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The Track and Field Newsletter of MAWA

Season 8 Issue 2NOVEMBER 2014

Bjorn’s

Asian

adventure

Pages 6-7

Trophyaction

kicks offSue Bourn putting theshot during the Patron’sTrophy round at WAAS.

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Scott Tamblincaught in full strideat West AustralianAthletic Stadium.

Todd Davey M45 Throws pent Oct 4-6 Canberra 3582pts SRTodd Davey M45 Weight throw Oct 4-6 Canberra 14.10m SRTodd Davey M45 56lb weight Oct 4-6 Canberra 8.98m SRTodd Davey M45 100lb weight Oct 4-6 Canberra 3.46m SRTodd Davey M45 Throws pent Oct 4-6 Canberra 3582pts SRMargaret Saunders W60 800m Oct 7 WAAS 2:42.4 SRScott Tamblin M35 3000m Oct 25 WAAS 8:38.1 *ARMargaret Saunders W60 1 mile Oct 28 WAAS 6:07.8 SR

*To be ratified

Scott’s record run

THE first night of compe-tition at WA AthleticsStrive night was thestage for Scott Tamblin toset a potential Australianrecord for the Men’s M353000m when he cut nineseconds off the record.

Todd Davey and Marga-ret Saunders were theother two MAWA athleteswho set state records inOctober.

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10,000mECAC October 16

% ptsKim Thomas M40 36:50.0 75.65David Solomon M50 41:21.1 72.80Giovanni Puglisi M60 41:47.3 80.46Sue Bourn W45 44:10.4 74.71Trish Farr W40 45:45.5 68.85Dan Baldwin M40 46:19.9 60.59Mercurio Cicchini M65 48:05.7 71.19Milton Mavrick M60 49:44.7 65.82Bob Schickert M70 52:40.0 70.09David Carr M80 55:07.7 82.00Frank Price M65 58:37.1 58.41Monique Thomas W35 61:40.0 49.57Bob Fawcett M65 76:42.0 44.64

WAAS October 21 % ptsKim Thomas M40 35:52.0 77.68Steve Weller M35 38:04.1 72.65Andrew Brooker M45 38:16.0 75.63Ante Perdija M40 38:34.8 73.32Mark Dawson M50 42:58.0 71.80Sue Bourn W45 43:52.1 75.23Bert Carse M70 44:43.0 83.76Dan Baldwin M40 45:13.3 62.08Karyn Gower W50 49:08.1 73.52Nick Miletic M60 54:14.6 61.99

Mark Dawson leadsBert Carse and DanBaldwin in the10,000m at WAAS.

SUEBOURN

THE Trophy got off to a flyer with 23aspirants setting off on the eight-weekjourney to the finish line. It began atECAC, where last year’s top two menDavid Carr and Giovanni Puglisi againset the pace, each netting over 80 points.Kim Thomas was first over the line, withan excellent PBA, and with David Solo-mon stalking the leaders.

Sue Bourn was the highest scoringfemale, but many of the ladies prefer togive this long race a miss, coming in withnext week’s sprint.

Ten athletes made up the field atWAAS, with Sue improving her score to75 points, closely followed by KarynGower. Distance specialist Bert Carse,in stunning form these past few months,jumped into the lead in the men’s raceshowing that he could be a real contenderthis year.

The scene is set, and this major part ofthe MAWA T&F calendar is once moreunder way, hopefully keeping us en-thralled as usual to its conclusion in De-cember.

