More than 100 athletes have registered to compete with the South Canterbury Amateur Athletics Club.

The season started last Saturday with a number of new and existing members turning up to compete in a variety of disciplines.

There were good numbers over most of the age-groups, with full fields in both the eight and 10-year-old girls and in the eight and 12-year-old boys.

Saturday’s club programme attracted senior athletes from Christchurch, Dunedin and Geraldine.

A 300m hurdles event was run to accommodate out-of-town athletes preparing for coming national competitions.

Walk events and a 3000m run were also added to the programme.

Local athlete Jonathan Lord made an appearance after winning a national title last week in the men’s 10km race at the New Zealand long distance race walk championships held in Palmerston North.

Three club records were broken in the discus and high jump.

Lauren Bruce threw the discus 29.46m in the girls’ 14 grade, beating the previous record of 25.34m in all three throws.

Ruby Cochrane threw a creditable 34.83m in the women’s discus and Sam Small jumped 1.85m in the men’s 16 years high jump, beating the record by 4cm.

Out-of-town athletes gave the locals a run for their money, assisting South Canterbury in achieving impressive results.

Tyler Collings ran 11.4sec in the men’s 19 years 100m and 22.9sec in the 200m.

Bradley Lang ran 12.5sec in the men’s 16 years 100m, followed by James Sandilands with a time of 12.8sec.

Fifteen-year-old Brittany Cannell produced impressive results competing against older athletes to achieve times of 13.3sec in the 100m and 27.2sec in the 200m.

New junior club members started the season well.

Seven-year-old Clarabelle Strauss won the 60m, 200m, long jump and shot put.

Lily Rae achieved first placings in the nine-year-olds’ 60m and shot put, was second in the long jump and third in the discus.

Sam Borman won the 60m, 200m, long jump and shot put in the eight-year-old boys’ grade.

Adam Alexander won the 60m, 200m, long jump and gained a second place in the shot put in the seven-year-old boys.

Jackson Hicks-Sandri won the nine-year-old boys’ 60m, 200m and long jump.

Ten-year-old Ben Sewell won the 100m, 200m and discus and placed second by 6cm to clubmate William Woodall in the long jump.

William Valentine won the 11-year-old boys’ 100m, 200m, and long jump.

Eleven-year-old Anna Hayward was very close to the best club performances in both the 100m and 200m and used her speed to good advantage to win the long jump.

South Canterbury Amateur Athletic Club walker Jonathon Lord capped off a fine start to the season securing his second national title.

Lord won the men’s 16 years 10km race at the New Zealand long distance race walk championships in Palmerston North. He finished almost six minutes and more than a kilometre ahead of his nearest rival, in a personal best time.

His first gold was on the road over 5km in Wellington in August.

The 15-year-old is now focused on the New Zealand secondary school athletic championships in Wellington next month.

There he will face the defending walking champion Mathew Holcroft of Waikato in what is likely to be a great battle over the shorter 3km distance.

Lord has been walking for five years and is following in his brother Daniel footsteps.

The older Lord is also an accomplished walker, having represented New Zealand in age-group teams.

Senior Programme

Junior Programme

The 2010/11 season programme was discussed at our committee meeting on Wednesday night and the committee agreed to make a few changes for the senior athletes.

1.       Hammer will be offered on programme 1&3 – it will be run at 1245pm and you will need to register your interest by 1230pm so we can set up and have the officials to help

2.       Javelin will be offered on Programme 2&4 – it will be run at 1245pm and you will need to register your interest by 1230pm so we can set up and have the officials to help

3.       If you wish to run a distance race that is not on the programme can you please register your interest by 1pm and we will run these races after the days programme. We will not be able to specify a time as it will be dependent on how long the programme takes to run which is dependent on numbers.

Expressions of interest sheets will be available at the sign in table or you can register your interest prior to the Saturday by emailing Penny or Jan

Please note, these options are only available on our club days, NOT when Christchurch interclub is being run here in Timaru

Any queries please talk to one of the senior conveners –  Grant Lord 6881960 or Ian Baird 688 6462

The track is closed to allow for painting of the lines. There will be no athletics on Saturday 15th October or training on Wednesday 19th October. Weather permitting we will have a practice competition on Saturday 22nd October. This will allow our new members to experience competition rules prior to the Canterbury Interclub the following weekend.

