The AV Shield Final was held last Saturday in very warm conditions which made things very tough for the track athletes. Competing in the state club final were Coburg Harriers men's Division Four and Women's Division Two.  In a fantastic result, the women's team finished in third place which is remarkable given they were missing three key athletes. And the men's team had a tough day finishing in sixth place but were unlucky with some outstanding individual performances

Notable performances came from Rebecca Collyer who recorded a personal best in the Hurdles and Triple Jump to secure second and third place respectively, Carmel Taylor was runner up in the 3000 metres, while Rohan King was second in the Hammer - a meritorious performance given he was using the heaviest weight for the first time. And the men's relay team anchored by Luke Dragon came home in third place

Carmel Taylor set a new age group record in the 800 metres, while Joel Legg was fourth in High Jump. Personal bests were recorded by Josh Persson in the 800 metres, Megan Marsh in the Triple Jump, Heather Stewart in the 400 metres and 800 metres, Adrianna Crea in the 400 metres, Josh Traine and Joel Legg in the 100 metres and in the performance of the day Luke Dragon took a staggering 28 seconds off his personal best to record 11:58 in the 3000 metres

Some excellent results given the oppressive conditions and all club members can be very proud of the efforts by the Coburg Harriers who represented the club so magnificently on the day. Some of the club's athletes were really doing it with some obvious distress immediately following their track events. Some were suffering quite badly with one athlete throwing up between Shot Puts and another bordering on delirium prior to her 400 metre event

Special thanks must go to our officials on the day in Gordon Proudfoot, Diane Brimacombe and Joanne Delaney

So now we come to the last official function of the summer track & field season which is the Summer Season Presentation Night. The club has lined up several former elite athletes of the club as guest presenters to help with the trophy presentations and a guest speaker will tell us of her exploits when she was training with the club in the time of Raelene Boyle and Jean Roberts - both multiple Olympic and Commonwealth Games medallists

Please note, due to the size of the venue, you must email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it to let us know of your attendance and if your partner and/or children will be in attendance. It will be held on Saturday, 8 March 2008 in the Riccio Room of Curly Joe's restaurant. You are to arrive from 6:30 pm for a 7:00 pm start. We will have quite a bit to get through so your early arrival would be appreciated. It will be $20 a head pizza/pasta set menu with BYO wine only. We will try to negotiate a cheaper rate for children

While our senior athletes were hard at it during the Shield Final, our Coburg Little Athletes were involved in Regional Championships. Obviously training with the senior group has paid off for Leah Polycarpou who recorded personal bests in both her events to finish second in the 800 metres and first in the 1500 metres. Steven Marsh broke the northern metro record to win his event, while Ciar'an Smyth won the 1500 metres. All these athletes will travel to Bendigo in a few weeks time to compete in the State Little Athletics Championships and we wish them all the best

And looking six weeks forward, the opening winter season run will held on 29 March 2008 followed by the Annual General Meeting

CLICK FOR CLUB AV SHIELD RESULTS HERE