Patron’s Trophy

Night moves

ANDREW BROOKERSTEVE WELLER and

ANTE PERDIJA KARYN GOWER

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3000m

ECAC October 23 % ptsKim Thomas M40 10:31.6 73.71Mitch Thomas Vis 10:47.5 n/aGiovanni Puglisi M60 11:24.2 82.11Chris Neale M45 11:47.4 68.36David Solomon M50 12:16.2 68.33Colin Smith M50 12:16.8 68.83Sue Bourn W45 12:28.2 75.69Mercurio Cicchini M65 13:21.7 71.36David Carr M80 13:36.6 92.50Kem Hassan M40 14:16.3 55.61Bob Schickert M70 14:18.8 71.82Monique Thomas W35 16:19.4 52.46Nick Miletic M60 16:36.6 56.37Carolyn Fawcett W60 19:31.6 60.16Lynne Schickert W70 22:40.8 61.15

WAAS October 28% pts

Andrew Brooker M45 10:26.1 77.24Mark Dawson M50 11:41.1 73.52Dan Baldwin M40 11:52.0 65.88Suzi Graves W45 11:53.1 80.41Grant Schofield M45 12:14.8 66.33Sue Bourn W45 12:45.0 74.03Karyn Gower W50 13:36.5 75.89John Oldfield M70 14:19.6 70.80Carmel Meyer W50 14:25.1 70.68Delia Baldock W50 15:04.4 66.72John Dennehy M55 16:49.5 51.92

Leader of the pack

THE men’s competition saw little changein this round, save the emergence of An-drew Brooker as a podium contender.With a 10:26 3000m run (77 points) and a7.97 shot put (38 points) he has pushedhimself into third place on the ladder atthis early stage of the trophy competition.David Carr and Giovanni Puglisi stillhead the rankings, but it is early days andall to play for.

The women’s table shows Sue Bournstill well ahead, but stalking her not too farback are Suzi Graves, Carmel Meyer,Monique Thomas and the evergreenLynne Schickert.

Andrew Brookerleads the field inthe early stagesof the Patron’sTrophy 3000m.

CARMELMEYER

DAN BALDWIN

MARKDAWSON

Patron’s Trophy

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Patron’s Trophy

ShotECAC October 23

% ptsChris Neale M45 8.41 40.49Colin Shaw M50 7.74 48.28David Carr M80 7.14 52.15Kim Thomas M40 7.14 31.72Nick Miletic M60 7.01 41.98Giovanni Puglisi M60 6.78 40.60Bob Fawcett M65 6.56 41.76Sue Bourn W45 6.17 37.78Colin Smith M50 6.05 30.62Mercurio Cicchini M65 5.90 37.56Bob Schickert M70 5.76 34.29Monique Thomas W35 5.10 24.78Lynne Schickert W70 4.89 49.85Carolyn Fawcett W60 4.41 34.89

WAAS October 28% pts

Andrew Brooker M45 7.97 38.37Dan Baldwin M40 7.82 35.29Grant Schofield M45 7.63 37.49Suzi Graves W45 6.69 42.08Mark Dawson M50 6.52 34.41Carmel Meyer W50 6.38 41.27Sue Bourn W45 6.07 37.17John Dennehy M55 5.84 32.18

THE shot put is one of the Patron’s Tro-phy events that highlights the versatilityof the masters’ athlete.

David Carr pulled out nearly 12 pointsto his nearest rival Giovanni Puglisi.while Colin Shaw scored 48.28 per centto finish second and Nick Miletic third inthe men’s round. Others who scored well

in this event were Chris Neale and BobFawcett.

In the women’s race Lynne Schickerttopped the leader board in the shot putwhile Suzi Graves just edged out CarmelMeyer by less than one per cent. SueBourn kept her points tally ticking overwith 37.17 per cent.

ANDREW BROOKER

JOHN DENNEHY

GRANT SCHOFIELD

DANBALDWIN

Carmel Meyerreleases the

shot during thePatron’s Trophyround at WAAS.

Aiming high

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Asian adventureBy BJORN DYBDAHL

DEB and I have always liked to trav-el and when there is an athletic com-petition in our area we like to travelthere. It is always easy to make thedecision to go.

Over the past six months I havetaken part in three masters athleticsmeets north of Australia: SingaporeMasters, Malaysian Masters (Kuan-tan) and the Asia Masters (Kitakami,Japan).

