NEWS

Weekly Wrap October 11th 2024

IN THIS ISSUE:

  • Athletics Essendon President, Martin Sheppard – October message
  • Success at our inaugural AVSL season launch BBQ
  • Round 1 results from AVSL
  • Team Managers, membership, event registration & AV Results Hub
  • Upcoming Essendon Gift on November 9
  • AA coach & community hero award

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Start of the Season 

This week, saw the start of the formal Track and Field season and although many of our top athletes are still winter training, the AVSL competition provides an ideal opportunity to see how winter training is going. You don’t need to always compete in your favourite event; try others to help the Club achieve more points. A few years ago, I remember watching Alwyn Jones, our esteemed AE horizontal jumps coach & former Commonwealth Games representative, high jump 1.95m at our track while teasing ‘the real high jumpers’!! Let’s get that fun back and try different events. 

A few weeks ago, we watched Armand Duplantis (Mondo), the world record holder for pole vault and Karsten Warholm, the men’s 400m championship hurdler, race over 100m.  It wasn’t their pet event but they had great fun racing & provided a world spectacle! I’m challenging our members to celebrate their talents in different events. I’d love to see our pole vaulters and high jumpers meet in the long jump pit and why not have some sprinters join in? 

Can we see the distance runners competing in the 400m for speed? Let’s celebrate these challenges – if you are up for the challenge, let us know and we will showcase it in the newsletter. There will be a prize for the best competition event this year at the End of Year celebration night. 

PB’s for the Year

Apart from the AVSL being the main focus for many of our athletes, we are keen to promote and monitor how many PBs our club can achieve this season on the track & in the field, so let us know every time you achieve a PB representing Athletics Essendon or at an International/National event. The athlete with the highest improvement with their PB will receive an award at the End of Year celebration in April/May 2025.

The Essendon Gift

Don’t forget the Essendon Gift on Saturday, November 9th, at Aberfeldie. Last year was amazing – with over 3,000 spectators, a DJ music show, food trucks, BBQ, Olympians and athletes racing off a designated mark or ‘handicap’, giving them all an equal opportunity to win, whilst having fun at the same time! It’s not to be missed, and watch out for the hilarious videos on our social platforms. This year we are introducing a handicapped high jump competition with some of Australia’s highest jumpers competing against local athletes!!! 

Recent Meeting with Council

I had the pleasure of meeting with Moonee Valley City Council Head of Leisure, Simon Laughton, last month with Little Athletics President, Troy Jardine. It was a very positive meeting and a number of key opportunities were identified:

  • New track – The track has a shelf life and the recent repairs have shown that. There is no timeline budgeted currently, but it is anticipated that this will be in the next 4-5 years. Both Clubs have agreed to try and fast-track this and to do so, we will start and aim to develop a ‘Masterplan’ for the track by Christmas, between both Clubs. Without this, we can’t get the project costed or seek Government funding for any upgrades.

We will be exploring everything within ‘our fence line’, so if you have any ideas, please drop me a line at president@althleticsessendon.org.au

We are keen to explore:

  • Spectator areas (removal of sand area)
  • Warm-up/x country around grass fence
  • Extension of Jump pits to 4 from 2
  • Pole Vault to be expanded to jump both ways
  • Throws areas/cages to be revisited 
  • Use of technology to enhance the experience
  • New ‘home straight’ lanes

What do you think we should have?

  • Investment Fund – Some of these ideas will cost the club and we currently have a small sinking fund that our Committee’s predecessors were shrewd enough to establish. Council has provided permission for advertising to be erected around the Track facility, so both clubs will be exploring how we can maximise this and build our investment fund further. 
  • New Clubhouse – Similar to the Track, we have outgrown this and as both Clubs target an aligned membership base of over 1,000 athletes, our space isn’t large enough. Council recognises this and we will, as part of the Master plan, explore how we can increase the footprint that we need for the next 20-plus years. Again, ideas are welcome. 
  • Park lights – we have pressed Council for the need of new lights around the park due to how dangerous it is during winter. They were receptive to this and we will keep encouraging them on this for all the athletes and members of the community who use the park on a winter’s evening.

New Policy and Procedures

Your committee are working on introducing and updating new policies and procedures as this year progresses and you will be given the opportunity to comment on them as we develop them. Our first three that are being developed with key committee members include:

  • Financial strategy – we have some small savings thanks to our predecessor’s shrewd management and we are keen to introduce a game plan of how we use this money and how much we need to have in reserve in case there is a flood, or COVID (please God no!!) and another unplanned event. Joel Cuzzi, our Treasurer and I are working on this – you should see the draft after the November committee meeting 
  • Coaching Game Plan – the success of our club is built on the coaches we have and we have some amazing coaches, but we also have some gaps and the need to support some of our coaches with larger squads. Steve Gaffney and Frances Lipscombe are working on this and will test it with the coaches in November ready for next year. 
  • Member Protection Plan – we all are aware that we need to create a safe and thriving environment for our children and athletes and we have some statutory obligations here as well. Kim Walsh and myself are working on this to ensure we can do this. Our aim will be to have a draft of this to share by the end of November.  

