By Jamie Strudley
An enthusiastic, talented group of four Yarra Ranges Athletics athletes headed to Adelaide over the weekend to represent Victoria at the Australian All Schools Track and Field Championships. This is the premier event for secondary school athletes in Australia and brings together the most talented athletes in Australia. In excess of 20 Australian records were broken over the weekend in very hot, windy conditions. Yarra Ranges Athletics was represented by Kiara Flavel, Maddie Laven, Sarah Ebbels and Bradley McMeeken.
Kiara was first to compete in the Women’s U18 1500m Final on Friday night. The very hot, windy conditions contributed to a slow opening 800m with Kiara finishing strongly for seventh place. Kiara was in action again on Saturday in the W18 800m where she chased hard to finish in an excellent third place and Bronze medal.
Sarah Ebbels (W18 Hammer) and Bradley McMeeken (M15 Para 200m) were in action on Saturday with both athletes recording big PB’s to finish sixth and seventh respectively.
Our final athlete to compete was Maddie Laven in the Women’s U18 2000m Steeplechase. In a race where the Australian record was broken, Maddie was always just off the leading group, running very strongly to finish in an awesome third place and claim the Bronze Medal.
Our senior team had the weekend off leaving all the local attention on our little athletics competition. Once again the warm still conditions provided plenty of opportunities for our club members to enjoy all athletics events on offer and push for more PB’s. It is always an excellent sight to see the enthusiasm and effort these awesome athletes show each morning.
We look forward to another fun round of Saturday morning athletics next week for our final round of 2022. Hopefully, if everyone has been good we may have a visitor! Our seniors travel to Casey Fields for round seven of AVSL. Yarra Ranges Athletics is currently leading our division so look forward to another good team performance this weekend.
Training is available to all club members on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5.30pm and the last Thursday afternoon session for 2022 from 4.00pm for our Under 12 athletes.
Yarra Ranges Athletics welcomes and encourages all athletes of any age or ability. If you, or someone you know, wants to join in the Little Athletics fun registration is at www.lavic.com.au. For information on training, how to join or trial, photos, results and updated news, visit the website at yarrarangesathletics.org.au or check us out on Facebook. Run, Jump, Throw…too easy!