The Singapore and Malaysianmeets were open competition to en-courage neighbouring countries totake part to raise the overall stand-ard, while the Asia Masters in Japanwas an Asian only Masters competi-

tion. However "foreigners" couldcompete but would not receive med-als or prizes.

The standard of athletes in theAsian Masters was very high, espe-cially from the local Japanese. Forthe Singapore and Malaysian meet-ings the standards were much loweras I managed to win some medals.

There are several athletic tracks inSingapore and for the champion-ships the stadium was a 45 minutetaxi ride from the CBD. The meetingwas held over two days and runningan 800, 1500 and 5000m was chal-lenging. There was no steeplechaseand 10,000m.

CONTINUED – next page

The track in Singaporeand (inset) the signwarning people toevacuate the trackwhen lightning isaround.

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The Asian circuitFROM – Previous page

THE meeting was well run although asevere electrical storm delayed competi-tion for nearly three hours. Red flashinglights are used to signal that the trackmust be evacuated. In Malaysia the Open Masters was verysimilar to Singapore apart from changingthe order of events.

The meeting was held in Kuantan a oneto two hour drive across the peninsular tothe east coast with a good track and sun-ny, hot and humid weather.

My brother (a MAWA member whohas run at our Sunday runs in Perth)currently lives in Kuala Lumpur, so it waspart of a family gathering in Kuantanwhere I made him run the 800m.

The track was in good condition withthe main Kuantan soccer field in the mid-dle. We had to be part of the march intothe stadium where Australia was groupedwith Hong Kong.

The Asian Masters in Kitakami, in Ja-pan was by far the best competition. Ki-takami is a four hour speed train ridenorth of Tokyo. It is a clean and peacefulcity of 93,000 people in the land ofindustry and agriculture. The apple sea-son was on when I was there. The meet-ing was held over five days,unfortunately my events were over two ofthe five days.

Three of my events were on the secondday with the 2000m steeple at 8am, the800m at 10.30am and 5000m just after1pm, so there was not much left in thelegs for the 1500m the following day.There were 15 entries for the steeple and5000m, but as many as 25 for the 1500m

and 800m. I managed a happy third in thesteeple running 7 mins 51 secs.

There were two tracks side by side, butthere were no lights so some of the 400msprints were held in the "dark". The com-petition was well run and there were twolarge video screens posting results andvideo of the action.

One thing to mention is the seeding inthe races with more than one heat in anage group. In the 800m there were two

heats of 13 with all athletes older than 62in heat 1 and the younger runners in heat2. A little unfair I thought. The sameprocedure was done for the sprints.

Outside the track there were 30 to 40stalls selling everything from food, sou-venirs to T-shirts. A photo service wasavailable at the track.

However, Japan is much more thanrunning and we had a wonderful week inKyoto and Japan after competition.

Bjorn Dybdahl(third from right)with fellow com-petitors after thesteeplechase inJapan.

Deb Wolflendenstands in front ofthe Golden Tem-ple in Kyoto.

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Geoff Brayshaw and Maxine, hiswife of 43 years, have three grown-up children and four grandchildren.His family had farmed near Narem-been since 1924 and Geoff spenthis first 12 years on the farm and atthe local Mt Walker district school.At five, he won the pre-school dashdown the ninth hole of the local golfcourse. There was some dispute ashe was so small he ran under thefinishing tape. He went on to winthe local Eastern District schoolchampionship in each of his lastfour years at Mt Walker.

For secondary education he board-ed in Northam whilst attendingNortham High School. He peaked inathletics at about 13 and after thatwon few events, mostly limited tolong and triple jump. After failing firstyear engineering at UWA he took upa career in accounting. He workedfor Coopers and Lybrand for 14

years then BDO Chartered Ac-countants until he retired from prac-tice in 2005. He retired asmanaging partner, having alsobeen National President of the Insti-tute of Chartered Accountants in2002. He was awarded the Order ofAustralia in 2007 for services to theaccounting profession.

