EMR Relays 2005-06

EMR Relays at Ringwood – November 13, 2005

What a huge day. Great to see so many happy little faces and definitely our best result for many years with 12 medals.

Phil Carpenter, can you advise the last time we won four golds, five silvers and three bronze.

Even more pleasing was that we did it in style – winning two of the closest finishes of all time.

The first was by Henry charging home past Knox in the Boys Under 9 Medley and the second was by Monique in the Mixed Sex Under 9. Our MS 4x200m team was smashed by five seconds by Croydon at Box Hill, so it was great to improve and pay them back.

Callum’s effort in the Under 11 Medley was huge, but we’re used to him taking us from fifth to first by now. I suspect he ran a PB 200m along the way in the 400m – I unofficially clocked him at 29 seconds to half way.

 There were plenty of other great efforts, ranging from Kate Burgess (five super runs) to Kate McNamara.

Special mention also to Felix Zemdegs, Chris Hargreaves and Andrew Mills, all three of whom turned up early for 4x100m and were still going strong at the end of the day and the Boys Under 14s who hung out all day for just three runs albeit for three medals.

 Thank you also to three of their dads – Stephen Kerr, Greg Burgess and Peter Vine – who did three hour shifts as our main track officials.

 Thank you also to Scott Andrew, Jessica Mills, Matthew Hutchison and Vince Toohey for their assistance as Box 1 marshalls.

 We also employed two young girls for the entire day, so that most parents were able to watch there kids run from the grandstand. Their costs are covered by the $3 per event fee, so those parents that didn’t pay me, could they please do so on Wednesday at training or Saturday morning.

I’m sure a lot of you will be asking me if we made the state titles at Olympic Park on December 11.
Our four winning teams are all automatic qualifiers, but I expect about 12 other teams to qualify.

The system to make states is complex to understand.

In the 4x100m events, they have three heats meaning 24 teams qualify. They take the winners from each of the eight zones (four country, four metro) and the next 16 fastest across the state.

In the Medley and MS 4x200m, only eight teams qualify. In many cases these will be just the winners of the eight zones, but the Latrobe region often does not supply a representative, meaning that one team may get through on fastest time. As our zone is by far the strongest, second place in the Mixed Sex 4x200m may be enough.

In the 4x200m, they have three heats for Under 9s to Under 11s meaning that the next 16 fastest will qualify. For this reason all of our 4x200m teams in those age groups are chances of qualifying.
In the Under 12s-Under 15 4x200m they only take 16 teams, just eight go through on times, so getting through in these circumstances is tough.

Please read the results here. I have taken a stab on which teams will qualify – I will be wrong with one or two teams so please don’t hold me to my verdict, but at least it will give you an idea.

Chris Muirden, Camberwell Malvern Relay Team Manager

Box Hill Relays

Box Hill  - October 23, 2005

Box Hill Relays – October 23, 2005

Congratulations to all those who took part in the Box Hill Relays on Sunday.

As this was our first relay hitout for this season, our expectations weren’t high, but it was great to see so many eager young faces taking part.

There’s nothing better than watching the Under 9s line up in the marshalling area for their first ever race and its great to see the big kids developing into fully-fledged athletes.

The Box Hill meeting is well-organised and unlike the regionals it is far less taxing on parents with no major marshalling duties enabling everyone to watch their child perform.

There were some great efforts on the day and these stood out for me. Bridie Brittain who stepped up and ran a 400m and then backed up for two more 200m, Anthony Ioannidis who looks like he’s giving his all and more, Callum Nott’s 400m taking his team from 6th to second, Will Mitchelmore who gave Henry a rest and ran a super heat, Ben Thiele who took on the 400m leg in his heat – a performance that helped his team win gold, Millie Maitland who returned to the track in the afternoon after running the 4x100m first up and scored her first medal with two great 200m runs, Nisha for stepping up to the Under 12s and having a real dip in the 400m, Feargal Murphy who ran the 400m in the final of the Boys Under 14 Medley to save Chris and Andrew for later, and Rosie Muirden who ran five events and stayed back until 6pm to make up numbers in the final of the girls Under 13 4x200m.

We ended with five medal-winning teams on the day and a couple of fourths and we all witnessed for the first time the Fraser/Henry show – the best double act we’ve seen in a long time.

Thanks to David and Rita Zemdegs for getting there early and Nigel Rodriguez for bringing the banner.

Chris Muirden

CM Relay Team Manager