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The Track and Field Newsletter of MAWA

Season 10 Issue 1OCTOBER 2016

The worldcomes to Perth

Winter

Season

review

More than 4000entries received

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World Championshipsputs brake on annualPatron’s Trophy eventThe MAWA committee has decided that due tothe Perth2016 World Championships, thePatron’s Trophy will not be conducted this year.

Current trophy holders, David Carr and CarolBowman, will have another 12 months beforethey defend their titles.

The event normally starts in October and theWorld Championships end on November 6.Following the World Championships in PortoAlegre the event started later.

This is the first time in almost 40 years theprestigious event has not been held.

Rob Colling M45 100m 11.34 05/06/2016 ARByrony Glass W35 Heavy Wt Pent 4655pt 25/06/2016 ARSarah Edmiston W40 Hammer 35.38m 28/06/2016 SRPeter Kennedy M95 1500m 23:44.1 28/06/2016 SRGarry Hastie M55 10k road wk 55:27 03/07/2016 SRSylvia Byers W80 10k road wk 82:09 03/07/2016 SRSarah Edmiston W40 Discus 33.95m 05/07/2016 SRSue Coate W50 High jump 1.30m 19/07/2016 SRPeter Kennedy M95 3000m 48:37.4 26/07/2016 SRPeter Kennedy M95 1000m 14:48.0 02/08/2016 SRPeter Kennedy M95 1500m 20:30.8 16/08/2016 SRSarah Edmiston W40 Weight 11.67m 21/08/2016 SRSarah Edmiston W40 Hammer 38.19m 06/09/2016 SRBert Carse M75 5000m 21:40.8 22/09/2016 SR

ROLL OF HONOUR

Nike is one of the world’s mostrecognisable brands. The history of thiscompany is found in Shoe Dog, thememoirs of Nike founder Phil Knight.Together with a group of running tragicsfrom Oregon, Knight founded Blue RibbonSports which went on to become Nike.

Knight was a middle-distance runner atthe University of Oregon in Eugene wherehe was coached by the legendary US coachBill Bowerman.

After finishing business school, Knightwanted to pursue his “Crazy Idea” and witha loan from his father began importingTiger shoes to the west coast of the UnitedStates.

Bowerman and Knight were partners inBlue Ribbon Sports with Bowermancoming up with new ideas to improve Tigershoes. Following a breakdown in relations

The man behind the Swooshwith Tiger, the two with a small staffstarted Nike. Bowerman was alwaysthinking of ways to improve shoes at onestage coming up with the idea of the“waffle” shoe after experimenting with hiswife’s waffle machine.

One of America’s top distance runners,Steve Prefontaine was an early Nike’ssponsored athlete. Knight explains howPrefontaine bought an MG sports car withhis sponsorship funds, the car Prefontainewas killed in.

At the 1976 Olympic trials in Eugene,Oregon, a number of Nike-shod athletesqualified. One of these Nike runners wasFrank Shorter. Knight was horrified whenShorter ran the Montreal Olympicmarathon in Tiger shoes.

In the early days of the company Knight,an accountant, taught the subject atuniversity while the company wascontinually stretched for money.

At one stage his bank refused to increasehis credit and told him they did not wanthim as a client. How the company survivedfinancially is a testament to Knight’s neversay die attitude.

In the book, Knight explains how thename Nike, the goddess of victory, cameto one of his early employees in a dream,just days before the first shoes were to bemade. Knight wanted to call the shoesDimension Six.

With very little money, Knight asked auniversity student to design the famousNike swoosh and she was paid US$35 forher work.

Review: Graeme Dahl

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Walking in the wild

In late August, nine Western Australianathletes competed in Athletics Australia'sRoad walking Championship in Canberra.Amongst the nine athletes who made thetrip, there were two masters athletes,Karyn Tolardo and myself. We bothcompeted in the women's open 10km. Ourrace started at 9:30am, and on the day itwas not only windy but freezing cold. Iseriously considered racing with glovesand a scarf...

The course would have been okay if itwasn't for the wind and the hills, but theconditions certainly made it all the moredifficult for a PB. Luckily it didn't rain,but the cold made it hard to get warmedup. I had a bad start for some reason andended up in 10th position around the firstkilometre. After a while, I managed topass another competitor, but thecompetitor who held eighth proveddifficult to pass. Every time I got close toher and tried to pass her, she would speedup...and so we kept this up until the finallap when I finally managed to get past herin one of the hills.