The 2011/2012 South Canterbury Amateur Athletics Club season was officially opened yesterday by Patron and Life Member Bruce Leadley.  Patroness and life member Mary Hannam has been involved with the club for 52 years also spoke.  Eighty keen athletes turned up to be part of the season’s opening with a variety of disciplines being offered to have a go at.  Two registration days were held prior to the opening day which was a good way for new members to look around the facilities before the season got underway.  Next Saturday will again be similar to opening day with at least 4 events offered per age group with training and coaching taking place

REGISTRATION DAYS

SUNDAY 2 OCTOBER  -

2.00-4.00pm

OR

WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER  -

6.00-7.30pm

Come along and register your interest for the up and coming season

OPENING DAY

SATURDAY 8 OCTOBER  - 1.00pm

Welford Acknowledged.

Long serving athletic stalwart,Linley Welford (SCAAC) was deservedly awarded the Service to Sport Award at the 2010/11 Athletics Canterbury Awards evening held at the Cashmere Working Mens Club in Christchurch on Friday night.

Linleys’s service dates back to the early 1980′s as a Committee member of the South Canterbury Amateur Athletic Club as well as an Official up to National level and as a competitor in Masters Athletics.

Linley is also a long serving member of the Athletics Mid-South Sub Centre Committee as well as part of the South Canterbury Track Trust that saw the creation of the All Weather Track Complex at Aorangi Par

Tom Walsh was named Thrower of the Year for his outstanding season which included 17th place at the World Junior Championships in Canada,as well as winning the Australian U20 title and setting a new record,and retaining his New Zealand Senior men’s title.

Rebecca Hodgson won the Most Meritorious Female Throwing Award for consistent Hammer throwing throughout the season that included consistently breaking the Canterbury W19 Hammer record.

Tyler Collings was awarded the Most Meritorious 400 metres to 1 Mile Performance Award for his Outstanding 400 Metres Performances that included winning the New Zealand Secondary Schools Title in Hastings,representing New Zealand in the Under 21 trans Tasman Test against Australia in the 400 metres in Brisbane,and beina a member of the New zealand Under 20 4×400 metres Relay team that beat Australia in Sydney and culminated with a brilliant win in the South Island Secondary Schools Championship in a career best and Championship Record of 48.31 in the final event of the Championships in Timaru.

Also Luke Hurring won the Long Distance Award for his impressive season that included finishing runner up to Olympic 1500 metres Silver Medallist,Nick Willis in the New Zealand Senior Mens 5000 metres Championship

Blazer Awards:  Rachel Rolleston & Jonathon Lord

Athletics were successful at the 2010 Sports Awards with Richelle Cannell winning the Administrator of the Year Award, Reg Brockett the Official of the Year and Don Garland the Service to sport award

Nominees for the Sports Awards

Winners - Reg Brockett, Richelle Cannell and Don Garland

Personal best efforts from a quartet of South Canterbury athletes helped Canterbury comfortably defend their youth Interprovincial Teams title in Hastings.

Canterbury held off Auckland and Wellington in the 12 and 13-year-old competition by amassing 115,116 points, almost 5000 ahead of Auckland.

Each competitor was awarded points against a time and distance chart for their efforts, similar to decathlon scoring, and they were totalled against the 11 other regions competing.

While it is a team event, individual times and placings are recorded, with South Canterbury’s Christina Ryan putting in the third-best overall effort in the 12-year-old girls.

Ryan amassed 2527 points for Canterbury in winning the 80m hurdles and finishing fourth in the long jump. A personal best by four metres in the discus allowed her to record a throw of 27.53m.

Jacob Matson proved he is in the country’s elite for his age in sprinting.

The 13-year-old was first in the 400m in a personal best of 54.94s.

Matson also finished second to Counties-Manakau’s Brett Farrell in the 100m by just 0.04s, stopping the clock in 12.29s.

He was also placed third in the 200m, but the head wind was very strong over the two shorter distances and did not allow Matson to challenge his personal best times.

Lauren Bruce finished fifth in the 13-year-old discus with a 26.51m throw. She was also in the top 10 for the high jump and put the shot out 9.11m for a personal best effort.

Mac Basford recorded a personal best in the 400m in the 12-year-old race, recording 64.25s.

Basford also finished eighth in the 80m hurdles and was part of the winning four by 100m mixed relay team.

Matson also helped Canterbury win the boys 13 medley relay, while Bruce’s relay team finished third, wrapping up a good effort by all four.