A wet and miserable day included some lightening performances from the Doncaster sprinters with Kevin Rassool and Damian Di Donato running 22.08sec and 22.45sec respectively for the 2 fastest times of the day in the Mens 200m. Courtney Yates ran well to finish 3rd behind Australian representative Monica Brennan and Ashleigh Hamilton of Diamond Valley in 26.28sec. A tactical first heat of the 800m came down to a final sprint with Nathan Down winning in 1:55.9 after running his second lap faster than his first. Nick Finch ran home well to finish in third with 1:57.9. Georgia Feben and Connor Gist finished first and second respectively in 2:21.91 and 2:23.21 to take out the Open Woman’s event. Charlotte Bassett took on the boys in the U18 age group which helped push her to a time of 2:24.87, some 14sec faster than her nearest female competitor.
In the 3000m, Andrew Reddie set a good pace early to break away from the main field to end up winning in 9:12.1 with John Portwood following suite in the U18 age group to win in 9:47.6sec. Georgie Buckley, Samantha Carberry and Georgia Chalmers stuck together to all finish just behind race winner, Virginia Moloney of Collingwood Athletics Club. Charlotte Bassett managed to back up well in the distance events by winning the U18 girls 3000m event in 10:39.3min. Abbey Caldwell topped the charts in the U/14 girls 3000m, running clear by over 2 minutes. Hurdles were no issue for Nicole Reynolds and Samantha O’Connell, both running home strongly to win the U/16 girls 200m event. Alex Di Medio was unstoppable in the 400m hurdles event running 58.11sec showing his good form early.
Multi-eventers Nick Finch, Breanna Large and Joanna O’Connell racked up the team points throughout the afternoon with each winning their respective age group triple jump events. Zachary Nunis flew high over the high jump bar in 1.70m while strongmen Wes Spargo, Ross Reber and Peter Coumaros dominated the Open Shotput event with throws of 9.88m and 9.08m. In the Hammer cage, David Firth took the win in the Open category while juniors, James Joycey and Julia Bryne both threw well to win their respective age groups.