Aussie Results/News 2022

[El Toro]

now that's a fascinating bit of history!

There's some more interesting stuff related to the 1956 event or rather events.

The Australian association initially tried to have lifesaving included as a demonstration event in the Olympics but this was never agreed with Australian football and Baseball getting the nod.

However, they went ahead with the international competition to try and piggy back off the Games and also held a number of other events for the overseas competitors.

The Americans and Hawaiians first appeared in November at Avalon Beach in Sydney in front of a 20,000 crowd. They demonstrated the new lightweight boards and Tad Devine (actor Andy Devine's son) demonstrated the use of the torpedo buoy (an early version of the Baywatch red plactic object) as a rescue device.

Devine had just missed out on the 1956 Olympic swimming team by one tenth but still got a free trip to Australia and got to design the USA team logo.

After orientation competitions in Sydney, the next competition was the International Surf Life Saving contest, held at Torquay, near Melbourne, which was run in conjunction with the Australian championships. This meant there was no Australian team, rather each State competed against the internationals. The teams were:

Australian States
United States
Hawaii (pre-statehood)
Celyon (now Sri Lanka)
South Africa
New Zealand
Great Britain

The USA team was drawn only from lifeguards working in and around Los Angeles.

The legendary Duke Kahanamoku, surfer and multi-Olympic swimming gold medallist was the honorary event Chairman. Kahanamoku's selection was recognition for his importance to surf culture in both countries.

His effective use of a surfboard during a rescue of multiple people led to the uptake of the surfboard by lifeguards in the USA and his earlier introduction of the surfboard in Australia in 1914 and New Zealand in 1915 caused a parallel usage to develop in the southern hemisphere. Both AUS and USA had forms of paddled board competition by 1956 with AUS kneeling and USA lying flat.

The Age newspaper reported that 40,000 people attended the Torquay carnival. The overall winner was New South Wales followed by New Zealand, Hawaii, South Africa and USA in 5th with Great Britain in 10th.

Interestingly, the medals awarded at the meet included the Olympic rings. Whether this was an approved usage is unclear. Maybe bambam knows? An example of the medals can be found at: https://www.soulsurf.com.au/product/...olympic-medal/

The touring groups moved back to Sydney for two further carnivals at Maroubra and Collaroy beaches. Tad Devine was successful at Maroubra finishing second in the board race, and surf race and winning the belt race. The next day at Collaroy, Hawaiian Tommy Zahn, legendary surfer and former boyfriend and surf instructor to the then Norma Jean Baker, finished second in the board event. Devine backed up to again win the belt race.

All in all, a succesfull tour with fruitfull exchange of ideas with far reaching effects in both Australia and USA and eventually world competition.

Australia took on some USA ideas like the lightweight, fiberglass boards, beach relays and iron man events but not the torpedo tube, at least until the 1990s. USA took up the idea of a national organisation, the Australia surf ski, kneeling paddle technique, flag event but not the belt race, surf boat or most sadly for lonewolf, the beach sprint.

[Vault-emort]

PERTH - 18 NOV

q00 (1.2) Ennis 20.91
PV Armstrong 5.30m

[El Toro]

Competitions over the weekend include:

BRISBANE The Norma Croker Shield unfortunately sees som big names missing from the lists.

100 Hartmann, 400 Hartmann, HJ Miers

Alex Harmann only ran the 100 and finished 5th, 3/1000 behind our regular MAS competitor. The wind was non-legal 2.2.

Fejiro Omuvwie (PB 10.44 +0.9) looks like he's in shape to break that and might be able to run in the 10.20s without excess wind when he peaks.

1 Omuvwie, Fejiro 10.29
2 Rizzo, Matthew 10.45
3 Rucker, Jalen 10.51
4 Nasir Taib, Russel 10.53 (10.521)
5 Hartmann, Alexander 10.53 (10.524)

Oscar Miers struggled after opening low at 2.05, cleared first go, as he did at 2.10 but then only cleared 2.15 on his third followed by XXX at 2.20.


Hayley Reynolds b.2003 (PB 11.63 +1.5) was the only female sprinter under 12s with her 11.66 +1.7 in the U-20 event. Not far off her December 2021.

[Vault-emort]

ADELAIDE - 15 JAN
60 (1.5) Hunt 6.87
200 (-0.6) Hunt 21.17
800 Stenson 1-48.98

60 (1.2) Stallan (b03) 7.66

BRISBANE - 15 JAN
100 (2.2) OnuvWIe 10.29 Rizzo 10.45 Rucker 10.51 Taib 10.53 Hartmann 10.53
HJ Miers 2.15m

100 (1.7) Reynolds (b03) 11.66

LAKESIDE - 15 JAN
100 (0.3)Tarrant 10.61
LJ Hinson (b03) 7.61m (0.4) Chandrasena 7.55m (0.5)

100H Mucci 13.28

GEELONG - 15 JAN
100 (0.5) Romanin 10.50
400H Major 51.90 Fry 51.93

100 (2.2) Gross 11.53 Owusu 11.70
200 (0.9) Gross 23.80 Owusu 23.85
800 Greene NZL 2-05.5h

CANBERRA = 15 JAN (in progress)
DEC Diamond 10.97, 7.71m, 14.14m

HEP West 14.18, 1.71m, 14.18m, 25.05 (3417)

[El Toro]

Competitions over the weekend include:


Mia Gross, Kendra Hubbard, Michael Romanin and Nana Owusu are down for the 100/200s in Geelong.

