Athletics Report

Saturday 19 August saw the first of the Athletics invitational carnivals for the 2023 season, which was held at E.S. Marks Field in Kensington. The Shore Athletics squad was keen to get the season underway and compete. There were some very pleasing performances across all the events from our athletes.  

A solid series of hurdle performances, especially from our Junior and Intermediate hurdlers, saw Ben Gordon finish second in the Under 14 Championship, with Nick Wendt winning the Under 15 Championship race in a fast 13.7. There were some very competitive 800 metre races, with Hugo Stewart finishing second in the Under 14 Championship with a new personal best time of 2:15.2. The 400 metre sprinters were keen to have their first races of the season and were led by the Hockey brothers with Digby running a strong race to win his division in the Under 16’s with a 54.0 while older brother Wylie ran a controlled 52.9 race. Some excellent 1500 metre races saw the Shore athletes compete well. Off the back of a fine winter season of Cross Country, Toby Ward came second in the Under 14 1500 metre race with 4:43.9, James Bestic led from the front to win the Under 16 race in 4:25.3, and our Captain Nathan Stanmore ran a great race to come second in the quick time of 4:09.8.  

Not to be outdone, our field event competitors showed some good early season form with Henry Frape jumping 4.87 metres in the Under 13 Long Jump, Harrison Brunker winning the Under 14 Shot Put with 12.51 metre throw, while Angus Leslie also won his event in the Under 17’s with a throw of 12.36 metres.  

These early performances augur well for the rest of the season as we build towards the GPS Athletics on Saturday 16 September. Our second invitational carnival is the twilight meet at Homebush this Saturday, starting at 3.00pm.  

Performances of the Week:  

Juniors:
Harrison Brunker U14 Shot Put 1st – 12.51 metres 

Intermediates:
Nick Wendt U15 Hurdles 1st – 13.7 seconds 

Seniors:
Angus Leslie U17 Shot Put 1st – 12.36 metres 

Rev. Anthony Benn 
MIC Athletics