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In a fine finish to the night and the season, Megan Boyes received the baton from Tamsyn Lewis and then proceeded to run a personal best time on the final 4x400 leg to help push the Bayside womens team to a second consecutive victory. In the mens race shortly after, the performance of our boys managed in the relay managed to push them up into a most impressive 3rd position overall behind APS and winners Box Hill. Speaking after the race, Boyes, the specialist Discus thrower was heard to mutter ‘never again’, although she may have been referring the souvlaki at Zorbas which was showing signs of life. And so ended another season at Bayside Central, where the e-mail and text messages will quieten down for a period until things hot up again in November. On behalf of Team Manager Tim(TMT) and myself, we would like to thank all those who have helped us throughout the season, and trusted us with their athletes when the tour of duty was required. In no particular order, a big thanks to the regular Bayside contributing coaches Roy Boyd, Cathy Woodruff, Cathy Heijden, Nicky Frey, Steve Hore, Bryan Neighbour, Trevor Vincent, and John Crane. I know I’ve missed a couple including ?? & ?? but anyway you know who you are. In addition, the regular core of Bayside officials who week in, week out ensure that we don’t get singled out by that man with the microphone.
So to the reports.
The men started off with some silky smooth 400 hurdles action courtesy of Tobby Sutherland and Disco Stu Laidlaw. Tobby was pushed by Peter Bate but then found the next gear in the home straight to win comfortably. The Disco man ran a pb for the season and looked extremely comfortable with his new style of running ‘not trying too hard’. This enabled him to finish 53.8 seconds later, making it two victories for the tribe. In the girls races, it was a big finals welcome to Ann Hibberd, who after much cajoling from Cathy and Sally down at the Sandi track, managed to come on in and share a race with Karin Laidlaw in an attempt to win some valuable points. Both ran strongly throughout the race, with Ann running a personal best to dip under the qualifying time with 68.8. Karin, whilst not qualifying, managed to another solid race and went on later to help run a 400 relay leg.
The Long Jumps brought more glory for Bayside with Carl Moorhouse finishing off another great season by leaping beyond the 7 metre mark for victory. In the womens, Lisa Morrison broke the 6 metre barrier but was beaten into second place by Nadia Smith. It was our strength in the field which no doubt helped us get into winning positions for both teams. Tom Farr came in on a non-Javelin night and decided that with 20 minutes to go, he’d actually try to warm up. Tom has always been at the forefront of innovative thought in athletics and last night proved no exception. His efforts managed to secure himself 2nd place, with a leap of 1:85. This event was to be pivotal in the overall shape of the mens comp as Stephen Cain from APS ‘No Heighted’ in the mens comp, widening the gap between them and Box Hill. Our womens jumper, as it has been all year, was Tessa Densley. Not sure what she finished with (was a 1.75) but I can tell you that she was the only one out there at the end.
No Team member 2377 (Lewis J) meant that that requirements for a third 200 runner were necessary. I put up my hand, but Tim immediately brought it down again and told me not to make a scene. Nfa took up the pole position and found himself in a loaded heat with Adam Basil, Marty Duke and co. He finished fourth overall in 22:53. In Heat Two, Disco Stu came back and practised not trying again before crossing the line in 22:73. He is now looking at applying this rule to all other areas of his life. Heat three saw Tobby Sutherland also step up for the double at last minute notice (and some deal making with TMT regarding the relay), finishing in 22:81.
Some last minute reshuffling of the girls heats saw Katrina Steward take up the pole position and run a super duper equal pb of 24:50. Katrina’s work has been one of the highlights of the season and has helped spearhead a hattrick of wins for the Bayside troops for the second week in a row. Tamsyn’s uniform was deemed inappropriate by the referee, however, which meant we had to make her run a 400 relay leg later as penance. Management are desperately trying to get the team uniform next year to read Blue, with a touch of ambiguity. Emma Cochrane ran another powerhouse race in Heat three, finishing 10 metres clear of her opposition in 25:05.
Matthew Brown was unusually subdued in the mens Discus and was unavailable for comment (on anything). On this occasion, he let the Discus do the talking and tossed it out over 49m for third spot. Megan Boyes, on the other lets both her Discus and her heart do the talking, finishing second in the Discus to Raelene Warren of Ringwood. Whilst they were our closest opposition, by this stage it was becoming apparent that things were going well for the Bayside girls. A huge thanks to Megan anyway for once again coordinating all the Bayside throwing activity. Never need to ring, never need to ask. It’s obvious now why the Leader newspaper group now have file footage of her to call upon whenever the municipality needs cheering.
TMT by this stage was going snap happy as he prepared a whole new set of images for the Bayside website. Check them out now. Whilst the rest of us were perfectly happy to have three year old images grace the website, TMT said enough is enough. Problem is however, that as of last night, one of the images still remains. Gabrielle Neighbour is once again State League athlete of the year, having trounced the majority of the opposition. Her nearest opponent was our very own Megan Peters, who finished second behind Gab’s 57 votes with 23. Way back in third were the rest including Hayley Mcgregor and some others whose names were hard to spell. A huge congrats to Ms Neighbour who receives an undisclosed amount of cash and oil vouchers for the remainder of the year. The mens competition was revealed to be far closer, with Kyle Vander-Kuyp taking out the title by a slender margin from David Flowers with Shawn Forrest in third place. Oh yeah, and Gab won her hammer with 58 metres whilst Paul Peulich finished in second place to Justim McDonald with a throw of 57.14m. Many thanks to Paul - the unseen points machine for the Mens team.