Edit to add: Ahh, V-e snuck in just before me.

Mia Gross runs well but missed out on a 100 PB from too much wind. Her official bests are 11.70 -0.5/11.56 +3.6. Her 200 was down 5/100 from her 23.75 +0.7 PB.

Result: Heat #1 Wind: 2.2
1 Mia Gross 11.53
2 Nana-Adoma Owusu-Afriyie 11.70
3 Jessie Andrew 11.98

5 Kendra Hubbard 12.55

Result: Heat #1 Wind: 0.9
1 Mia Gross 23.80
2 Nana-Adoma Owusu-Afriyie 23.95

5 Kendra Hubbard 25.50


Result: Heat #1 Wind: 0.7
1 Michael Romanin 10.50

Result: Heat #1 Wind: -0.6
1 Cameron Searle 21.23
2 Michael Romanin 21.68

[El Toro]

Tori West won the ACT Hep with 5582, over 1200 points ahead of a very modest field. This is a reasonable season opener, considering she did not score in a heptathlon in 2021. She has also not competed at all this domestic season except for a SP of 12.63 in December last year.

Her PB of 6028 goes back to the the 2020 Qld Champs in February of that year. In October 2020, she scored 5716 in Mackay in what was her last heptathlon until this weekend.

Her events this weekend were: 14.18/0.3, 1.71, 12.81, 25.05/1.2, 5.32/0.2, 47.72, 2.29.37

The hurdles was the fastest time of the three Heps mentioned, her HJ was in the middle, SP worst but not by much, 200 worst by half a second, LJ worst by nearly half a metre, JT worst by 2m and 800 worst by 10s.

I'd imagine she will also compete in Qld champs in a month and then Nationals. She should be able to up her score by at least 200 points next month as she gets a bit further into her season as fresher legs up her key events of HJ, 200 and LJ. The 800 will probably stay where it is until a 6k score is a chance and then she'll find that 10s without too much trouble.

[El Toro]

Alec Diamond had a disastrous first day with a DNF in the 400m. He is currently continuing with the second day and needs 484 points to catch up to leader after the DT, Newcastle's Samuel Taylor. Now that's a challenge over just 3 events!

I'll report on the outcome and where Diamond could have been when the full results get published.

[Vault-emort]

Athletics NSW live results website seems to be broken. Finals session from the Illawarra meet last night (including State 60m & Mile Champs) are still showing just start lists. No idea if the meet got cancelled because of the storm which hit there last night or it's just an error nobody has fixed yet.

ETA - oh it WAS cencelled. Aths NSW provided this info on Facbook, but I'd been checking their twitter feed which hasn't seen a post since last year.

Anyway - a few results from the States:

WASHINGTON INDOOR - 15 NOVEMBER
Mile 4) Miller 3-57.04 6) Trippas 4-02.07

MILE B 1) Thomas 4-46.18


COLLEGE STATION- 15 NOVEMBER
800 3) Hunter 1-48.29
Mile 1) Hunter 4-00.86

3000 2) Hull 8-39.79 NIR

[El Toro]

Alec Diamond took some time out his Bobsleigh competition schedule to start in the combined ACT and ANSW Decathlon Championships.

Unfortunatley, he had a disastrous first day with a DNF in the 400m, killing any hope of a big score. However, his performances across the board suggest he is close to a new PB this season.

Diamond joined the 8000 club at the Townsville Sports Reserve in June last year. By 8000 club, I mean exactly 8000 points - that's not easy to do! This score had the help of no less than 5 new or equalled absolute PBs.

His events in TSV were 11.07/0.0, 7.74/1.1 PB, 14.28, 2.01 PB, 49.44 PB, 15.03/2.1, 47.73, 4.80 PB, 50.98, 4.46.51 PB.

At Woden Park this weekend:

His 100m time of 10.97 +0.6 was just off his PB of 10.94 +1.1.

His LJ was also up to PB standard with 7.71 vs his 7.74 PB from TSV. It's worth noting that the wind was still this weekend vs a helpful 1.1 in TSV. This weekend's jump puts him at his 4th best jump alltime after 7.74 +0.2, 7.74 +1.1 CE, 7.72 +2.0, 7.71 0.0 CE & 7.69 +1.1. It worth noting that the other 4 jumps were all set last year, including that first 7.74, also set in Canberra but at the AIS.


The SP was another strong effort, with only 14cm lost to his TSV performance, 14.14 to 14.28, although both of these are a metre down on his PB of 15.32, set in the National Championships decathlon last year.

