IN THIS ISSUE
- Athletics Essendon Christmas Gift – HURRY TO GET YOUR ENTRY IN!!
- National All Schools results
- AE’s oldest Club record falls to Gout!
- State Relays – Zatopek finals for our 4x400m teams
- Zatopek Track Challenge, Aberfeldie
- Collingwood Classic results
- ON Victorian 5000m Championship results
- Celebrating our international competitors
AE’s CHRISTMAS GIFT & FITZGERALD CUP, Tuesday 10th, ENTRIES STILL OPEN!!
Tomorrow night, the 10th of December, is the annual running of the AE Christmas Gift & Fitzgerald Cup & believe it or not, entries are still open!! This event is open to all registered AE athletes & there is a 110m Handicap event as well as the 2400m Fitzgerald Cup which is 6 laps of the Aberfeldie track & is also a handicapped event. All entrants will preferably have a recent time over the distance entered or similar distance so that handicapping can be calculated accurately. The timetable commences at 6.30pm & THERE IS NO ENTRY FEE, just a registration email to dannyhawk@hotmail.com or via the link. What a great way to close out the 2024 competition year & have a bit of fun while you’re at it! Get your entries in quick!
AUSTRALIAN ALL SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS, Dec 6-8
The action was nothing short of sizzling at this year’s All Schools Nationals in Brisbane last weekend. Not only were the temperatures scorching but the action was coming in hot too with some incredible stand-out performances from our AE athletes & of course, the record breaking races of Queensland’s Gout Gout! Fun fact – Gout’s 20.04 200m time breaks the 56-year national record held by the incredible Peter Norman who ran a blistering 20.06 at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 & became an Essendon member when East Melbourne Harriers merged with Essendon in the late 70’s. All records were merged so Norman’s record set all those years ago, still stands at our club!
Congratulations are in order to the following athletes -:
GOLD
- Khushnoor Rangi (Bill Georgantas) – U18 Pole Vault, 4.05m – CR, SB
- Jonty Neethling (Charlotte Wilson) – U17 2000m Steeple, 5:52.20 – CR, SB
- Owen Veltman (Max Warlow) – U15 400m, 50.47 – SB
- Ethan Vom – U14 4x200m Mixed relay, CR & 4x100m relay
SILVER
- Sukhnoor Rangi (Bill Georgantas) – U18 Pole Vault, 3.95m – SB
- Arden Stevens (Alwyn Jones) – U18 Triple Jump, 14.52m – SB
- Ethan Vom – U14 90m Hurdles, 12.72 – SB
BRONZE
- Archer Bramble (Gregor Gojrzewski) – U16 2000m Steeple, 6:09.38 – PB
- Owen Veltman – U15 200m, 22.17
Wonderful performances also from these AE members -:
- Finn Dooley (Martin Sheppard) – U17 High Jump, 4th – SB
- Owen Veltman (Max Warlow) – U15 100m, 4th & 4x400m Mixed relay, 4th
- Lillian Micallef (Alwyn Jones) – U16 Long Jump, 4th & Triple Jump, 6th – PB’s
- Charlie Morton (Gregor Gojrzewski) – U16 2000m Steeple, 5th – PB
- Olivia Evagelistis (Bill Georgantas) – U16 Pole Vault, 5th
- James Moore – U15 Hammer, 6th & Shot Put, 10th
- Ella Duncan (Martin Sheppard) – U17 High Jump, 7th – =SB
- Ethan Vom – U14 200m, 7th
STATE RELAYS, 4X400m FINALS AT ZATOPEK, OPEN MALE & FEMALE TEAMS, Saturday December 14th
Following on from AV State Relays on November 23/24, our MOP & FOP 4x400m relay teams will be racing the finals at Zatopek this Saturday night at Lakeside. It’s a very exciting opportunity to compete on the big stage & crown the fastest open men’s & women’s relay teams in the state so get on down for a huge night of events, big names, entertainment & most importantly, to cheer our AE teams to a podium finish! You can purchase tickets HERE
Belated congratulations to the U18 men’s 4x100m relay team for their GOLD at States which was a result overlooked in the last newsletter. What a sensational effort guys, congratulations!!!
ZATOPEK TRACK CHALLENGE, Aberfeldie, December 7th
Last Saturday night saw the annual running of the Zatopek 10,000m Track Challenge at MVAC with approximately 80 athletes competing across four races. It was a very warm evening but the vibe was awesome & a small contingent of AE members put together a very organised & successful meeting, with special thanks to Stephen Murphy for doing a large portion of the workload behind the scenes & the hard-working, John Cooper ably assisting him.
Great runs from our Records Expert, David Jones in the Div 4 race with an 8th place finish & a 1:09 race time as well as a very respectable 3rd place in the Div 2 race from Ben Rowse with a quick time of 34:48; no doubt helped by the magnificent pacing duties of our very own Liam Adams who led out both the Div A & B races beautifully, despite the heat! Well done gents! Full results are of course available on AV Results Hub.
COLLINGWOOD CLASSIC, December 3rd
Another evening of racing took place at Clifton Hill with the Collingwood Classic. Hosting events from the 100m, mile, 3000m, 5000m & a 2x2x400m relay, the event was attended by two of our middle distance athletes in Riddhi Mehta & James Cruse. The night was very worth their while with Riddhi achieving a quick time of 6:02.15 over the mile & James coming in 4th in the same mixed race, only 10 seconds off the lead with a time of 4:24.99. Fantastic racing & congratulations on your results!
ON VICTORIAN 5000m CHAMPIONSHIPS, Lakeside, 28/11
FOP
RACE A – Charlotte Wilson, 7th, 17:12.44, Piper Gay, 16th, 17:51.44
MOP
RACE D – Ethan Williams, 3rd, 15:58.02
M20
RACE A – Charles Barrett, 1st, 14:37.08, James Cruse, 9th, 15:08.06, Jonty Neethling, 10th, 15:18.30
RACE B – Aiden Davis, 4th, 15:42.59, Jude Barrett, 13th, 17:09.48
Amazing results from our incredible middle distance athletes!
CELEBRATION OF ATHLETIC ESSENDON’S INTERNATIONAL COMPETITORS
A number of athletes from AE were selected to represent Australia on international teams this year – Paris Olympics, Oceania’s, World Relay Champs & World U20 Championships & a couple of AE coaches as well as Club legend, Arthur Whitchell took them out to dinner to celebrate the green & gold selection & honour their status as international competitors. We hope that Khushnoor & Sukhnoor Rangi, Finley Symons, Chris Mitrevski & Sophia Gregorevic had an awesome night & acknowledge the invitation of Liam Adams, Linden Hall & Mikeala Selaidinakos who were unfortunately apologies for the evening. THANK YOU TO OUR CLUB COACHES & ARTHUR FOR THIS WONDERFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT & WELL-DESERVED CELEBRATION!!
REACH OUT
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there is anything we missed, by sending our secretary Rebecca an email at secretary@athleticsessendon.org.au.