With approximately 500m to go, Ihuffed and I puffed as best as I couldbecause there was no way I was going tolet her pass me again. Luckily I managedto keep her behind me and claimed theeighth position. Karyn did extremely well,

managing to finish in third position andsecuring a bronze medal for the opencategory. She also received a silver medalfor the master's category and finished offwith a silver medal in the teamcompetition. I was happy with myperformance. I didn't get a PB but was alsolucky enough to receive a silver medal inthe team's competition.We had time to do a little sightseeing onSaturday, and the highlight for myselfand my daughter was when we visitedthe parliament building. We hired a carfor the weekend and found it fairly easyto navigate around Canberra. Havingsaid that, we did manage to get lost acouple of times when the GPS on myphone stopped working, and only justmanaged to get to the airport and thegate five minutes before boarding on theway home. Lesson learned for next time....book a later flight home! KARYN TOLARDO

KARYN and JANNE

Janne Wells ignores the floralbackdrop as she presses on inthe 10km walk at the Athletics

Australia RoadwalkingChampionships in Canberra.

Photos: CRAIG SEABOURNE

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800mSteven O Halloran M50 2:28.8Andrew Spratt M40 2:31.2David Solomon M50 2:35.8Henri Cortis M70 2:52.5Allan Billington M55 3:06.5

Jane Lockwood W35 2:40.1Maxine Santich W60 3:11.8

100mDaniel Stolp M40 12.0Bernie Riviere M50 12.3Colin Smith M50 12.8Rob Cassian M50 12.9Owen Richards M40 12.9Jan Peyper M45 13.4

Martyn Cavanagh M50 13.0Garry Ralston M60 13.3

David Solomon M50 14.8Steven O Halloran M50 14.9Geoff Brayshaw M65 14.9Barrie Kernaghan M75 15.3

Allan Billington M55 15.9Fred Nayler M75 18.9Derry Foley M85 24.1

Kathy Lawson W50 14.6Rachel Sherbourne W35 14.6Jane Lockwood W35 15.3Juliana Kelly W50 15.4Nicolette Whittington W55 15.5Layla Cassian Vis 17.7

200mDaniel Stolp M40 23.5Chris Neale M45 24.1Colin Smith M50 25.7

Bernie Riviere M50 26.1Rob Cassian M50 27.0Owen Richards M40 27.0

Martyn Cavanagh M50 26.4Jan Peyper M45 27.6Michael Byrne M65 29.5David Solomon M50 29.8Steven O Halloran M50 30.0Barrie Kernaghan M75 30.6

Kathy Lawson W50 30.3Jane Lockwood W35 30.6Juliana Kelly W50 31.1Nicolette Whittington W55 33.7Layla Cassian Vis 35.0

Mike O Reilly M75 39.5Arthur Carbon M95 87.6

Pre World’s Mini Meet – September 24

Words and photos by CARMEL MEYERWith a month before the World Championships53 athletes took advantage of a mini trackmeeting at Ern Clark Athletic Centre onSaturday, September 24..

The day started cold and dreary for the bravefew who arrived early to run the 800m, cheer orofficiate. However, the weather improved andthe sun shone for much of the morning. Meetorganiser Barrie Kernaghan must have put in aspecial order.

Carol Bowman and Jackie Halberg deservehigh praise for the rapid organization of officialsand keeping everything running smoothly.Starter Tom Lenane and assistant AndrewCuthbertson got everyone on their way. ColinSmith helped make set-up and pack-up quickand easy.

It was wonderful to see so many new faces,although learning their names in a hurry gavethe recorders a headache. We hope to see all thenew-comers again soon. Michael Byrne visitedfrom Margaret River. Giovanni Puglisi arrivedfrom Brisbane in the early hours. DavidSolomon fought off the flu to be there. ChrisNeale, Maxine Santich and Lorraine Lopes madea successful return to the track following injury.John Lim left the track with an injury- get bettersoon John!

Derry Foley (85-89) and Arthur Carbon (95-99) ran strongly and showed theirchampionships preparations are going well.

