Despite very hot steamy conditions on Day One and a cooler session with drizzle on Day 2 Collingwood had a great weekend at the Victorian Relay Championships, held over November 23/24 at Doncaster.

The medal haul included two Golds and five Silvers and involved no less than eleven new Club Records, some expunging performances from the 1970s.

The first three teams from Collingwood to take to the track all crossed the line in first place. These were ‘only’ heats but of course, the athletes still had to be aware of placings to ensure qualification for later action.

Our U/16 boys looked impressive in winning their heat in a time just outside the Club Record. Including three athletes in just their first season of competitive athletics, the boys never looked in trouble and despite their relative inexperience gave us a terrific start to the day.  Quinn Devery, Christian Kodagoda, Elijah Basile and second season athlete Wolfgang Curry did the honours and then went for a sit down in preparation for a lot more action!

Two races later, the U/18 boys, probably the team with the biggest expectation of the day, took to the track and were never in any trouble to qualify, although the hot weather was certainly taking a toll on all at the track. Thomas Follis-Kirby, James Edgar, Isaac Malamatinas and Jarrad Vandenberg were able to qualify without going 100%, but the conditions were anything but comfortable.

Our Open Women were next to fire up with a place in the final to be run at the Zatopek meet early in December on the line. With only the one run at this meet, the girls did not have to worry too much about a speedy recovery and so had a good hit out and actually set the first CR of the day with a smart 3:48.83. Their time was the fastest qualifier. A medal at the Zatopek is a real possibility. Paris Olympian, Mia Gross led the team off, with Chiara Santiglia, junior athlete Lucy Delbridge and Scarlett Burmeister completing the foursome. Chiara and Scarlett were both members of the team that held the existing record –another improvement is likely in December.

A change of pace was up next with the switch to the 4x 100m events.

The U/16 boys ran in the same order as they did in the previous 400 relay and crossed the line in third place to qualify for another final. Four races in this weather was going to be a big call!

The U/18 girls easily won their heat of the 4×100 and looked mighty good in the process. Under 14, Sylvie Collie led the team off, with two U/16s, Greta Zabotto and Ruby Ozougwu following and Lana Toomer (the only genuine U/18 in the team), bringing it home. The girls broke their own U/18 record set earlier in the season.

The finals of the 4×4 finally came. Probably our biggest worry was whether our bunch of reasonably new athletes could handle two high pressure 400m races in quite a short time frame in very oppressive conditions.

No need to worry at all!

Both groups of boys did themselves and the Club proud.

The U/16s finished second with a great performance. They gave their all but were out run by a very classy Nunawading team. The boys, did however, take nearly three seconds off the CR set in 2015.

The U/18s were magnificent! Thomas Follis-Kirby running only his third ever 400m race (the second was in the heat) ran close to 50 secs to open proceedings and handed the baton to James Edgar with a thirty metre lead. James ran a great leg, widening the gap with every step and finished strongly to give Isaac Malamatinas a terrific advantage. Isaac did not give the following teams any hope of a comeback when he took off in fine form. He ran strongly and was still full of running as he handed the baton to Jarrad Vandenberg for the last leg. The gap was now  approaching 60-70m and victory seemed a formality. Jarrad ran it out and crossed the line some eight seconds in front of the (earlier) very confident KSB team.

The boys knocked 18 seconds off the U/18 CR set in 2015 and over a second off the U/20 mark set back in 1977.

After the excitement of the boys collective efforts there was a bit of an anti climax when our 40+ men competed in their straight final of the 4×4. Nevertheless the chaps performed magnificently to grab a silver medal. What made their effort even more meritorious was that three of the four were in the 50+ age group. Because we couldn’t find a fourth ‘older’ runner we had to recruit a ‘youngster’ thus necessitating the lower age group participation.

Adam Delbridge, Andrew Dodd and Andrew Evans were the older stalwarts, while Hugh van Cuylenburg provided the extra spring in the step.

All that was left of day one was the finals of the 4 x 100s.

Our 16 boys were out on their feet after three earlier runs, but managed a faster time than the heat, but could only finish fifth in the big dance. A great day all round boys!

The girls grabbed another silver medal for the Club with a time about two tenths outside their heat time. Ruby took a tumble at the last change, fortunately after transferring the baton, but bounced up quickly to witness the result.

The efforts of all concerned after a very long day at the office was great.

DAY 2

Day two was different! Overcast and drizzle instead of the heat and humidity and flies of Saturday. The rain did clear up after noonish and it did become a little muggy!

The Club confined its activities to just the 4 x 200 events, happily with some success.

First up were the U/16 boys – Yes! – all of whom fronted up for a second serving after a big Saturday. Finishing fourth in a straight final our boys took nearly two seconds off the U/16 CR which had stood since 1980.

Well done Quinn, Elijah, Christian and Wolfgang – not a bad weekend’s work!

The U/18 girls had one newcomer with Evan Kondys replacing Sylvie Collie for the longer sprint joining Greta, Ruby and Lana in the event.

Another silver medal was the result with their time not only eclipsing the CR for the age group, but also the U/20 and Open categories..

The U/18 boys were also back as a unit after what would have been a good night’s sleep to be sure. Thomas, James, Isaac and Jarrad again performed admirably!

Another Gold was forthcoming, along with another two Club Records for good measure.

The 1:29.12 recorded was good enough to replace the existing U/18 time from 1975 and the U/20 time from 1977.

Well done to all our athletes.

Bad luck to Finn Quinn who had to withdraw from the hostilities due to illness, but nevertheless turned up to support his mates.

Thanks to Andrew Dawson and John Nicolosi for their coaching and selection of teams and to Eugene Nemesi for arranging the entries

Thanks to Tony Dell and Marty Galea, who turned up to support their younger team mates.

And it was great to see so many parents and grandparents in attendance, taking a real interest in proceedings and supporting all of our participants, not just those from their particular household.

Collingwood, as usual, was well represented by our hard working officials, with Christine Dell, Kevin Wigmore, Tony William, Eugene Nemesi and Brian Moore on duty at Doncaster on one or both days.