By Jamie Strudley
Excellent conditions greeted Yarra Ranges Athletics Club athletes for the second round of the summer track and field season at Morrison Reserve.
With school holidays out of the way, athletes turned up in greater numbers across all age groups.
This week’s program saw the return of the high jump, javelin and hurdle events for the first time this season.
It was also the round for the 1500m, the longest race in the junior season.
Highlights were the record-breaking run by under-14 girls athlete Kiara Flavel, taking more than 20 seconds off the old record to run a time of 5min 1sec, and the under-10 athletes tackling this distance for the first time.
A number of age groups got to compete in the sprint and long jump events once again, giving them an opportunity for an early season personal best, to set them on the pathway of improvement as the summer progresses.
Earlier in the week, several Yarra Ranges Athletics members competed for their school as part of the School Sports Victoria District Athletics championships.
Congratulations to all the athletes who competed – Sharni Kerr, Amy Pearce, Scarlett Wheeler, Tahlia Murden, Tiara Willis, Stephanie van Bemmel, Sasha Maggs, Aemelia Stevenson, Keisha Wheeler, Zoe Clarke, Andre Johanson, Dane Cherry, Spencer Tabone and James Davidson.
The club will be supporting and cheering those that progressed to the region championships to be held this week.
The Yarra Ranges Athletics senior team competed at various venues across Victoria on Saturday in AV Shield competition.
Final team results are not available, however some very strong performances from all athletes will certainly result in some good team points.
Standout performances were a 20 second PB to Camden Hewitson on 2000m steeplechase, a sub-2 minute 800m for Harrison Van Duuren, and a new athlete competing for the first time, congratulations Richard.
Next week the seniors head to either Casey Fields or Williamstown for round three of the AV Shield.
Sunday saw a few athletes compete in events at the Melbourne Marathon festival on what became a very hot day.
Graham Coutts didn’t quite beat the sun in, running 3 hours 13 minutes for the 42.2km distance.
Max Savill-Bentley ran a solid race in the elite half-marathon recording 1 hour 22 minutes.
James Anderson (10km) and Seamus Dywer (5km) also put in some solid performances.
Athletes interested in competing can contact the club on join@yarrarangesathletics.org.au.
