WORLD U20 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Peru, Aug 27-31
Yes, Sophia!!!! Coach Steve Gaffney’s golden girl, Sophia Gregorevic anchored the women’s 4x400m relay team in Lima, Peru on Aug 31 in the second last event of the 5-day international program & helped to bring the team home to a SILVER!!! As was highlighted in last week’s newsletter, Sophia was part of the gold medal-winning 4x400m mixed relay team on the first day of competition so this was the shiny cherry on top of the cake for her & the Aussie team & to say we are proud here at Aths Essendon is a massive understatement! What a long but lucrative season you have had….
AUSTRALIAN CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPS
Launceston, Tasmania – 31 Aug – 1 Sep 2024
What a challenging Championships! This one had it all – rain, sleet, mud, gail-force winds, and freezing temperatures. you name it, Launceston turned it on! The U20 men’s distance was shortened from 8 to 6km to avoid the severe weather warning that was imminent. Runners fell in the mud, lost shoes (not saying much more Sam Meehan!) & crossed the finish line looking as though they had just trekked the Antarctic but our Essendon athletes pushed on to achieve the following very fine performances:
Medals
- M18 – Charles Barrett – 3rd, 6km, 21:47
- M55+ – Phillip Barrett – 2nd, 4km, 17:29
- U20 Mixed Relay – 3rd
Top 10
- M17 – Jonty Neethling – 6th, 6km, 21:52
- MOP – Liam Adams – 6th, 10km, 34:17
- F20 – Lara Sacaner – 7th, 6km, 35:49
- WOP – Bianca Puglisi – 9th, 10km, 40:23 (2nd, U23)
- F15 – Molly Bremner – 10th, 4km, 17:25
Well done also to the following runners:
- Finley Symons – 11th
- Charlotte Wilson – 11th
- James Cruse – 13th
- Jasper Gay – 14th
- Miles Thompson – 22nd
- Aiden Davis – 25th
- Sam Meehan – 27th
- Riddhi Mehta – 28th
- Lelle Kovacs – 29th
- Saana Jayasinghe – 29th
- Lauren Hanna – 32nd
- Lenny Gray – 33rd
- Jude Barrett – 37th
- Noah Tarallo – 40th
- Aden Thompson – 48th
- Mackinlee Carroll – 49th
Congratulations to everyone for braving these wet & wild conditions!
RECORD BREAKER! AV Country Walks Champs
Can we all just take a minute to acknowledge Ela Uzun who is only 14 but on 11 August 2024, she stepped up to the 5k distance & broke the National Record for the U16 5km race walk with a phenomenal time of 23:54 at Middle Park. Your future is so bright Ela & we are excited to be along for the ride!
Keep up your amazing work from all of us here at AE!
THE BURKE-STOBAUS RELAY CHALLENGE
honour two of the greats of Athletics Essendon & Keilor St Bernard’s Athletics Clubs, Bill Burke & Ron Stobaus.
Time: 2pm for 2.30pm race start
Venue: Coulson Gardens, Chifley Drive, Maribyrnong
Distance: 4.1km x 4 runners per team (one lap of the river)
Join us for a friendly run & a BBQ afterwards with our nearest athletics neighbours! Food & drink kindly supplied.
Please contact AE’s Danny Hawksworth if you would like to take part – dannyhawk@hotmail.com
UPCOMING TEMPORARY TRACK CLOSURE
The summer season of track & field commences in the first week of October 2024. There will be 10 rounds of AVSL this season with MVAC hosting the following dates –
R1 – 5/10, R5 – 16/11, R8 – 18/1, R10 – 8/2. It’s time to get those summer memberships sorted as you have a month from today to get your athletes re-registered for the upcoming season!
Please see the AVSL calendar below for further details.
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.