He is still active in that profes-sion, including being a director ofFortescue Metals Group from 2007to 2013 and of Poseidon NickelLimited to this day.

CONTINUED – Next page

High achiever

In focusWith Christine Oldfield

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FROM – Previous pageHE has also chaired an AboriginalCorporation called Gumala, centredin the Pilbara. Geoff is MAWA’streasurer and he is currently also adirector and treasurer of the LOC forthe 2016 World Masters AthleticsChampionships in Perth. What betterperson to hold the pursestrings for such aprestigiousevent?

Geoffplayed tennisand startedbaseball at 40when hisshouldercould nothandle tennisany more. Butathletics playedno part in hislife until heturned 45.Then, probablybecause he wanted tosee if he could still do what hehad done as a schoolboy, he madethe occasional foray into mastersathletics. He remembers enteringa few events at Coker park andwinning something. He heardabout the Australian MastersGames and, in 1995, went toMelbourne and surprised him-self by coming second in theM45 triple jump. Two years lat-er he went to the Games inCanberra where he thinks hemight have won a bronze in thesparsely contested pentathlon. Buthe remembers the silver medal inMelbourne as his best result ever.

Geoff was always pretty busy andwork took priority. So it was reallyonly after he retired that he foundtime to think seriously about hissporting life. He felt “a little long inthe tooth” to play baseball but never-theless has been to the USA threetimes in the last five years to play atan end of year seniors baseball se-ries in Phoenix. And he started goinga bit more often to the mas-ters athleticssessions. Thistime he joined inat McGillivray Oval and,more recently, at WAAS. He does

horizontal jumps and long throwsand is a handy sprinter – perfect forthe pentathlon, if only the 1500mwasn’t part of it. He describes hisathletic career as “pretty ordinary”but he won a bronze medal in thejavelin at the Perth 2010 nationals,features in five events in MAWA’s2013/14 Club Tops and at the 2014State Championships he took fourgold and

four silver medals, including one inthe pentathlon.

But Geoff thinks his career and thetravelling he has done is “way moreinteresting” than his athletic career.His adventures with Maxine includea family visit to Eastern Europe in1989 just before the wall camedown, a week in North Korea at theinvitation of the Ministry of Finance,a tour of Syria just before the currentconflict started, a 2012 trip to Myan-mar (formerly Burma) to attend theworld wide launch of the Anti Slaveryorganisation known as Walk Freeand two weeks in 2013 helping tobuild a church school in Nairobi.

Closer to home, he’ll be going tothe 2014 Pan Pacific Games on theGold Coast early in November as

part of a baseball team, but hasalso entered the javelin competi-tion. He’ll have just turned 65 sois keen to see how he does inhis new age group as he com-petes in the coming seasonand at the 2015 state champi-onships. He says he gets“very bored just running forhealth and fitness” so enjoysthe fun he gets out of thejumps and throws and par-ticipating with others. Hehas few aspirations otherthan keeping up with hisown shadow or “at leastnot losing too much overthe years.”

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takes time to run

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HOW can I improve my perform-ance? How often do I hear thatcomment? Most times the answerwould be discussing training pro-grams, specific drills, technicalstrength training, gym work, re-covery sessions or analysingtechnical models. However thereis one other aspect which shouldbe considered. Learning psycho-logical skills is a very important,but often neglected, component oftraining. One lecture or sessionwill not make a positive impact.Just as physical improvementstake time to develop so do psy-chological aspects. Have you everwatched events in the OlympicGames where athletes appear tobe talking to themselves or re-hearsing a movement pattern?These are part of the athlete’spsychological training.

When an injury occurs it is alsomore likely that psychological as-pects be considered. Confidencecan be dented and the emotionalreaction to the injury must be con-sidered. A positive attitude to re-habilitation is essential. Returningto training and then competitionshould include psychological as-pects and some of the tech-niques discussed below couldbe used.

