2009/10 AV Shield Final
Doncaster – Saturday, 13 February 2010

On Saturday, our U20 men finished fifth in the Athletics Victoria Shield Final against some of the biggest and best clubs in the state. While temperatures remained comfortable throughout the day, a strong headwind in the front straight meant that the sprinters were going to have a tough time of it

Kicking off for the team was Steven Marsh in the Shot Put. With a best throw of 7.98 metres, Marsh would finish in fifth place. With the 6 kilogram shot being the heaviest this athlete has had to put, he would have had to put in an extraordinary performance to reach the fourth placed athlete who put the shot two centimeters shy of ten metres!

The middle distance boys were the next cab off the rank with Matthew Smith and Sam Dragon to contest the 800 m. At the North West Region Final the week before Matt had finished runner up with a strong kick finish

The pace was hot from the start with the lead pack going through to the bell in under 60 seconds. A lap to go and Matt Smith had tacked onto the second pack and Dragon was running bravely just off the pace. Smith crossed the line seventh in 2:09.93 with Sam Dragon improving three seconds on his last start at the North West Region Final with 2:14.89 and ninth place

Back into the field and the Long Jump would feature Sam Dragon, who was having a busy day – this being the second of his three events for the day – having also been selected as emergency for the relays, to be held as the last event on the program

Dragon was runner up in this event at the North West Region Final and was looking forward to being able to concentrate on three good jumps. Feeling inspired, Dragon jumped a massive personal best on his very first attempt and his 4.92 metres was almost a metre further than any jump he has done previously. The second jump was a foul and the third measured just over four metres. This would see Dragon record fourth place

The sprinters were into the fray next with Michael Dziadkiewicz and Matthew Mifsud our top two ranked athletes who had qualified to compete in the finals. For Dziadkiewicz he was keen to break through the 23 second barrier for only the second time in his young career and was riding high off winning this event at the North West Region Final for his age group

Against some very stiff competition, Dziadkiewicz crossed the line in this place with 23.36 and Mifsud was sixth in 24.41 seconds. Its worth noting that even had both runner posted personal best times, they could only have each improved by one place

Sam Dragon was back in action with the 5,000 metres the penultimate track event on the program. At the North West Region Final the week before, Dragon had struggled at this event in very warm conditions. With cooler and milder conditions, Dragon ran a very controlled race and was able to kick hard over the last kilometre to finish in third place and record yet another massive personal best. Dragon’s time of 20:52.35 shaved almost two minutes off his previous best

Injury and unavailability meant we were unable to fill the 4 x 400 m relay, which ultimately cost the team a place in the final standings and they would finish a plucky fifth overall. A relay result would have guaranteed fourth place, showing the value of fielding relay events in Athletics Victoria Shield competition

Well done to all athletes who took part in the Shield Final and represented the club with pride