News Archive 2010

East Region will complete the rain affected Rounds 4 and 7 at Doncaster on Tuesday 7th December commencing at 6:45pm. Timetable

Two of our athletes competed in the 2010 Melbourne Marathon on Sunday, 10th October.

The first round of AV Shield will be at Box Hill on Saturday, 9th October and will be Program 2.

To kick start the beginning of the 2010/11 summer season the committee has organised a little social shindig on Thursday 7th October at 7pm at the Living Room restaurant, 19 Anderson St, Templestowe. Prices are expected to average out at about $20 per head.
If you are interested in attending, please contact the club Treasurer Stephen Pegg.

Another season of Cross Country races comes to an end with the Tan Relays around the Botanic Gardens. Final Ladder

A cold, wet and windy day greeted runners last Saturday at Bendigo.
Results and Photos

The Ivanhoe Harriers AGM will be held on Friday 21 May at 7:30pm at the Willinda Park club rooms.

You may have seen that at the Winter Paralympic Games, being conducted at the moment at Vancouver, partially sighted Jessica Gallagher won Australia's first ever medal at these Games in the women's downhill skiing.

What has that to do with Ivanhoe Harriers?

Well, there is a connection. John Boas had a hand in her training and conditioning. I do not suspect that John taught her how to ski, but she trained with his group last year doing long jump training, and special exercises designed my John for her skiing.

So not content with coaching an Olympic Summer Games medallist, John has now a winter Paralympic medallist on his C.V. Congratulations, John. Is there no end to his talents?

After a break of a few years, when the Australian Youth Championships were incorporated into the Australian All-Schools Championships, they were revived as a stand alone championships, conducted this time with the Under 20s. (Previously the Under 20s were held with the Under 23s. Confusing isn't it).

They were held at Sydney's Olympic Park from 11th to 14th March, and Ivanhoe Harriers was well represented.

In an exciting contest, James Alavuk became our newest Australian Champion when he won the Under 14 Pole Vault. He equalled his PB of 2.60m, and won on a count-back, having cleared all heights up to then on his first attempt. After his performances in warm-up he was hoping to go higher, but 2.80m proved just out of reach on the day.

For someone who had not done any athletics before October last year, he has had a meteoric rise. He answered our publicity for a pole vault clinic we ran at the start of the season, and has not looked back from there. However, as he was advised after the contest, it is harder to repeat as Australian champion, and a good challenge for him next season.

In the Under 18 Pole Vault, Lewis Seccombe also equalled his P.B. of 3.70m, and this sufficed for a bronze medal. Actually, he won two bronze medals, as the same competition was also the Oceania Championships to qualify athletes for the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore later this year, and medals were handed out for both.

In the same event, Tim Welch found that on the day he could not improve on his opening height of 3.10m. However, fourth place in an Australian Championships is a good climax to the season for him, no matter what the height.

The female pole vaulters did not jump up to their expectations. In the Under 20s, Alana Green, who had a very mixed lead up to the championships, which included bouncing off the mat at training, hurting her shoulder and wrist, cleared 3.20m for sixth place. This was probably the lowest height she cleared in competition all season, and it was disappointing that she was unable to jump up to her best on the day.

But worse was to follow in the Under 18s. Madi Heather had a brilliant warm-up, including clearing heights well above her P.B., but in the competition, she had the dreaded no height at 3.40m.

These two will be determined to show what they can really do next time.

In the Women's Under 20 Long Jump, Christine Rogers followed up her Victorian medal with another promising performance, jumping 5.17m for 10th place.

Congratulations to all our athletes who qualified for, and competed in the Championships. They are all a credit to Ivanhoe Harriers.

Ivanhoe athletes had great success at the Victorian Youth and Under 20 Championships at Olympic Park from 26th to 28th February.

In the women's under 20 pole vault, Alana Green (who has joint registration with South Coast Athletics) won the gold medal. Although not happy with her height cf 3.40m, it was her first Victorian Championship and when she feels comfortable with the bigger poles she was using, increased heights will result.

At the other end of the age range, James Alavuk won the under 14 pole vault, with a clearance of 2.30m. He is returning to form after interrupted training since Christmas, and should also be looking for bigger heights in the future.

After a succession of fourth place finishes, Madi Heather broke through to win the bronze medal in a tough competition in the under 18 pole vault. She cleared 3.50m and had two very close misses at a PB of 3.60m.

Lewis Seccombe and Tim Welch both won medals in the under 18 pole vault. Coming back from illness and injury (so what is new at Championship time) Lewis finished second with 3.50m and Tim won his first state medal when he was third with 3.15m. It was good to see two Ivanhoe athletes on the victory stand when getting their medals.

In the under 20 women's long jump, Christine Rogers jumped above expectations and was rewarded with a bronze medal with a leap of 5.15m, and excellent performance.

Anna Wiseman finished a creditable sixth in the under 16 200m hurdles final, with a time of 34.89. One of the hurdles did not co-operate with her stride pattern as it should have, resulting in a slower time than in her heat, which she ran in 34.02.

The Australian Youth and under 20 championships will be held in Sydney from 11th to 14th March, and we wish our athletes competing there all the best.

There will be two additional rounds of competition for East Region athletes after the conclusion of the 2009/10 Shield season. The twilight rounds will be held on 9/3/2010 and 16/3/2010 and use a shortened program.

Round 1 Tuesday 9 March (Box Hill)

Time Track 6:30pm 800m 7:20pm 200m 8:10pm 3000m

Time Triple Jump Shot Put 6:30pm >10.50m <8.50m 7:15pm 8.50m - 10.50m >10.50m 8:00pm <8.50m 8.50m - 10.50m

Round 2 Tuesday 16 March (Doncaster)
Held in conjunction with AV Throwers Meet

Time Track 6:30pm 100m 7:20pm 1500m 8:10pm 400m

Time Long Jump High Jump 6:30pm >5.50m 1.10m - 1.45m 7:15pm 4.50m - 5.50m 1.60m+ 8:00pm <4.50m 1.35m - 1.70m

There will be no separate age groups. However Junior athletes in the Shot Put will be able to throw their age group weight and be scored appropriately.

For some thought provoking reading have a look at the articles written by Peter Rule in the World of Athletics section of the web site.

The Mens Division 2 team finished third at the Region Final on Saturday.

With deep regret, Ivanhoe Harriers announces the passing of club Life Member and stalwart, Ronald Garth Stephens OAM, on 20th December 2009, aged 82.

Ron joined Ivanhoe Harriers in 1944 and competed in middle distance events at which he would later excell.

During the 1950s, Ron was our leading distance and Cross Country runner with impressive personal bests of 1:59.0 for 880 yards, and 4:20.0 for the Mile. In addition, he was the club Cross-Country Captain, responsible for organising athletes and entereing teams.

Despite moving to Parkdale in the early 1950s, where he continued to reside, Ron stayed loyal to the club and built up an outstanding record of service both as an athlete and administrator. For 33 consecutive years, between 1944 and 1977, Ron competed for the club, an unmatched achievement.

Also, for 22 consecutive years, from 1947 to 1969, he served on the club committee, and during this time he was Treasurer for 9 years and then Vice President for another 9 years. He acted as club President in 1966 when the then President was overseas for work commitments.

It was therefore fitting that in 1993, after a 50 year association with the club, the club's highest honour, Life Membership, was awarded to him.

The club offers its condolences and sympathy to his wife, Dulcie and his children Rozlyn and Michael.

R.I.P.


Thanks to Andrew Edney for the information on Ron’s career with the club, which has been taken from his book, “The First 80 Years in the Life of the Ivanhoe Harriers Athletic Club”.