Athletes may produce mark-edly different results betweentwo competitions or trainingdespite the weather andwind conditions being simi-lar and competition beingon the same track as train-ing. Psychological factorssuch as stress of competi-tion, negative thoughts, lackof self-belief, anxiety or worry mayaccount for these disparities.

There are many strategies whichcan be learned. Some of them aresetting goals, relaxation tech-niques, positive self-talk andvisualisation. It ap-

pears so simple – change the neg-ative thoughts to positive ones.How often have I heard commentssuch as “the wind is so strong”, “Inever compete well in the after-noon”, “it is too hot”, “it is toocold”, “the hill is so long” or “Ialways get sick before major com-petitions”. Frequently the athletedoes not realise what they aresaying. According to the athletes,the comments seem to be so

reasonable and factual!

These negative thoughts do af-fect their behaviour.

Set goals that are SMART. Thisensures that the goal is specific,measureable, attainable, realisticand timely. Writing down yourgoals can help in attaining themand display them where they canbe frequently viewed.

Relaxation is so important, andcan be used to help both physicaland mental anxiety. There aremany relaxation techniques suchas listening to music, meditationand breathing techniques. Theseshould be practiced first at train-ing and then incorporated intocompetition.

Visualise yourself performingthe event using a correct technicalmodel, going through the roundsin a field events, coming out of theblocks in sprints or the lap timesyou wish to achieve in distanceevents.

Self talk is another simple strat-egy where you say to yourselfpositive statements such as “I amstrong”, “I have trained well”, “Iam flexible” or “I start quickly”.Use key words such as relax,calm, power, tall or words that re-late to your correct technical mod-el. These cue words may relate toa particular technical aspect ofthe event or a movement pat-tern.

Determine the techniquewhich best suits you and withpractise these strategies willform part of your routine andbecome automatic duringtraining or competition. Re-member these strategies

seem simple but they mustbe practised frequently to becomeeffective and enable positive

changes in your perform-ances.

Mind powerthe edgeWith Margaret Saunders

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Thursday at Ern Clark Athletic Centre (ECAC), Wharf Street, Cannington$3 club members, $5 visitors

Note that ECAC may not be available for part of this programme due to track resurfacing.Please regularly check the MAWA website for further details.

Track and Field Programme

AMA Winter Throws, Canberra, October 4-6

Throws Pentathlon HT Sh DT JT WTTodd Davey M45 38.79 13.40 41.00 35.98 13.62

PBA PBA3582 608 824 853 502 795

H’weight Pentathlon 20lb 25lb 35lb 45lb 56lbTodd Davey M45 18.10 16.15 14.10 11.35 8.694323 739 800 856 964 964

Todd’scapitalmeeting

Todd Davey competedin the AMA WinterThrows Championshipsin October.

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Tuesday at WA Athletics stadium, Mount Claremont$3 entry to WAAS. $2 visitor fee – pay at sign in table by finish line

Please note starting times. Horizontal jumps start at 6pm

Track and Field Programme

TUESDAY NIGHT ACTION AT WAAS

Kylie Baker (left) andJuliana Kelly powerdown the straight inthe 60m at WAAS onTuesday night.

TODDDAVEY

MATTSTAUNTON

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Analysis of the results By JOHN OLDFIELD

Suzi pushesMargaret

A MILD evening with the usualbreeze heralded the start of thesummer season at the Ern ClarkAthletic Centre. The cohort of ath-letes was mainly those who hadbeen running throughout the winterseason, with two in particular show-ing the benefits of being competi-tion-fit.

Stuart MacKinnon and FrankPrice are at opposite ends of the

age range, but each clocked twoPBAs on the night. The two sprintsthis evening, 60m and 100m gaveFrank his new marks; whilst Stuartraised his level in the longer 800mand 5000m races.

Field events were also under wayfor the first time since April, but as

usual there were limited takers atthis first event of the year. It wasgood to see Jim Davis back in thefold, throwing the discus out beyond25m on his return to competition.