The 800’s saw Brenno taking the pole as Zac pulled out due to an unfortunate bicycle accident. We wish Zac all the best in his recovery and hope to see him back on the track very soon. Neil couldn’t find the burst of speed he needed to catch Mark Gorski and Julian Marsh, finishing third in the process. Heat Two saw a not entirely race ready Tony Wilson put up his hand to go through the first lap in 60 seconds. A long hard desperate run for the line saw him chase that qualifying mark home in fourth place. Heat Three and Ev went out like there was an ice cream sale in Lane 7. At the two hundred metre mark, he slowed noticeably, waiting for the others to come through. It took the rest of the racers four seconds to get there, by which point the momentum was lost. Negative splitting in 800’s is for fools, as Mr T would say.
The girls saw an entirely different formation to that we’re used to. With Karen on airport duty and Anna in airports, Helena took the plum job and it has to be said, did a fine job in the process, running another pb after a very fast lap by Anne Fearnley. Crossing the line in 2:16, Helena is working her way steadily through the season and the list of pb’s that she has. There is hardly a soul around who doesn’t think Helena can improve dramatically over the next couple of years with some hard training. Heat Two saw Tammy Gibson, who is becoming a bit of a finals specialist, step onto the track after a long break due to injury. Tammy always looks comfortable running and ran strongly to cross the line in third place in a time of 2:20. It’s always nice to know that there are folk like Delwyn Hewitt out there who are prepared to put up their hand when an extra effort is needed. Delwyn has been an occasional runner for Bayside in the latter part of the season, and whilst she missed a qualifyer, her efforts are far from unappreciated.
Delwyn’s regional victoria buddy, Melissa Jones, spent twelve and a half laps confusing the officials with her variation on a uniform. Melissa either has a pretty heavy duty washing machine down gippy way, or she got one of those dodgy 1998 Bayside tops. Either way, the navy was blue, or a little grey and the blaze on the shorts was more like an inferno, but she managed to get away with it, running yet another Bayside pb for the night in the 5k by finishing in 18:38. Valuable points indeed and made even more so when we saw Kate Seibold-Crosbie crossing the line in first place exactly a minute earlier. The mens 5k was another good result for Bayside with Clint in a neck and neck duel with Julian Dwyer after 12 and a half laps. Clint was outdipped, and will be looking to partake in one of those infamous Justin Hanrahan ‘dipping’ training sessions. There’s a lot to learn there, Clint. Further back in the field, but equally commendable, was Matt Warrington, who looked like he made the long trip from Frankston alone this week. A huge thanks for your efforts, Matt who has been a regular contributor to the team along with the young crew from Frankston.
Another highlight was Vivian Potiris who against the advice of her coach, got out of her death bed and came in to qualify at Pole Vault. Keeping a safe distance from all other flu-ravaged prospects, Viv still managed to find a smile for management, before coughing her way back to bed.
So, there was no nervousness this year before the relays, few tactics and only a little laughter as it was realised that Katrina had made a flight of fancy, leaving us to find a 400 runner. With Helena and Delwyn running laps of the tan and our jumpers using astrological alignments as an excuse, there was only one who was ever going to step into the breach. And that girl was boyes. It seemed like a nice way to finish the night (although Megan will probably disagree). If nothing else, it showed the opposition what a Bayside team is capable of producing. My guess is they’ll be equally scared next year.
The final standings.....
Women
1 Bayside 365
2 Ringwood United 278
3 Box Hill 276
4 Athletics Essendon 217
5 Melbourne University 180
Men
1 Box Hill 462.5
2 APS 424.5
3 Bayside 327
4 Athletics Essendon 308
5 Ringwood United 264
6 Ivanhoe - Yarra 229
Results are here.
Thanks to everyone who pulled on the wrong sized uniform at any stage throughout the season. Every effort has been appreciated and should be applauded. A big thanks to TMT for what he has done with the men this season. To finish third with no walkers, no steeplers and no pole vaulter is one phenomenal achievement. Hoepfully, with a bit of training and planning, we’ll be able to get ourselves back on top again very soon. As for me, I’m officially announcing my leave of absence from management of the womens team. After three years and two premierships, I feel that it is a good time to step aside and let somebody else enjoy the show. A big thanks to all the girls who have been part of the team over that period. From a personal point of view, I think that we’ve achieved a lot and that even though it may seem insignificant compared with personal achievement, over time, it will be nice to be able to say that you were part of a state championship on two separate occasions. Thanks to everyone for the opportunity and the support, and a big thanks to Megan and everyone for the card last night. It will be much treasured.
So to celebrations, we have decided to return once again to that venerable institution that is the Marine Hotel where management will be shouting drinks until a time when the money runs out. At this stage, we’re looking at the first Sunday after Easter from 1pm. Will confirm and start looking for numbers in the next week or so. Looking forward to catching up then and best of luck to all those in the Nationals next weekend and shortly after that at Stawell.
Adieu
The last Report was Finals Week 1.