The Victorian Masters Track & Field Championships took place last weekend 17 – 18 March 2007 at Duncan McKinnon Reserve in Murrumbeena. Several Coburg Harriers were in action, representing the pride of the club and the Coburg Venue Masters.

We start with the sprinters, and in the 100 metres Gary Hennessy narrowly missed on a bronze medal to take out fourth place in an extremely competitive M40 age group race. In the 200 metres, Hennessy went two better to take silver, holding off the third placed finisher from Frankston by just a third of a second. In the M50 section, Ken Carter did not proceed past the heat stage despite running his second fastest time for the season.

To the middle distance events, and Ken Carter competed in both the 800 metres and 1500 metres, where he finished sixth and fifth respectively. Diane Brimacombe beat a younger opponent to take gold in the 1500 metres for the W60 age group. Brimacombe followed up this strong performance to take silver in the 5000 metres.

Indeed, the Harriers were well represented in the 5000 metres. Philip Van Dueren ran a fantastic race and smashed his personal best time over the distance to take out bronze in the M45 section. His performance of 18:21.74 is the third fastest by a Coburg Harrier this season. Stacey Van Dueren was in a field of three for her W45 age group 5000 metre race. Van Dueren dominated from the start and by the finish of the event some four minutes separated her and the second placegetter.

In the hurdles were Phil Curtain and Coburg Masters Venue Manager George Goode. In the 60 metre hurdle event, Goode took the gold medal, and narrowly missed out on the Victorian record by just 0.5 seconds. Phil Curtain competed in the short and long hurdles, taking out the silver medal in both events for the M50 age group.

To the field events, and we start with the High Jump where Phil Curtain finished in sixth place with a jump of 1.20 metres.

The throwing events featured both Phil Curtain and Ken Carter prominently, and between them they collected five medals. Their age group is dominated by a specialist masters throwing club, the “throwers”, so to pick up so many medals was a fantastic achievement.

In the Hammer Throw, Ken Carter won the bronze medal, with Phil Curtain taking fourth place with his best throw of the summer. Carter has three better throws this summer than the one he recorded at these championships, any of which would have earned him second place.

To the Shot Put and this time it was Phil Curtain winning a silver medal putting the Shot almost ten metres with Carter finishing in fourth.

At the Discus, Phil Curtain only just edged out Carter. With a throw of 27.50 metres, Curtain won the silver medal with Carter earning himself a bronze medal with a throw of 27.29 metres. This was a strong showing from Carter, and arguably his best Discus performance of the summer.

And finally at the Javelin, Phil Curtain capped off a strong championships with the silver medal and a distance of 33.82 metres, his third best throw of the summer. Carter finished in sixth place with his 21.04 metre throw.

So at the conclusion of the 2007 Victorian Masters Track & Field Championships, the Coburg Venue Masters had picked up thirteen medals, including 3 gold, 7 silver, and 3 bronze.

Well done to all athletes.

Victorian Masters Championships 2007 Results

Section      Event                       Name                                Result                Medal

M40           100 metres                Gary Hennessy                   13.23                 

M40           200 metres                Gary Hennessy                   26.12             Silver

M50           200 metres                Ken Carter                         43.55

M50           800 metres                Ken Carter                         4:36.47

M50           1500 metres              Ken Carter                         8:44.04

W60          1500 metres              Diane Brimacombe             7:56.94            Gold

M45           5000 metres              Philip Van Dueren              18:21.74          Bronze

W45          5000 metres              Stacey Van Dueren            18:43.92          Gold

W60          5000 metres              Diane Brimacombe             27:33.08          Silver

M75           60 m Hurdles             George Goode                   18.80             Gold

M50           Short Hurdles            Phil Curtain                         29.10           Silver

M50           Long Hurdles             Phil Curtain                         1:31.81        Silver

M50           High Jump                 Phil Curtain                         1.20

M50           Hammer Throw         Ken Carter                         21.93             Bronze

M50           Hammer Throw         Phil Curtain                         19.53

M50           Discus                       Phil Curtain                         27.50            Silver

M50           Discus                       Ken Carter                         27.29             Bronze

M50           Shot Put                    Phil Curtain                         9.69             Silver

M50           Shot Put                    Ken Carter                         7.99                   

M50           Javelin                       Phil Curtain                         33.82           Silver

M50           Javelin                       Ken Carter                         21.04