All who attended the MAWA Mini-Meetparticipated with good humour and enthusiasm.Keep that up over the next few weeks and allwill be well.

Athletes warm-upKathy Lawsoncrosses thefinish line in the100m to recordan identical timeof 14.6 secs toRachelSherbourne (outof picture) withJane Lockwoodnext in 15.3secs.

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1500mVanessa Carson W35 5:09.0Rob Cattrall M55 5:11.1Steven O Halloran M50 5:12.1Giovanni Puglisi M65 5:23.3Peter Foot M55 5:27.3Fiona Leonard W45 5:34.8Simone Solomon W50 6:11.0Gabrielle Street W45 6:17.2Maxine Santich W60 6:42.1Roy Hart M65 6:48.6Lui Cecotti M65 7:46.1

400mDaniel Stolp M40 52.9Colin Smith M50 56.9Chris Neale M45 58.0Sharon Davis W40 61.3Jan Peyper M45 62.2

Rob Cassian M50 65.6

Steven O Halloran M50 66.3Michael Byrne M65 66.7Jane Lockwood W35 67.2Fiona Leonard W45 69.3Barrie Kernaghan M75 71.1Henri Cortis M70 74.0

Juliana Kelly W50 73.4Mike O Reilly M75 83.3Geoff Brayshaw M65 87.0Layla Cassian Vis 1:44.4

5000mAsher Lindquist 18:48.1Peter Buckingham M50 18:51.1Steven O Halloran M50 19:06.2Clare Wardle W40 19:35.3Peter Foot M55 19:38.6

Rob Cattrall M55 19:40.5Vanessa Carson W35 19:43.0Giovanni Puglisi M65 19:49.2Graeme Dahl M65 20:57.4Mark Batten M55 21:40.6Chris Gibbons M50 21:45.9Jody McGill W40 22:22.6David Solomon M50 22:22.9Gabrielle Street W45 22:39.8Simone Solomon W50 24:14.8Heather Stanborough W35 25:49.1Lorraine Lopes W75 26:44.1

5000m walkKaryn Tolardo W50 28:51.8Tom Lenane M60 31:42.6Wendy Farrow W45 31:44.1Cheryl-Lee Dean W50 31:57.5Janne Wells W45 32:50.7

Pre World’s Mini Meet – September 24

BARRIE KERNAGHAN

VANESSA CARSONand ROB CATTRALL

GiovanniPuglisi leadsPeter Footand FionaLeonard.

Daniel Stolp eases up as(from left to right) ColinSmith, Rob Cassian, OwenRichards (yellow) and BernieRiviere fight for placings.

Wendy Farrow and Cheryl-Lee Deanlead Tom Lenane and Janne Wells.

Competitors in a 200m run the bend (fromleft) Steven O’Halloran, Michael Byrne,David Solomon, Barrie Kernaghan, MartynCavanagah and Jan Peyper.

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Mark Elms powersoff the line in the4x400m relay at

Lyon.

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All eyes on Perth

More than 4000 entries have been receivedfor the Perth2016 World Masters AthleticsChampionships which start on October 26.

In the final few days before entriesclosed there was an avalanche of entries topush the numbers over the 4000 mark.

As would be expected the host countrydominates entries with 1416. In secondposition Great Britain and Northern Irelandedges out the United States of Americawith 282 to 244 entries.

With Perth’s proximity to Asia, it ispleasing to see a good representation fromcountries from this region and highlightsthe success of an Asian promotion ofPerth2016 from the Local OrganisingCommittee (LOC).

Western Australia (653) makes up justunder half of the 1416 Australian entries.The ease of entering online was highlightedwith only 12 paper entries received fromall Australian entries

The numbers are a rich reward for theLOC members who have worked tirelesslysince the bid was made in Sacramento in2011.