Numbers would have been high-er, but Todd Davey was already ofhis way to Canberra for this week-end’s AMA Winter Throws Competi-tion.

ECAC – October 2

Competition returned to WAAS after the winterbreak in cool conditions with the usual south-westerly breeze. It seemed to suit the goodnumber of competitors with a number of fineperformances.

The highlight was undoubtedly a new W60800m state record (2:42.4) for Margaret Saun-ders, spurred on in a tight finish by SuziGraves. Bjorn Dybdahl lifted his age best inthe same race.

Lisa Limonas managed two new age bests inboth 60m and 100m sprints, joined by MelissaFoster with a similar achievement in the shorterevent. Aided by the stiff breeze, the sprints gavegood joy to a number of athletes, particularlytwo recently joined members. Paul Robinson(M45) and Lenz Keel (M70) each showed theyhave much to offer with excellent times overboth 100m and 60m. Welcome to the club.

There were few takers for the distance eventstonight, but it was an impressive season’s startin the field. Some good long jumping was com-plemented by solid performances in boththrows. Greg Urbanowicz, now sportingQueensland colours, joined the MAWA regularsin the hammer and weight throw events. ToddDavey returned from his successful weekend inCanberra (AMA winter throws). He did not quitematch his Canberra PBAs in the hammer andweight throw but showed he has wintered welland good distances lie ahead.

WAAS – October 7

Suzi Gravespushed MargaretSaunders to aW60 800mrecord.

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Analysis of the results

A stunning 3000m performance byKim Thomas stood out from tonight’smeet. We are used to seeing Kim lapthe field over the longer distances, butto lap everyone twice (except visitor,son Mitch) must set some sort ofrecord in a field of 11. His time of10:05.6 is a new PBA.

There was an improved turnout to-night making for an interestingevening on the track. Another big fieldsaw an interesting 1500m in whichTrish Farr and John Talbot each setPBAs; Kim again led everyone homein what was, for him, a fairly sedate5:07. Competitive 200m (Milton Ma-vrick PBA) and 400m races added tothe interest.

Todd Davey continued his fine ear-ly-season form with the shot. He isnow throwing steadily in the mid-13mrange, with tonight’s effort setting anew age best for him of 13.64m.

ECAC – October 9

Kim Thomas stridesdown the mainstraight at Ern ClarkAthletic Centre.

An early taste of summer weatherbrought the biggest attendance ofthe season to WAAS tonight. Was itthe prospect of the water jump tocool down? The ‘chase saw fourvisitors joining MAWA regularsthrough the water. Rob Nichols ledthe members’ field home behind twoyoung visitors.

There were also good entries inthe four field events. With the shot,Melissa Foster and Mike Ander-son each started the season wellwith PBAs, but the longest put ofalmost 12m came from the consist-ent Geoff Gee. Six javelin throwersmade it a busy evening for throws,the two Andrews Brooker and

Ward, together with Geoff Bray-shaw all within a few centimetres ofeach other at the top of the table.

The high jump completed the fieldevents with good season openersfrom the four contestants.

The track athletes were not to beoutshone. Colin Smith is cominginto good early season form; a solid400m was followed with an excel-lent 200m finish. His 26.4s was part-ly due to the tight finish where hewas just pipped by the flying WendySeegers. Suzi Graves set a PBAbehind these two, with Barrie Ker-naghan sharpening up his form be-hind these three.

The highlight of the distanceevents saw Rob Nichols warm upfor his steeplechase with a swift3000m, dragging Bjorn Dybdahl toa new PBA in second place.

WAAS – October 14

Kim heads field in 3000m

With the main feature of the evening beingthe Trophy 10,000m a number of the ath-letes tonight were using the shorter eventsas warm-ups. So times were not spectacu-lar. The twenty or so members were aug-mented by a clutch of younger visitorshowever and this made the three trackraces competitive.

