Aussie Results/News 2022

[lonewolf]

I am not familiar with the term "beach sprinter". Is that what it sounds like? How is it controlled and timed?

[AS]

It's part of surf lifesaving (the competitive side of the Baywatch-style volunteers that patrol Aussie beaches). There are a few different formats - see here for some info: https://www.surflifesavingsa.com.au/...rts-disiplines

[lonewolf]

It's part of surf lifesaving (the competitive side of the Baywatch-style volunteers that patrol Aussie beaches). There are a few different formats - see here for some info: https://www.surflifesavingsa.com.au/...rts-disiplines

Thanks, AS. Very interesting. looks like fun and completely new to landlocked Oklahoma.

[Speedster]

It's part of surf lifesaving (the competitive side of the Baywatch-style volunteers that patrol Aussie beaches). There are a few different formats - see here for some info: https://www.surflifesavingsa.com.au/...rts-disiplines

Trying to think of any other athletes who ran beach and competed at a national level?

[noone]

1.5 metres short.
Never mind he will still get it.

Well, he's not going to get any younger.

[Steele]

Did Australia adopt New Zealand or something?

[Fortius19]

Well, he's not going to get any younger.

So Willis ran a sub-4 in 2021? I thought this was his last attempt at a sub-4 for 2021 and he was running on 12/31/21.

[AS]

Trying to think of any other athletes who ran beach and competed at a national level?

5 time national men's beach sprint champion Jackson Symonds appears to have picked a couple of WA Chips slivers and run 10.60, but no Nationals...

Beach sprinters are pretty regular participants on the pro circuit...

[Vault-emort]

Trying to think of any other athletes who ran beach and competed at a national level?

Clayton Kearney is probably the standout.

100 10.43 & 10.16w
299 20.64

National 200m Champ in 1985. International Rep at Pacific Conference Games, World Cup & World Indoors

[Vault-emort]

In other news Scott Goodman appointed AA's High Performance Director. Nice to have an Aussie back in the job instead of those blow-ins from the UK who don't stick around.

[El Toro]

Trying to think of any other athletes who ran beach and competed at a national level?

How about David Dworjanyn, the Bronte Bullet? He won the under 19 and Open beach sprint double in 1987 at age 18 before winning the National 100m title in 1989.

The only other man to achieve the Junior/Open beach double? Well that would be Queenslander Aaron Stubbs who did it in 2009 before going on to win the Stawell Gift that Easter. He later converted to the track and took 3rd in the 2016 nationals, eventually ending his career with a PB of 10.23 +0.8.

Dworjanyn was fast but notably slight, espcially compared to contemporary Shane Naylor. He was a member of the 1986 World Junior champs team but didn't set the world on fire. That following summer he achieved the beach sprint double but did not compete at either junior or senior Nationals. He apparently had hamstring injuries contributing to his absence.

In fact, it wasn't until 1989, while just 20 that he reall started showing his talent, firstly competing in the beach sprint for AUS vs NZL and then returning to the track where he had an unlucky season with wind conditions. He set his lifetime PB that year with 10.47 +1.4 but this doesn't even close to represent his talent.

His PB was a new NSW record and was set in the semis of the 1989 State champs. However, Tim Jackson ran 10.45 in the next semi to take it off him. Dworjanyn won the final with another 10.47 but this time into a 2.0 headwind! That's worth about a 10.33 in still conditions. More importantly, he beat Jackson into second by 0.05.

A month later he also won his one and only national title beating out Shane Naylor and Tim Jackson, both by 0.11, then Clayton Kearney, Elliot Bunney (GBR) as well as Steve McBain (SA record holder) and Brett Leavy.

His winning time was a modest 10.57 but that was into a 4.2 headwind! That adjusts to around 10.25 in still conditions using JRM's calculator. For perspective, the fastest Australians to that date were Gerard Keating 10.22 -0.4 and Paul Narracott 10.26 +0.8, the then current and preceeding NRs.

Later that year Dworjanyn ran in the 1989 World Cup 4x100 team but had a number of injuries in the lead up to the CWG trials in December. He didn't end up competing and the top places went to Jackson 10.00, Naylor 10.24, Fred Martin 10.25, McBain 10.29, all aided by a massive tailwind of 4.3m/s. Given he'd accounted for all those athletes previously, it's highly likely he would have won without his injury woes.

And just as he'd turned 21 in October 1989, that was the end of Dworjanyn's career, never running at Nationals again.

PS. As mentioned by V-e, another contemporary of Dworjanyn's was Clayton Kearney, who won the world beach sprint title as well as his multiple Australian titles was also 200m national champion in 1985 along with a bronze in the 100m behind Fred Martin and Gerard Keating. Kearney famously arrived by helicopter to the 1985 Curl Curl 1000, the then richest beach sprint in the world.

[El Toro]

From a bit of internet research, I also found via the SLSA website that two Olympians from this year were also beach sprinters at one time - Oliver Hoare, North Cronulla SLSC and Ellie Beer, Currumbin SLSC. How about that?

https://sls.com.au/tokyo-2020-olympics-wrapped/

[El Toro]

More on the beach sprint crossovers.

Scott Antonich, the Stawell Gift winner in 1988 won the National Invitation100 yards title in the 1992-93 season ahead of Mark Ladbrooke and Andrew Murphy. He also competed in beach sprint, at least at NSW titles.

Antonich famously conned the bookies in his win after his semi-final performance brought his odds in dramatically. He had his (unknown) twin brother conspicuously eat a pie and coke, raising concern among the crowd as he wandered around signing autographs.

This seemed to flow back to the bookies where the odds lengthened allowing his people to bet heavy on the final and clean up. His brother was still signing autographs well after the final...

Paul Singleton, was twice Australian 90 metre beach sprint champion and made three Stawell Gift finals, winning in 1984 (along with the Arthur Postle 70m) after second in 1983 and then finally 3rd in 1995.

Singleton was one of the first reinstated amateurs, along with John Dinan (10.1h/20.19) and Chris Perry (10.34). He finished 5th in the 1985 Nationals behind Fred Martin, Gerrard Keating, Clayton Kearney and Peter van Miltenburg and was 4th the following year.

Speaking of Peter van Miltenburg, he was second in both the sprint and flags at the 1989 Australian Interstate Championsips at Burleigh Heads behind Darren Peters future world champion in 1993.

Crossovers seem to be a bit more common than you'd think but there does not appear to be a triple crown holder of National 100m, beach sprint and Stawell Gift, at least not yet.

[AS]

Great research Oh Bovine One...

[El Toro]

Here's a video of the race: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CYjFXCI...dium=copy_link

Very good run, all through the phases, strong and nice turnover. It was mentioned here earlier about how Masters transition from beach to track might see her a better 200m runner eventually, which I think I agree with. Interesting to see when she races Basic and Connolly.

Interesting that Durmaz beat her out and was a stride ahead at ~20m, even at ~30m before Masters steam rolled her. If Masters can develop a Basic standard start and finish like the vid, I think we'd be in for some very good times.

According to her IAAF profile, she's only run 11 x 200 races in her life, 7 of those finals. That's pretty sparse, so I don't know if, at age 26, she will have the time or desire to focus on it when the 100 and relay teams might be a better chance at scoring a national uniform before she ages out.