Team Entries1 Australia 14162 Great Britain and NI 2823 USA 2444 Germany 1865 New Zealand 1156 France 1047 Japan 1018 Finland 979 India 8810 Italy 7911 Sri Lanka 6912 Sweden 6513 Canada 6314 South Africa 6315 Spain 6216 Poland 5717 Chile 4918 Czech Republic 4219 Argentina 4020 Malaysia 4021 Mexico 3922 Netherlands 3623 Belgium 3524 Colombia 3525 Brazil 3426 China 3227 Estonia 2628 Nepal 2529 Singapore 2430 Switzerland 2331 Austria 2232 Denmark 2233 Hong Kong, China 2234 Ireland 2235 Indonesia 2036 Norway 2037 Trinidad and Tobago 2038 Korea 1939 Kenya 1740 Portugal 1741 Latvia 1542 Mauritius 1443 Puerto Rico 1444 Hungary 1345 Chinese Taipei 12

46 Slovenia 1347 Bangladesh 1148 Greece 1149 Ukraine 1150 Costa Rica 1051 Slovak Republic 952 Jamaica 853 Peru 854 Cameroon 755 Iran 756 Guatemala 657 Mongolia 658 Romania 659 Philippines 560 Turkey 561 Kazakhstan 462 Lithuania 463 Thailand 464 Tunisia 465 Bulgaria 366 Croatia 367 Ivory Coast 368 Luxembourg 369 Panama 370 Uruguay 371 Zimbabwe 372 Algeria 273 Barbados 274 Fiji 275 Iceland 276 Paraguay 277 Serbia 278 U.S. Virgin Islands 279 Belarus 180 Bermuda 181 Cook Islands 182 Cyprus 183 Dominica 184 Dominican Republic 185 Ecuador 186 Egypt 187 Ethiopia 188 Morocco 189 Nigeria 190 Pakistan 191 Venezuela 1

Australian EntriesEntries received 1416Western Australia 653Victoria 254New South Wales 218Queensland 120South Australia 60Tasmania 51Australian Capital Territory 36Northern Territory 24Entries per genderMen 866Women 540Paper entries received 12(Numbers are per State addressnot Association).

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Lyon 2015

JANELLE DELANEY

KAREN LONG

TIGHT FINISH

1500m TUMBLE

MARIE KAY

Bob Schickert receives

the WMA flag fromMarcel Ferrari,

President of Rhone –

Alpes Athletic League

and the Lyon LOC as

WMA president StanPerkins looks on.

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Porto Alegre 2013

NOREENPARISH

LYNNE CHOATE

ROY FEARNALL

BJORN DYBDAHL

DAVIDCARR

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Sacramento 2011NEIL MORFITT andPETER HAWES

French runner Maryvonne Icarre pips

Julie Brims for second pace in the 100m.

JULIE FORSTER

MARGARET SAUNDERS LORRAINE LOPES

and ANNE STOBAUS

NEV McINTYRE andROY FEARNALL

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Lahti 2009

LYNVENTRIS

PETER SANDERY

PEGGY MACLIVERTONY IRELAND (8) and DON MATHEWSON (9)

GAYLE LEE andJAN RICHARDS

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Thrower extraordinaire TomGravestock is a quiet achiever, whichsounds like a contradiction given thatthrowers are prone to exuberant roarsas they send the implement flying. Ithas been fascinating tracing Tom’sprogression to champion Mastersthrower and to hear hisacknowledgement of competitors,coaches and mentors. Recent rewards for his efforts includethe 2016 Royce Foley Award (highestpoints achieved, 3552, ThrowsPentathlon) and nomination for the2016 AMA Award for Throws.Fortunately for us, Tom also shareshis skills coaching ‘Perth2016’throwers.

Tom was born in Fulham, London in1955. At the age of nine, he emigratedto Australia with his parents and four

siblings. The familygrew to ten in Australia.

Tom is married to Annette whohas competed in throws, jumps andwalk events. I first met Annette in theShot Put competition at the CanberraNationals. Annette is a delightful ladyand the most petite thrower I haveever seen!

Tom took up athletics in 1968/9,joining Northern Districts AthleticsClub and was later in a State teammanaged by MAWA Patron JohnGilmour.

He says he’s fortunate that his firsttrack coach was hard taskmaster TedHussey (father of ‘Mr Cricket’, MikeHussey) It was then he realised thathe wanted to throw instead! Tomcredits Richard Murray for setting himup with good technique for Shot andDiscus. He won the U15 Discus andShot (record 1kg discus throw -159’.10.5” or 48.73m). As an U17 Tomexcelled, winning and breaking Staterecords in Throws and OutdoorPentathlon.

