Victorian Masters & Athletics Victoria Overage Track & Field Championships
Olympic Park on 8 - 9 March 2008

The Victorian Masters and Overage Track & Field Championships were held at Olympic Park in very warm to hot conditions on Saturday 8 March and Sunday 9 March 2008. 

The format was such that if you were registered with both organisations you could potentially earn medals if you placed in both the equivalent VMA and AV age groups. Athletics Victoria were awarding medals to their athletes in the 40 + and 50 + age categories, but were not offering these in all the same events as those being conducted by the VMA, while the Victorian Masters were to award medals in their age group events starting from 35-39 and upwards.

Six Coburg Harriers represented the club with distinction - Joanne Francken, Ken Carter, Bernie Goggin, Tim Erickson, Gary Hennessy and John Staunton with medals aplenty and even more club records broken

Joanne Francken competed in the Victorian Masters Female 35-39 section in the 400 metres and 800 metres. Alas, no 30 + section exists within the Athletics Victoria overage framework. A great run in the 400 metres on the first day of the meet saw Joanne Francken improve further on her own club age group record with a quick 66.24 seconds. Francken was just edged out for second but was pleased with her bronze medal as it was in a personal best time. Fifth and sixth in this event went to Coburg Venue masters athletes in Fiona Ely and Julie Torrini respectively

Sunday brought the 800 metres for Francken. Having set herself for this event, Francken was very nervous lining up on the start line. Evidently, Francken had nothing to worry with a perfectly judged race in which she sat off the leader before a battle royale ensued in the home straight with each surging ahead of the other before a desperate lunge at the line brought Francken the gold medal in a time of 2:34.95. This is a new club record, only recently broken by Carmel Taylor at the AV Shield Final. Prior to this the record belonged to Francken and it now returns to her

Next up was Ken Carter who competed in a host of events over the two days of the Championships. These included results in the 50 + age group for the 1500 metres (13th overall), 800 metres (14th overall) and Shot Put (7th overall).

But it was in the Discus on the first day that Carter really stepped up with his best throw of 26.46 metres good enough for a Victorian Masters Male 55-59 bronze medal, edging out his nearest competitor by just one centimetre. This was also a new club record

Carter was 8th overall in the AV 50+ category.  And in the Hammer Throw, Carter's 21.10 metres earned him fourth place in the Masters section. And again, Carter set another new club record with this effort.

Garry Hennessy had a championships to remember with gold in the 100 metres, winning the Masters M45-49 category. In the doing, Hennessy broke the club age group record previously held by John Braszell. And Hennessy's time of 12.48 seconds was enough to win the silver medal in the AV M40+ section. Hennessy would be the only Coburg Harriers athlete to medal in both sections

And then there were the Walkers. In an embarrassment of riches for the club, the Coburg Harriers had no less than three representatives across two of the racewalking events at these championships. Bernie Goggin and Tim Erickson both competed in the 1500 metre Walk and 3000 metres Walk, while John Staunton restricted himself to the 3000 metre Walk

John Staunton acquitted himself very well with sixth place in the 3000 metre Walk in the Victorian Masters M50-54 section and would place twelfth overall in the AV Men's 50+ section

Tim Erickson continued his very strong season with two club records from his two events and was the most successful of our athletes at these Champs with two gold medals. In the Victorian Masters M55-59 section Erickson finished more than a minute ahead of the second placed finisher in both the 3000 metre race walk and 35 seconds ahead of the same athlete in the 1500 metre race walk. In the Athletics Victoria section, in which the 3000 metre walk was being contested, Erickson's time had him placed fourth behind three younger walkers from the M50-54 section

And Bernie Goggin had a similar experience to Jo Francken in his first event the 3000 metre race walk. The Victorian Masters men's 70-74 section was hotly contested with the winner recording a time that would have pushed the bronze in the younger section. And the battle for the minor placings was intense. Barely a second separated second from fourth in an exciting finish with Goggin just missing out on a medal by 0.44 of a second. Incredible after 7.5 laps of race walking. Goggin's time placed him thirteenth in the Athletics Victoria standings

Goggin fared better in the 1500 metre race walk with third place and a Victorian Masters M70-74 bronze medal

So at the conclusion of the Championships, the Coburg Harriers had earned medals as follows :

VMA Medals

4 x Gold - Joanne Francken (800 metres), Tim Erickson (1500 metre Walk, 3000 metre Walk), Gary Hennessy (100 metres)
3 x Bronze - Joanne Francken (400 metres), Bernie Goggin (1500 metre Walk), Ken Carter (Discus)

AV Medals

1 x Silver - Gary Hennessy (100 metres)

Special thank you to Coburg Venue Masters George Goode for organising officials for the Shot Put event and those club members who assisted so well

A brief editorial if I may be indulged, while not wanting to denigrate the awesome achievements of these great athletes, the challenge for the Coburg Harriers in the coming years will be to ensure that we can get as many athletes - if not more - to Youth and Open Age championships