2007/08 AV Shield Round 11
Aberfeldie on 22 January 2008 

After three weeks of strong turnouts, numbers were down for the last meet of regular competition. Despite the poor showing, some good results were recorded, and generally the impact was minimized across the board. However, this did not prevent the worst showing from our women’s team in eight rounds and our Division 4 men’s team missed out on sewing up to spot on their ladder by just two competition points – only one more athlete would have been enough to guarantee it

Performing well was David Woods who won the 400 metres (Division 2) with Adam Larsson a very close second. In the next heat Matthew Mifsud won Division Three with Steven Marsh second. And the Walkers were again outstanding with Filip Cosic coming first and coach Tim Erickson second, while Adrianna Crea took out the women’s event with the multi-talented Megan Marsh just twenty seconds behind in second place. What a shame there is no walk event in the final!

John Staunton came second in Division Three for the Walk, Joel Legg was runner up in the Hammer Throw (Division 4), while Lawrence Willis gave our top team a huge boost by coming third in the Discus (Division 2). Joel Legg proved his versatility with third in the Triple Jump (Division 2), and Rohan King was third in the Hammer Throw for Division Three. For the women’s team Jo Francken came third in the 1500 metres in a recent personal best time, one of her teams rare placings for the night

At the end of the round, our Division 2 men – buoyed by the return of Lawrence Willis – finished only seven points off winning their first meet for  a very creditable second place. Our Division 3 men continued on their winning way to finish first and will finish the season on top of their ladder while our Division 4 men fell agonizingly short of first place. Our women’s team finished n third place, however like our Division Three men, have done enough to finish the season in first place

And so we come to the last round of the season. It is unlikely that any of the current ladder positions will change after tomorrow night’s round of competition. Our division 2 men are second, division 3 men first and division 4 men second. And our women’s team have swept all before them to be on top of their ladder. Nevertheless, with the Region Final now only five sleeps away, it would be good for everyone to be on the park tomorrow as a good warm up for the real thing on Saturday

So what this means is that we will have all senior teams into the final for the second year in a row (third year for the men). While we do not yet have a timetable for the Final, every athlete who qualifies will have an event in the Final. So please keep the day free. If you work, please arrange cover as the club does not ask this of you very often. Athletes will be contacted by email – so please check often – or by phone if they are not on email with their events for the final

DATES TO REMEMBER

Saturday, 2 February 2008          AV North West Region Final at Aberfeldie from 1:00 pm
Saturday, 16 February 2008        AV Shield Final at Doncaster (top two teams from each division go through)
DATE TBA                                Coburg Harriers Summer Season Presentation Night (venue to be advised)

And don’t forget to check out http://www.coburgharriers.org.au/ for the latest news, views and information. The club history page has just been updated to show every Coburg Harrier who has represented Australia at the top level. Also, check out our Facebook group for photos from the latest round of competition