A Weightlifting Gold and a StatePower Lifting (Deadlift) recordfollowed. Not surprisingly, Tom wasrecognised as the Best U17 Athlete,receiving the Olympic Cup.

Tom moved into seniors in 1974competing alongside field athleticschampions Alex Brown (shot put), LenVlahov (discus, state basketball andfather of basketball star AndrewVlahov), the two Eds- Ed Carroll andEd Neimanis (multiple record holdersin shot, discus, weight throw etc) andMatt Barber (shot put, the Eagles firstStrength coach.) This competitionproved to be a baptism of fire for Tom.He wryly comments, ‘As the smallestof these guys was at least 100kg, my75kg, 1.75m frame did not cut it!’

Tom joined MAWA in 2009 whenmost of his ten children wereindependent enough to allow him toagain take up some organised sport.He and fellow thrower John Everardbecame firm friends. TheGravestocks regularly visit John andhis wife Kylie in Margaret River.

I asked Tom if he could shed anylight on the origin of his intriguingsurname; for instance, we all know theorigins of Cooper, Smith, and Baker.The name Gravestock certainly setsthe imagination going; however, it is aderivation of Greystoke or Greystock.

CONTINUED – next page

Come in spinner

In focusWith Carmel Meyer

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Tom throws cautionto the wind

FROM – previous pageTom was able to confirm that hissurname has been traced back to1600 in a small town some 60kmnorth of London called Potton.

Tom has always loved Shotalthough his best results have beenin Discus. He has had to unlearnsome bad Hammer throwing habits."I have a love/hate relationship withHammer. Lindsey Glass has beenfantastic to me. He has perseveredlong and hard to help me slowly startto throw hammer a little like a hammerthrower and less like a discusthrower"

In the next year or so Tom will againfocus more on discus. He hasWarwick Selvey’s M60 Australianrecord of 53.43m in his sights! Healso aims to develop as a track andfield Pentathlete. ‘Some of my friendssay I‘m dreaming!’ Tom answers thenaysayers- "I can throw a discus. Oneout of five isn’t a bad start." Injury hasdogged his run and jump events,however. In addition to an injuryrequiring ACL surgery, Tom hasconcurrently suffered from Ross Rivervirus and ‘Chikungunya’…anothermosquito-borne virus which results infatigue, aches and pains.Unfortunately, Tom still suffers theseeffects from time to time.

For ‘Perth2016’ Tom aims to getclose to or even medal in the Discus,Hammer and Throws Pentathlon.Accustomed to national andinternational events, he is notdaunted by large numbers ofcompetitors. Memorable performancehighlights include a closely contestedwin in the Throws Pentathlon aheadof Gavin Murray and Robert Hanbury-Brown at the 2013 AMAChampionships and besting formerOlympian Wayne Martin in Discus."This Discus win was a huge step upfor me, taking out a very tightcompetition with some 40cmseparating the first three places"

Tom is an athlete determined toachieve his goals and grateful to all

those who have helped along the way.He enjoys the friendship andcamaraderie that exists betweenathletes. "This includes the ongoingfriendly banter with the young up-and-coming throwers like Todd Davey".The feeling is mutual. Todd has

publicly credited Tom with being hismentor.

Tom’s motivation for continuedinvolvement in athletics is a simpleone “to stay fit and healthy”. Soundsgood, however, he also adds, “…andto be competing when I’m 100+". Idon’t doubt it for a minute Tom!

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Welcome to the summerseason of 2016/17. Thisis an exciting one forPerth as we are hostingthe WMA World MastersAthletics Track and FieldChampionships. For manyathletes, this will be their firstexposure to a worldchampionship event. Thereare a number of athletes whohave travelled to manyprevious championships and itmay be a good idea to talk tothese athletes if you have anyqueries or questions.

The championships are nowso close so I thought I wouldshare my thoughts on the finalpreparations for your events. Youshould not radically changeanything you have been doing asyour body has hopefully adapted toyour training volume and scheduledtraining days and sessions.

