittler from Armidale who crossed in 1:56.03.
Karly Goddard set a blistering pace in the 30-39-year-old race and eventually finished with a silver after Nicole Williamson from Orange ran her down. In the 40-49-year event Tiffany Atkins ran a strong race to take bronze whilst Tracey Barrett and Darlene Musgrove were 4th and 5th respectively. In the men’s race Gavin Dyball was on fire and led the field for the entirety of the race. Gavin smashed his previous pb of 2.43.72 clocking 2.29.90 for gold. (There has surely been some secret training going on here!) Meanwhile Glen Mustapic and Paul Musgrove competed in the same event from a joint ‘dare’ and finished 4th and 5th in almost identical times.
Finally, Nowra’s 800m master champion Peter Dooley added yet another gold to his large collection with a win in the 60-69 year old race.
The 800m event of course combines aerobic endurance with anaerobic conditioning and sprint speed so our athletes are certainly in good shape at the moment. The 800m is also well known for its tactical racing which has undoubtedly led to some exciting finishes for our athletes and left our cheer squads on the edge of their seats throughout these recent competitions. Well done to everyone competing.