Chris Neale certainly enjoyed himselfin all three, crossing the finish line first inboth 100m and 200m races and shepherd-ing Shannon Neale through in the 800m.Colin Smith, Lynne Schickert and DanBaldwin also enjoyed their evening. Dancompeted not only in the three regularevents but also the Trophy 10,000m.Lynne declined the 10,000m but finishedthe other three races, the 800m as a race-walk.

ECAC – October 16

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Analysis of the results

Summer has certainly arrived early thisyear. A warm evening with the regulartail wind in the home straight createdanother perfect evening for the sprinters.Rudy Kocis made the long trip fromhome to clock 12.0 for 100m and 25.0 for200m as his season openers. Behind him,Wendy Seegers and Colin Smith alsorecorded extremely sharp times in eachrace.

But it was not just the top runners whoenjoyed conditions. Blakeney Tindall(200m) and Mike Anderson (100m) each

set PBAs; Karyn Tolardo went one bet-ter with a PBA over both distances.

Tom Gravestock was the pick in thethrows events with leading distances fordiscus and heavyweight. Meanwhile,over in the sand-pit Melissa Foster start-ed her triple jump season with a solid11.07m ahead of both Dan Baldwin andGeoff Brayshaw.

WAAS – October 21

Eight visitors swelled the turnout on thispleasant evening at ECAC. With the ma-jority of members concentrating on thetwo trophy events (shot and 3000m), someof the races comprised only visitors!

Three heats of the 60m got us underway,Chris Neale, Colin Smith and new mem-ber Simon Johnson dominating the topheat in a fine finish. A lacklustre mile racewas used mainly as a warm-up for thetrophy 3000m, except for walker KarynTolardo who recorded an excellent 9:27PBA.

Chris Neale left nothing in the blocks inthe 400m top heat either, his 58.8s beingonly just shy of his best since turning 45.

Apart from the trophy shot put, the solefield event was a long jump. Just fourentrants in this, but some good jumpingwas seen, with Simon Johnson (4.64m)again to the fore. Colin Shaw (4.43m) seta new PBA just behind Simon in the rank-ings.

ECAC – October 23

Scott Tamblin celebrated his first com-petitive run as an M35 with an Australianrecord time in the 3000m at Strive tonight.His time of 8:38.1 knocked more than nineseconds off the previous best, GeoffMoore’s 8:47.3 set in 1984.

The other main MAWA interest tonightwas in the sprints, where Rudy Kocis,Greg Brennan, Mark Elms and BarrieKernaghan were putting down early sea-son markers. Melissa Foster is showingfine early season form in the triple jump.Tonight’s 11.37m augurs well for the sea-son ahead.

WAAS (Strive) – October 24

It was a busy trophy night with bothshot put and 3000m, but the head-line of note comes once more fromMargaret Saunders. Cheered onby the excited watchers, Margaretshowed her impeccable middle dis-tance pedigree with her secondstate record of the month.

This time it was the mile event,where Barbara Blurton’s 6:37 fromfour years ago is no longer on thebook. It was smashed by almost 30

seconds, an astonishing amountover this distance. The previousholders have also included our topmiddle distance W60s in the pastten years – Peggy Macliver, GillianYoung and Jackie Halberg. Mar-garet now takes her worthy place inthis elite group.

Other notable performances to-night were PBAs in the 60m dash forMark Elms and Lisa Limonas; andin the shot put to Mike Anderson.

WAAS – October 28

Another record falls

MargaretSaunders is apicture ofconcentrationon her way tobreaking theW60 milerecord.

MIKE ANDERSON

BARRIE KERNAGHAN

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Looking ahead

Pan Pacific Masters GamesNovember 1-9, 2014 Gold Coast

MAWA State Championships10,000m, March 5, 2015

Pentathlon March 7, 20152k/3k Steeplechase March 10, 2015Main weekend March 14-15, 2015

World Masters ChampionshipsAugust 4-16, 2015

Lyon, France

Oceania Masters Championships

October 5-10, 2015Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Tom Gravestockleaps in the air at theState Championshipsearly this year.