If you have anything you would like to connect with me on feel free to drop me an email at president@althleticsessendon.org.au


On Tuesday, 1 October, AE celebrated the start of the 24/25 AVSL season with a BBQ at Aberfeldie compliments of our Olympic marathoner, Liam Adams.  Liam was the lucky recipient of a $1000 voucher from Woolworths & he generously donated this back to the Club for the provision of delicious food & drink that was provided to AE athletes in a fantastic get-together. Dom Condello & his fellow BBQ experts cooked up a storm & a great feast was had by all!  This event was so successful that we hope to host a similar launch as an annual event.  

Thanks again to Liam & every one else who contributed to making this night a great success & to all our athletes, coaches & their families & friends for coming along & supporting the occasion.


Last Saturday saw the first round of the summer track & field season, but you would have thought it was the start of the winter cross country season with the cold, windy & wet conditions that athletes were subjected to! 120 Essendon athletes competed across all events at Aberfeldie & the outcome was ASTONISHING – we finished SECOND on the Premier Division ladder, behind Eaglemont & just ahead of the usually dominant, Diamond Valley so well done to each & every one of you that earned points towards the Club’s total, as well as towards individual Most Valuable Athlete (MVA) ladder standings.  

Speaking of MVA, Ella Leith, F16, finished 9th with 1,181 points & also in the top 20, was Armani Mauriohooho, F16, with 1,144 points.  Samual Duncan ran an amazing 34 second PB in Heat 1 of the 3000m at Aberfeldie, with a 9:19.3, while Lilli Micallef shaved almost a second off her 90mH PB with a blinding 13.90 (-2.4w) at Casey Fields. 

Please send in any other fantastic PB’s for us to share with the membership.

Round 2 entries have closed & competition is across Doncaster, Murrumbeena, Ballarat & Bendigo venues this weekend.  Good luck to all those competing & let’s finish high up on the AVSL ladder like last week if we can!  Round 3 entries have opened but remember to get in quick for those field events across all venues as they are very popular, have limited places allocated & fill very fast!  

PLEASE ALSO LOGIN TO YOUR HELPER APP VIA THE MEMBER PORTAL HERE TO VOLUNTEER FOR A DUTY!  

It is expected that each member assist with AT LEAST 3 duty allocations during the season.

Please don’t leave it to the same volunteers week in, and week out, it’s just not team spirit.

On the topic of all things AVSL, please also make sure you have your membership sorted by now or else you risk not being able to enter for events, whether it be AVSL, Specialist meets (High Velocity, Rare Air, Milers, relays, throwers & walks) or upcoming State Championships.  Your Team Managers are always on hand to assist you with any concerns or queries or please reach out to our friendly secretary, Rebecca at secretary@athleticsessendon.org.au.  Also remember, all your results are available on the Athletics Victoria Results Hub, along with your club/MVA points, ladders & any other AVSL/athlete results. Please also make sure you check your weekly results are recorded correctly on the website as occasionally there have been errors & missed results/points. AV allow enquiries to be submitted up to 5pm on the Monday following the round to rectify any oversights which means you don’t miss out on valuable points or gradings.

Team Managers are as follows – 

FU14 – 18: Kristen Towers – kristowers@me.com – 0417 117 252
M&F 40+: Kristian Lakusa  – lakusakris@gmail.com – 0430 588 687
MOP/U20: Vishnu Satish – vishnusatish@gmail.com – 0423 385 777
FOP/U20: Melissa Foster – mfmasseuse@gmail.com – 0424 187 513
MU14 -18: Sandra Shulze – schulzesandra@hotmail.com – 0416 136 016

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SHARING YOUR RESULTS IN THE NEXT NEWSLETTER!  G


ESSENDON GIFT, SATURDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2024

It really is hard to believe that the Essendon Gift is already in its third year & continues to grow & improve to offer more events, more excitement & more prize money on offer!  The athletes, both amateur & professionals, are getting ready to burn up the track with official handicapping making every race exciting, nail-biting, non-stop action! 

There are 15 race sashes up for grabs for the winner of each race, which caters for a variety of age groups from U14, U18, Open & of course, Masters.  There will also be a handicapped high jump competition & rumour has it there are going to be some big Australian names attending & you may even see an Olympian or two!  

The event caters for all ages & promises to be exciting from start to finish with commentary, music, alcohol (must be over 18), canteen & BBQ facilities operating. Who knows, we may even witness the next Stawell Gift winner in action or Olympian.  If you think this sounds like an event you would like to try your hand at, head to the Victorian Athletic League website & register now – val.org.au or just come along & watch all the action.  

Any assistance on the day would be greatly appreciated – please contact domenicocondello@bigpond.com if you would like to lend a hand. 

Entries close on October 24, 2024.


Last week, Athletics Australia & proud sponsors, Chemist Warehouse, set about finding a “Community Hero” from all it’s Coach of the Month Awards which was run over the last 12 months.  

Our AE President, Martin Sheppard, who is also an AE High Jump Coach, was nominated by Team Wilson (think Maddox, Travis, Heather & Ashai) last year & won a monthly award, placing him in the running to win a $1000 cash voucher if nominated for the overall ‘hero’ of community coaching.  Votes flooded in for the 12 coaches & Essendon athletes & families all got behind Martin last week, registering their votes for him.  Martin declared that if he won, he would donate the $1000 to our very own club for the purpose of acquiring new jumps equipment.  And guess what, HE WON!!  

Thanks very much to everyone who took the time to vote & support our own & how good is it that our members benefit from it too! Congratulations Martin, so well deserved!


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.