Some athletes think that theyshould increase the training volumein the final few weeks in order togain that extra fitness. This is notwise as the body will not have timeto adapt to the increased load.Tapering is done in the final weekor two prior to major competitions toensure you are in the best possiblecondition on race day. However,each event group will vary as to

how they complete the taper.In the week prior to the first event,

the training volume should decreasebut the intensity will still be high. Thiskeeps the energy levels of the bodyat a higher level and preventsoveruse of the muscles. However, do

not suddenly startpure speedsessions if theyhave not

previously been inyour training program.

Sprinters shouldcomplete some

sessions practicing theirstart. Long and triple

jumpers must ensure theyhave a measured run-up to enablethem to land on the board eachtime.

World championships are verydifferent to other competitions youmay have entered. Read thecompetition rules very carefully asthey will inform you of where youcheck in and how long before theevent you are required. Differentevents will have different check intimes as throwers and jumpers willhave time to complete their warmup at the competition site. Thejumpers will have time to mark outtheir run up and throwers will havetheir final warm up using thethrowing circle. Track athletes mayhave to sit in the call room forfifteen minutes until they are takenout to the starting line of their event.

On race day be proud in yourAustralian uniform and enjoy theexperience – and I wish you all thebest for an excellent performance.

Pre-event tips

the edgeWith Margaret Saunders

Niamh Keane leadsthe pack down theback straight in the1500m in Lyon.

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Track and Field Programme for October 2016

The full summer track and fieldprogramme will commenceTuesday, November 22 and notethat there will be no Patron’sTrophy this year.

There will be a specialprogramme of track and fieldevents in October geared towardspreparation for WorldChampionships.

In addition, there will be a discusand a weight throw competition atErn Clark Athletic Centre (ECAC)on September 29.

Note that ECAC will be closedfor Worlds construction work afterOctober 13.

Pre World’s schedule

MAIN PHOTO:Colin Smith surgesto the line to winhis heat of the400m in 58.5 secsduring a Tuesdaynight meeting atthe WesternAustralian AthleticsStadium.

Barrie Kernaghan gets set forthe start of a 400m at WAAS. Nick Boccardo competes in the high jump.

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WinterWrapJohn Dennehy reviews the winter

track and field season

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The significant feature of the weather overthe winter at WAAS was the lack of windon most competition evenings. Severaltimes the cold was felt, particularly by thetimekeepers who were the stalwarts of theseason, but competitors soon warmed upwith racing.

In the sprints, with many ‘true sprinters’doing the hard yakka on parks all aroundPerth and beyond, newcomer, CateMansfield (W45) showed a good turn ofspeed running around 33 seconds for the200m but a 2:17.9 600m and 77.8 400mindicate her talents lie elsewhere. JuliannaKelly (W50) continued improving herperformances from the summer seasonsetting PBS over a variety of distances.Campbell Till (M55) continued his veryslow rehab from plantar fasciitis as didChris Neale. Campbell managed theWAAS Tuesday meet with his customarysuperior organizational skills and hisefficiency was appreciated by thecompetitors. Both Peter Kennedy (M95)

and Cecil Walkley (M85) were regularcompetitors, amazing everyone with theirperformances. Peter produced severalstate inaugural performances over a rangeof events (3km 48:37.4). Lee Stergiou(M40), balancing fatherly duties withnewborn Charleigh with training, hasslowly returned to form from injury withgood results including 12.5 and 25.0 forthe short sprints. National 400mchampion, Colin Smith (M50) has runsome confident races over the one lap andis now able to maintain speed and focus,essential for 400m racing.

Sprinter Rudy Kocis (M50) has rebuilthis technique and is reaping the rewardswith promising times across the board.Core strength and gluteal engagementprevalent amongst his focus. BarrieKernaghan is showing excellent resultsparticularly over the ‘quarter mile,’ a termfamiliar from the early days of his lengthycareer. Fellow Pro runner Mark Elms(M45) is beginning to run his specialistdistances after a brief foray into longerdistances in a successful bid to improvehis fitness. Wendy Seegers (W40) has alsoreturned to the track in good shape. A 24.8200m recently was a superb run, given shenow has to balance a return to work withtraining. Club secretary Delia Baldock(W50) has returned stronger than everafter a hamstring injury and competesregularly when not holding a stopwatch.Benefitting from a winter build up underthe watchful eyes of coach Dave Wyatt,Lisa Limonas (W45) ran a 200m best ofsub 30 seconds in the off season. Thisspeed will be useful for her jumps.Perennial world medallist, Mandurah’sLynne Choate (W60) has already posted

classy times of very low 15s for herpreferred 100m. Her husband Clive oftenacts as starter at WAAS and is a welcomeaddition to the organising team.

