Back to back champions! Athletics Wollongong takes 1st place at NSW Country Athletics Championships in Dubbo
The NSW Country Athletics Championships wrapped up in Dubbo. Find out who won, who broke records and who made waves during the meet.
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After three days of action-packed athletics competition for the NSW Country Championships, it was Athletics Wollongong who emerged with the highest points tally.
Of the 48 teams that scored points over the three days of competition, Athletics Wollongong emerged as champions with a healthy gap between second placed Nowra and third placed home team Dubbo.
In doing so, the club retained The Hooper Cup, given to the club with the highest point tally, which Athletics Wollongong took out at last year’s meeting.
President of Athletics Wollongong, Michael McClelland, was proud of the efforts his team put in at Barden Park in Dubbo.
“It’s very exciting to see our clubmates performing so well,” McClelland said.
“It’s great to see them out inspiring us on the track and coming home with so many great results and medals.”
Chelsy Wayne was one of the headline performers of the weekend, breaking a record that had stood for 43 years in the U20 discus, clocking a massive 47.59 metre throw.
What made the achievement even more noteworthy was that second place Ashlyn Blackstock of Eastlakes also broke the record with her 47.34 metre throw, but was unable to take 1st place away from Wayne and Wollongong.
In the men's 200 metre open final, Mitchell O’Neill was also a record-breaker, clocking a time of 21.47 and dethroning the existing record which was held by Christian Foster of Athletics Wollongong from 2015.
Cheyannah Hall improved on her own record which she held from one year earlier in the women’s U14 pole vault, making a sizable improvement from 1.56 to 1.80 metres in the space of a year.
Another standout performer was athletics veteran and club captain Peter Kidd, who competed in ten events in the 60-69 age division, taking 1st place in 400 metres and 100 metre hurdles.
Catch up on all three days of action below.
A Smart return!
Nowra’s Erin Smart has gone back to back to back to back, defending her four titles from last year in the women’s 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m in the 40-49 age group, in what has been an incredible performance.
The golden haul started on Friday night when Smart claimed the 200m and 800m races, with her time of 26.12 seconds in the 200m just 18 one hundredths of a second away from her own meet record.
She backed it up on Saturday with victory in the 100m before capping off the magical meet with her fourth gold in the 400m, once again narrowly missing out on breaking her own meet record.
Family connections
One of the highlights of the Country Championships has been the number of families with multiple members participating in events.
Another very well represented bunch was the Tait family from the Grafton Athletics Club, with dad Stuart, mum Nicole, and kids Hanna, William and Callum all donning the club’s purple and white colours over the course of the weekend.
On the Central Coast, there will no doubt be plenty of celebrations in the Gunn household after Katie Gunn, competing for the Gosford All Stars, took out the women’s open long jump event with a leap of 6.14m.
About an hour later it was Tyler Gunn’s turn in the men’s long jump, with the 23-year-old claiming silver after recording a jump of 6.48m.
Hurdman’s golden meet
Macquarie Hunter star Shari Hurdman has capped off a wonderful meet by winning her fourth gold medal on day three of the Country Championships.
The 16-year-old took out the U17 400m race, which followed victories in the 100m, 200m and 400m hurdles events.
That wasn’t all, with Hurdman also claiming silver in the U17 long jump and open women’s 4x100m relay in what was as a remarkable performance.
Krause jumps for gold
Temora athlete Grace Krause has finished off her Country Championships with two gold medals after taking out the long jump and triple jump double in the U17 age group.
The 16-year-old blitzed the field in the triple jump on Sunday, jumping 11.10m to take gold, ahead of Coffs Harbour’s Amaia Wain (9.75m) and Mingara Club’s Kiarna Johnson (9.32).
This came after she also claimed gold in the long jump on Friday night, leaping 5.32m to beat Macquarie Hunter’s star athlete Shari Hurdman (5.15m) and Tamworth’s Isabella Sawyer (5.11m).
Krause also picked up silver in the 200m dash, finishing behind Hurdman with a time of 25.17 seconds.
Club Championships heats up
With Sunday being the final day of competition, that means that eyes are turning towards the Country Club Championships to see which athletics club will finish the carnival on top.
