A report of the Round 8 meet held at Aberfeldie last Tuesday night later in the week. In the meantime, our smallest turnout since round two descended on a wet and windy Williamstown for Round 7 of the Athletics Victoria Shield North West Region competition. The club's 40+ men suffered their first defeat since October with the next best being the U16 girls who were fifth. In a round that may prove costly at the end of the season the U16 boys dropped to sixth on their ladder, while the U14 girls and U16 girls have less breathing room in third and fifth place respectively. The overage 40 + men's team are still on top of their ladder while the U20 men lie third

One bright spot for the day was Shaun Stewart (M16) who won the Shot Put while Tim Erickson (40+) was second in the 3000 m Walk and Bethanie Barbour (F14) showed she will be an important asset come finals time with second place in the 1500 m Walk event. Charles Clark (40+) was second in the 200 m, Philip van Dueren (40+) was second in the High Jump and third in the Long Jump, Glenn Carroll (M1) was second in the Long Jump while Phil Curtain was second in the Shot Put (40+). Megan Marsh (F16), Stephen Wright (40+) and Pam Sievers (W1) were all third in the Shot Put, Sam Dragon (M20) was third in the 800 m and Ken Carter (40+) was third in the Hammer

Another highlight was the game performance of our women's Division 1 relay team. Several of our energetic ladies decided they would make a late entry for a 4 x 400 m with the mother-daughter combination of Leigh Roux and Melanie Evans teaming up with Stella Radford and Pam Sievers. While the result did not go quite the way they wanted, they earned some important points for their team and should be proud of their performance. And as for the afore-mentioned wet conditions the heavens did open just prior to the 3000 m however this did not stop Tim Holloway and Luong Dao in particular posting very quick times - a big personal best for Holloway there

To this weekend's action and we return to Coburg for our second and final home meet of the season. For the sprinters, it's the 200 m and the 4 x 400 m Relay. Middle distance athletes can enjoy the 800 m with the 5000 m and 3000 m for juniors and the various hurdles events are the 400 m Hurdles with 200 m Hurdles for U14/U16 athletes. Field athletes can enjoy the High Jump this week but the Javelin and Discus are not on the program. And for those with Cullen Cup ambitions this is a good program with four events - the 200 m, 400 m Hurdles, Long Jump and Shot Put - eligible events for points

After the poor showing at Williamstown, it will be imperative that we have good numbers at Coburg to get the season back on track for several of our teams, especially both the U16 boys and girls. A win for those teams this week will see each of them right back in contention for finals action. History has shown that with meets at Coburg, the club generally does better than in other rounds. However, this won't be possible unless we can get a good turnout of athletes. I am confident that with no little athletics competition being held and mild weather forecasted, we can look forward to hopefully our biggest attendance of the season and some good results

As we are staging this meet a certain amount of work will go into setting and packing up the venue. If we could have athletes makes themselves available in the morning from 11:30 am, that would be much appreciated. Back in Round 5, the club had plenty of helpers to pack away but very few to assist in setting up and this put quite a strain on our resources. So if you are free on Saturday morning your assistance would be much appreciated

With this being the last round before the Christmas break, dinner has been booked for this Saturday night at the Browns Corner Hotel (cnr Bell St and Sydney Rd) once we have packed up the venue. A table has been booked for 6:00 pm. If I am not there at that time, it simply means we have been held back at Coburg with the pack up so please be sure to wait around until you see a few familiar faces arriving. The hotel has just been refurbished and the decor is fantastic

Tomorrow (Tuesday) night is the penultimate throws coaching session by Colin Carbis from 6:00 pm. If you would like to attend and have a particular area you would like Colin to cover, be sure to let him know

On Thursday the Coburg Venue Masters are holding their prestigious Pudding Gift from 7:00 pm at the track. The Gift race is a handicap event of 100 metres so every age and ability has a chance of taking home the prized home made pudding. If you would like to enter please email me your recent best time for 100 m and I will see to it you are added to the start list. No email will mean no start

Are you bringing your IGA shopping dockets down to the track? The club has set itself - in conjunction with Coburg Little Athletics - to raise funds to ensure the track we all enjoy training and competing on can be re-laid in a couple of years time. To assist us in that goal we need all members to bring their IGA dockets to the track so we can go into the draw to win $3,500 which will greatly assist us in reaching our shared goal. Let's keep them coming in

DATES TO REMEMBER

Thursday, 10 December 2009 - Coburg Masters Pudding Gift. Open to allcomers. If you would like to take part, email me your recent best 100 m time by close of business tomorrow

Saturday, 12 December 2009 - AV Shield Round 8 at Coburg. Volunteers required from 11:30 am. Dinner at Browns Corner Hotel from 6:00 pm at conclusion of meet and pack up

Last but not least, well done to Leah Polycarpou who represented Victoria at the National All Schools Track & Field Championships in Hobart. Earlier today, Leah competed in the 1500 m where she finished 16th in a field of over 25 athletes. And last Friday night, Leah was sixth in the U15 Steeplechase but was first among the U14 girls in that race. Well done Leah from all your friends at the Coburg Harriers