Bernie Riviere (M50) has shownbrilliant starting speed and when nothampered by calf cramps as occurred inboth calves one evening at ECAC, hasproduced fine sprint times. MaureenKeshwar (W60) is back running low 16sfor the 100m and has added hurdles to herrepertoire. Her occasional visits to the400m echoing the sentiments of PeggyMacliver (W70), of dread and foreboding.Peggy has had a great base of fitness andis running beautifully especially over thelast bend in her 400ms. Donna Abbey(W40) is proficient over the sprints buthas shown promise over the middledistances in particular. W70 BrendaPainter makes the long drive everyfortnight from down south for theopportunity to compete and has been amost welcome visitor.JULIANA KELLY

Sprinters ignore cold

Lynne Choate (left) heads AMA president, Wilma Perkins,Carmel Meyer (right) and Peggy Macliver in a 60m at ErnClark Athletic Centre.

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In the middle distances Mark Dawson(M55) races regularly around hisprofessional responsibilities and hasexperimented with tactics to enable himto best use his particular balance of speedand endurance. Mark has raced frequentlyand has shown he can lead or sit and kickin any race. Karyn (W55) and Allan(M60) Gower were warmly welcomedback to the track and are reaping therewards for consistent training after bothhave suffered from injury and illness.Allan running an easy 11:10.1 3km. AlanGray (M55) has run several very fast 5kmsand is equally adept over the halfmarathon distance. Superb running by thetoo rarely seen Margaret Saunders (W60)resulted in a 3:39.8 1km time posted withlittle apparent effort. Her world class800m time of 2:47.7 during winterindicative of split second pacing andexperience. Danielle Baldock (W35) hasrecorded consistent times over 3km and5km despite niggling injuries. FionaLeonard (W45) after a season-ending

illness, returned to racing with avengeance and added a 1500m to herrepertoire with a world class first attempt(5:23) benefitting by tracking the ‘humanmetronome’ Bjorn Dybdahl (M60).Vanessa Carson (W35) has run a PB byseveral seconds (5:18.8) by employing thesame tactic behind Mark Dawson and withmore confidence, is now heading into sub5 minute territory. Sharon Davis (W40)ran an impressive 600m in 1:42.7 showingdetermination and excellent pacingdespite being in heavy training. In thesame race Lenz Keel (M70) 1:59.8 andHenri Cortis (M70) 2:10.0 showed greatform. Recently over 400, they finished inthe same order recording 74.1 and 75.8respectively.

Multiple world champion David Carr(M80) ran a few steeplechases during thewinter with his usual measured approachand Gillian Young (W65) ran a solo 2kmsteeple recording a very smart time of10:30. Rob Nichols (M40) is also showinggood form over middle and steeplechaseevents as is David Solomon (M50), BrianKineen (M50), Bjorn Dybdahl and CarolBowman (W60). David is coming intoform again with a renewed focus on targettimes over specified distances. His vastexperience coming into play recentlyrecording a 4:09.6 1km – target time 4:10!

Judy Davis (W50) with supportivepartner in tow, has turned herself into arunner by sheer persistence anddetermination in a relatively short amountof time, bringing her times down bylearning pace judgement, courtesy of thevenerable Bob Schickert (M70). Eachweek at ECAC she has stayed on his‘heels’ for as long as possible and is nowon the verge of running under 15 minutesfor the 3km distance – no mean feat.

Jane Lockwood (W35) producedseveral good races over middle distanceevents. Her coach Suzi Graves (W45) hasmade a remarkable return to form after amajor knee operation and has shownenough to indicate faster times are tocome. Anne Pugh (W40) succumbed toillness and injury after some excellentresults early on in winter.

Consistent performer Graeme Dahl(M65) is a threat over any distance andalways positions himself to produce hisbest performance. He has been known torun multiple events in an evening withlittle signs of fatigue. Similarly, versatileSteve Weller (M40) recently followed upa smoothly run 1km time of 3:00.9 withan equally impressive 5km win in 18:09.7at ECAC. Giovanni Puglisi (M65) has hadseveral appearances, memorably a titanicbattle over 1km with Bjorn Dybdahl andFiona Leonard, Sandwiched betweenthem all three separated by less than asecond.