After days one and two, Athletics Wollongong is leading the charge on 808 points, followed by South Coast powerhouse Nowra (654), locals Dubbo Athletics Club (626), Mingara from the Central Coast (549) and the Lake Macquarie-based club Macquarie Hunter (500.50).
Who will come out on top?
Kalozi completes the hat-trick
Athletics NSW’s Joshua Kalozi has made it three from three after taking out his favourite event, the U20 110m hurdles.
The Goulburn athlete made light work of the field in the three-man final, finishing in a time of 14.41 seconds, ahead of Eastlakes Athletics Liam Granato and Wallsend RSL’s Cory Vizintin.
The result isn’t a huge surprise, considering that Kalozi finished 2022 as the third-ranked under 18-year-old in the world, following his time of 13.36 at the Oceania Championships in June.
Masters athletes kick off day three
What better way for day three to kick off than with a series of masters events in the men’s and women’s 1500m.
In the women’s division, Grafton’s Lesley White took out the 30-39 age group, with Orange’s Nicole Williamson (40-49), Kotara South’s Jennifer Enderby (50-59) and NSW Masters Athletics’ Margaret Kenny (60-69) all finishing in first place in their respective races.
Meanwhile, she might have been the only competitor in the race, but Orange Little Athletics Club’s Judy Tarleton has put in one of the performances of the meet by completing the 1500m in the 70+ age group in a time of 10:02.17.
In the men’s, Tyrone Rudman (30-39), Matthew Morgan (40-49), Trevor Kratzmann (50-59) and Peter Dooley (60-69) took out their respective 1500m races.
NSW Country Athletics Championships day two: records tumble in Dubbo
There were a number of incredible performances on day two of the Country Athletics Championships, as competitors across a number of events smashed meet records during what has been a stunning meet in Dubbo.
Whelan blitzes the field
Adamstown New Lambton athlete Emily Whelan has well and truly shown her class in the open women’s high jump, putting daylight between herself and her competitors to claim gold.
Whelan cleared a height of 1.83m to finish in first place, just two centimetres below the meet record of 1.85m.
This was a whopping 33cm ahead of second-placed Hanna Tait of Grafton, with Wollongong’s Rachel Shaw finishing in third on 1.40m.
The performance is a great start to the year for Whelan, who finishing 2022 as Australia’s sixth-ranked senior women’s high jumper.
Sprinters put on a show
The sprint kings and queens lit up the track at Barden Oval in the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay events, in what is one of the hot-ticket events at the Country Champs.
In the men’s race, Illawarra Blue Stars’ A team claimed gold in a photo finish, crossing the line six one hundredths of a second ahead of the Mingara A team, with Nowra in third place.
Meanwhile in the women’s event it was Mingara who took out the title, with the Central Coast club crossing the line first ahead of Macquarie Hunter and Wollongong.
Another long-standing record crushed
Another record has been smashed in the first hurdles event of the day.
Jarrod Sansom set a time of 54:15 in the 400 metre hurdles, eclipsing the record that had been in place since 2004 of 56:20 set by Leigh Bennett of Easts Lakes.
The Maitland star will be oozing with confidence now ahead of his 400 metres final tomorrow.
Hurdman unstoppable again
Shari Hurdman twice found herself at the top of the standings again today in what is proving to be a dominant meeting for her
The young star from Macquarie Hunters first took out the 100 metres for the U17 women, clocking a time of 12:47.
She would then go on to dominate the 400 metre hurdles, blitzing the pack to beat her nearest opponent by nearly five whole seconds.
Hurdman was already successful on the Friday night of the competition in the 200 metres, and still has the 400 metres and triple jump to come tomorrow.
Open sprinters record lightning times in 100m
Illawarra young gun Lachlan Parry has won the 100 metres open event with a lightning fast 10:85.
Parry had a healthy lead on his closest competition in Katoomba’s Zachary Rothwell, who finished at 11:10, narrowly in front his next three competitors who were all split by one hundredth of a second.