HJ was a disappointment, with his 1.95 well down on his 2.01 PB set in TSV and also the worst Dec HJ since his 7083 point score in 2020 when he jumped 1.90.

The 400m was a DNF but I have no information on the reason. It may be that he had some cramping problems starting in the HJ that affected his last two events or he may have had issues with insulin management as he appears to be a Type 1 diabetic according to his Instagram. That can be tricky to manage over two long days.

Despite the Day 1 disaster, he bounced back today with:

A 110H time of 14.61 -0.2, right on his PB of 14.58 +1.0 set finishing 4th in an open hurdles race.

After a great recovery in the hurdles, Diamond threw poorly in the DT with a very modest 38.25, almost 10m down on his 47.73 from TSV and over 10 from his 49.32 PB.

The PV was another strong event for Diamond, equalling his TSV decathlon and absolute PB of 4.80. His resilience in coming back after poor performances is very impressive.

With overnight leader, Samuel Taylor a DNS in the JT, Diamond took the points lead.

JT was another poor effort with 42.77 his best throw, over ten metres down on his already modest PB of 53.38. Like the DT, ACT Athletics is not publishing all attempts online so I don't know if he threw badly on every throw or if this represents a safety throw and two fouls.

The 1500 was also a DNF for Diamond but this still left him in first place with 6206, indicating the complete lack of depth in NSW decathlon compared to Queensland.

While it was clearly a frustratin weekend for athlete and coach, I still think that this weekend still shows that another 8000 score is not too far off, especially as he recovers from his time out on the northern ice.

As this was a combined ACT and NSW championships, the ACT championships goes to local T20 athlete, Tim D'Abrera, who has intellectual disability and profound deafness but competes in every event going, every week. Silver goes to his clubmate Robert Mason, a Masters distance athlete who appears to have been Tim's minder through the two days.

Of course, Tim's final score was very modest but with a NH in the HJ the only blemish over the two days. There were no othe ACT athletes entered in the event.

Full results: http://d1161551-42591.myweb.iinethos...nships/CE/Web/

[El Toro]

Some notable athletes on the AUS all-time list have reached decadal anniversaries this month. Links to Paul Jenes et al excellent career snapshots for these athletes.

1952
Warren Parr 110H 13.88

1962
Gary Minihan 400 45.65
Stuart Andrews DEC 7,730

1972
Nickey Carroll W1/2Mar/Mar 72:39/2:25:51

1982
David Geddes 100/200/400 10.49/20.62/45.80

[El Toro]

Paul Narracott, the last Australian to make a WC 100m final and Australia's first summer/winter Olympian has an accomplished niece.

Jaclyn Narracott, born two years before Paul's first winter OG in 1992, is the first AUS skeleton slider to win a World Cup event. To further the athletics connection, her strength coach is Chris Gaviglio, number 9 on the AUS alltime SP list with 19.01m.

Story on her win

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-...gold/100758524

[gm]

Pat Tiernan went to #2 on Australia's A-T half marathon list with a 60:55 at Houston

[Vault-emort]

One indoor mark I missed over the weekend was Chris Douglas' run over 60H in Iowa.

His time of 7.67 is a new AR surpassing Kyle vd Kuyp's 7.73 from 1995 and a surprise qualifier for the World Indoor Champs.

Maybe he should run a few 110H races this year too. Been quite a while since we had someone double at 110/400H at the Comm Games.

[AS]

Looks like the 2026 Comm Games might end up in Melbourne...20 years on from last time. Hard to imagine them putting the track at MCG again, but Lake Oval won't suffice either. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/melbour...18-p59p6r.html

[El Toro]

Looks like the 2026 Comm Games might end up in Melbourne...20 years on from last time. Hard to imagine them putting the track at MCG again, but Lake Oval won't suffice either. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/melbour...18-p59p6r.html

Yeah, there's nowhere obvious to build a brand spanking new AFL stadium where the track gets ripped up straight away. They've already got enough new large stadia for that.

Having said all that, it's worth noting that the Vic govt strategy notes that parts of the MCG will be 40 years old in 2030, so this may be an opportunity to justify refurmishment of the stands in exchange for 6-9 months without access for CWG. I think that's all it was in 2005/2006. Of course there's still plenty of choices to lay a warm up track, including Olympic Park Oval.

Alternatively, they could redevelop Albert Park significantly and move the track away from Bob Jane to a location on the west side where they could build a new stadium designed to add and remove temporary stands multiple times and to have an adjacent warm up track. This would give them a long term, low cost, expandable venue for things like WC, WJC, CWG without much effort.

If they do want to go full on regional, then the only major venue outside Melbourne is Kardinia Park which is just getting the stands refurbished and will have 40k capacity by next year. It has another two ovals outside that could host the warm up track. But will the locals give up their footy field for CWG, especially after the disruptions from grandstand construction?

An interesting conundrum.

The VIC stadia strategy: https://sport.vic.gov.au/our-work/in...ound-advantage