Distancerunnersshowspeed

ROB NICHOLS

ALAN GOWERVANESSACARSON

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The field events resumed with manycompetitors showing the benefits ofweight programs and coaching since thenational championships. Sally Sims(W35) in particular, has stepped up inclass with improved performances overall throws. Todd Davey (M45) has hadseveral brilliant throws in the discus,sending it out over 50m. His vocals set upa very competitive atmosphere and he hasbeen in fine voice recently. His huge16.45m heavy weight throw registered onthe Richter scale and was felt as far awayas Kalamunda! Michelle De Silva (W40)has been able to throw several pbs as haveher children, Alex and Eesha. Kate Glass(W65) and Byrony (W40) display theirundoubted experience each week andnever seem to be out of form. Byrony, inparticular, is known as a ‘clutch’performer and is always able to lift herperformances when required. A 50.24mhammer throw testament to goodcoaching, solid technique and acompetitive nature. Lyndsey Glass hasshared his expertise to many of the fieldevents athletes and the results are a creditto him.

Tom Gravestock (M60) has sent theshot 11.53m from the circle and uses hisanalytical skills to adjust his technique asneeds be. Multi-eventers, Melissa Foster(W35) and Sue Coate (W50) haveventured onto the track also to run 800min preparation for heptathlons. Given herstrong throwing performances, Suestunned many with a 3:19 800m. YolandaCarstens (W50) Julie Danes (W40), NickBoccardo (M50) and Rob Shand (M80)are amongst those recording promisingperformance in the javelin. ChristineSchelfhout (W45) set a discus seasonsbest of 21.27m and followed up on thesame night with another in the shot of7.23m. Sarah Edmiston (W40) set a discusstate record of 33.97m in July in apowerful display of throwing and had thegood fortune of accredited officials tomake it legal.

Dave Wyatt (M60), besides providinggreat coaching to many members isleading by example with consistentjumping attaining a height of 1.35m in thehigh jump and 4.51m in the long jump.Andrew Brooker 1.55m Jan Peyper, bothM45, high jumped 1.55m at WAAS to‘raise the bar’ in quality performances.Andrew is a fine javelin thrower, a 25.50mdiscus thrower and middle distance runnerof some note and is comfortable over thetwo decathlon discipline. In addition toher sprinting, versatile Lisa Limonas(W45) triple jumped 9.24m and longjumped 4.29m with Gay Wyatt (W60)recording 6.43m triple jump. GarryRalston (M60) was sighted around, if notin, the long jump pit and given his evidentspeed would be a prime candidate for thehorizontal jumps. Watch this space!

Sylvia, Lorna and Karyn set high standard

Throwers step up

Walkers Sylvia Byers (W80), LornaLauchlan (W85) and Karyn Tolardo(W50) were also regular supporters of thewinter competition. Sylvia has refined hertechnique and is producing world classtimes over 3km in particular. The reigningworld champion in her age group, LornaLauchlan quietly approaches her racing

and is incredibly consistent with herresults. Andrew Cuthbertson (M55) isalways willing to assume startingresponsibilities as well as competing as isalso in the process of refining his walkingtechnique. John Smith (M80), LynneSchickert (W70) Janne Wells (W45) alldisplay great sportsmanship as they have

the inconvenience of having runners passthem every week on the track. Thesedisciplined competitors never takeadvantage of the absence of walks judgesand make considerable efforts to keeptheir techniques legal at all times. WendyFarrow (W45) has also recently competedat both venues and is relishing the racing.

Yolanda Carstens hasbeen putting in somestrong performancesin the javelin.

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Looking ahead

WMA World Masters ChampionshipsOctober 26 - November 6, 2016 Perth

WMA World Indoor ChampionshipsMarch 19-25, 2017

Daegu City, South Korea

MAWA State ChampionshipsApril 8-9, 2017

Australian Championships June 9-12, 2017

Darwin

Giovanni Puglisi (436)heads the pack in his heatof the 5000m at the 2015World Championships inLyon.