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Coburg Harriers at Stawell Gift Carnival |
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Written by Jeremy
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Thursday, 27 March 2008 |
Stawell Gift Carnival
22 - 24 March 2008While the Athletics Victoria track & field season finished in February, several of your Coburg Harriers were involved in Victorian Athletic League action, with the traditional culmination of the pro season being the easter Stawell Gift carnival. There were fifteen Coburg Harriers involved this year, making it one of the best ever represented by our proud club
While the obvious drawcard is the running of the Stawell Gift over 120 metres, there are actually 66 races over a variety of distances from the 70 metre Handicap to the 3,200 metre Handicap, with juniors, veteran's and women specific races
In all, four Coburg Harriers advanced past the heat stages of their events to progress through to the semi-final or final stage, Liam Shepherd from the Hennessy stable was touted as a favourite to win the 120 metre Stawell Gift and did his chances no harm with automatic qualification through to the semi's by winning his heat. Shephered performed creditably to finish fourth in his Semi-Final
Three runners from the Benny Tancredi stable progressed from their heat runs. David Woods was entered in the 400 metres Frontmarkers Handicap and finished second in his heat to move through to the final. Boxed in on the final turn, Woods finished sixth in the final, albeit in a faster time than his heat run
Kon Varkopoulos finished second in his heat of the 100 metre Veterans Handicap and despite a quicker run his sixth place in the semi-final did not see him progress to the final. And Celeste White won her heat of the U17 Girls 100 metre Handicap and recorded the best result for the Tancredi stable with a podium finish in the final to take out third place with a quicker time
The Tancredi stable had a host of runners very unlucky not to pregress past the heat stage of their various events. Adam Larsson was entered in three events, but his best result was fourth in the 200 metres Handicap on a very heavy track. Matthew Mifsud was particularly unlucky with second place in his heat of the U17 boys 100 metre Handicap and third place in the 200 metres Handicap not getting through to the next round
Jay Blake produced what will arguable go down as his mosy imporessive running performance of his sprint career to finish in thrd place in the 400 metre Frontmarkers Handicap. Blake proved this perofrmance was no fluke with fourth place in his heat of the 100 metres Handicap
Steven Collyer showed his talent with third place in the U17 boys 100 metre Handicap while Steve Marsh impressed all observers with his run in the 400 metres Frontmarkers Handicap. Although Marsh finished in seventh place, it was a tight race and his run was faster than his personal best pace. Look for big things from these two boys next summer!
Benny Tancredi finished fourth in his heat of the 100 metres veterans handicap, Rita Pana's best result was seventh in her heat of the 100 metres Handicap and Matthew Kiernan was fourth in his heat of the 100 metres Handicap
Jeremy Grey entered in two mile races and the 3,200 metres. It was in the latter which Grey performed best with sixth place. The race was not without incident with Grey getting tripped and falling, losing one of his shoes, on the third lap. Grey ripped the other shoe off and finished the race in his socks. In 8th place with 200 metres to go, Grey kicked strongly to pass two runners and record a time quicker than his personal best over the distance
And Paul Keating was fith in heat of the 70 metre Handicap
The Stawell Gift Carnival is the pinnacle of the pro running season and is a great way to end the Summer, I would encourage all Coburg Harriers to attend next year to support their teammates. Special thanks go to Jeff and Sheree Sharam, the Marsh family, Hesther Collyer, Diane Brimacombe, Gary Blake and Julie Torrini for their support
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 April 2008 )
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