The Victorian Shield Competition was back up and running over the weekend at Meadowglen Athletics Track. This marked the half-way point of the state club track and field competition, with a total of 12 rounds in the domestic season. Doncaster Athletics Club had asserted itself in a dominant position at the end of 2013 with several age groups featured highly in the premiership table and were looking to continue this form into the new year.
It was the strength in numbers that was the obvious reason for a successful day for the club, with many events containing several Doncaster athletes, ensuring the respective teams achieved maximum points. Notable performances on the track went to Nat Exon, Abbey Caldwell and Chow Lui for their respective wins in the Open woman’s, U/14 girls and U/16 boys 800m event. Tom Robertson showed he’s in good form this season running 55.23sec in the Open Men’s 400m Hurdles to win by almost 25seconds, with Steph Larkin following her teammate by winning the Open woman’s event by a comfortable 14seconds. As a team, Doncaster comfortably won every relay it had entered in with both the Open mens and womans teams crossing the line almost a minute ahead of second place.
Being such a strong track club, Doncaster athletes are encouraged to participate in field events to ensure points are scored throughout the day. The Lane sisters helped increase the open woman’s premiership lead with 1st and 2nd in the triple jump followed by strong performances in the throwing events. Other notable performances in the field events included Matthew Harpantidis and Stephanie Ratcliffe winning their respective Hammer throw and Shotput events and Venessa Jackson soring 1.45m in the High Jump to finish 15cm clear of second in the U/16 girls event.
Congratulations to the Open mens and womans teams for finishing the day in first with the U/16 girls team finishing in second. These results have increased the lead the Open teams have In the race for the regional premiership and has put the U/16 girls 2 points ahead of their nearest rivals.