In the women’s 100 metres open event, there was a tie for first place between Mingara’s Bronte Carroll and Maitland’s Katie Smee, both clocking rapid times of 11:97.
Two from two for Kalozi
Athletics NSW’s young star Joshua Kalozi has blitzed the field to take two wins from two in Saturday’s events.
Kalozi beat a flying field to take out the U20 men’s 100 metres in a rapid time of 10:94.
He then went on to win the u20s long jump event with a mighty distance of 6.38 metres.
The Goulburn has one more event on Sunday, the 110m hurdles, of which he is the defending champion, so he’ll be out looking for the trifecta.
Dubbo juniors flying on the track at home
Dubbo have had a strong morning on the track on home soil in the 100 metre sprints.
Scott Saxon took out the U12s event in a time of 13:92, defeating a field dominated by Little Athletics runners.
It would be back to back Dubbo victories then, with Beau Wheeldon winning the U13s event with a time of 13:36.
Dubbo would also take a one-two placing in the para 100 metres, with Bailey Thompson taking 1st and Zac Harding following up for 2nd.
A strong start to the day for the home club.
Double dominance in the high jump for Orange
Orange Athletics have had two juniors take victory in the high jump.
Blair Jocelyn took out the U16 women’s division with a height of 1.45 metres, while Hayley Dolle put a sizeable gap between her opposition in the U18 women’s with a height of 1.61 metres.
The other women’s high jump event was the U17s and that was taken out by Isabella Sawyer of Tamworth with a height of 1.58 metres.
40+ year record broken twice on same morning
Two meeting-records have been incredibly broken in the same event.
Athletics Wollongong’s Chelsy Wayne secured 1st place in the U20 discus event with a whopping 47.59 metre throw, eclipsing the record set over four decades ago in 1980 by Illawarra’s Sue Culley.
What makes the achievement even more notable is that 2nd place thrower Ashlyn Blackstock of Eastlakes also broke the record, with a 47.34 metre throw.
A terrific effort from Blackstock, who will be disappointed to not have taken out victory with her record-breaking throw.
Record breaking start to day two
Saturday morning action is off to a blistering start with a record falling in the steeplechase events.
Skye Dogan set a new record in the U16 women’s 2000 metre steeplechase event at a time of 7:47:85.
The Byron Bay youngster eclipsed the last record set by Mingara’s Ashley Pernecker in 2019 by eight seconds.
Nowra’s Nicholas McGill also comfortably beat the event record that had been in place for the last decade in the U16 2000 metre steeplechase, clocking a time of 6:39:08.
The previous record was set in 2013 by Liam Henderson of Kembla Joggers, set at 6:46:60.
Gosford young gun makes it a double
Myles Ashby has gone two for two after his win in the steeplechase this morning.
The Gosford junior took out his second win of the Championships this morning in the U17 men’s 2000 metre steeplechase event, clocking a time of 7:07:47.
On Friday evening, Ashby absolutely blitzed the field in the U17 men’s 3000 metre race walk, clocking a time of 14:00:44, which was nearly two minutes faster than his closest rival.
The long-distance specialist still has the 3000 metre and 1500 metre events to come, and his confidence will be sky-high
NSW Country Athletics Championships day one: action kicks off in Dubbo
The NSW Country Athletics Championships has kicked off in Dubbo, with initial preliminary rounds and even some finals taking place on Friday.
The meet will see thousands of athletes converge on at Barden Park to take part in more than 300 events over the course of the weekend.
Catch a slice of the action below.
Hurdman’s golden start
Macquarie Hunter Athlete Shari Hurdman has kicked off her busy six-event meet in style, taking out the women’s under 17 200m title.
The 16-year-old, who is also racing in the 100m, 400m, 400m hurdles, long jump and triple jump events, finished with a time of 24.81 seconds, ahead of star Temora athlete Grace Krause (25.17) and Maitland’s Amarni Ward (26.24).
Speedsters light up the track
Racegoers were also treated to the first real dose of speed over the weekend, with the open men’s and women’s 200m finals taking place.
In the men’s, Mitchell O’Neill from Athletics Wollongong claimed gold with a meet-record time of 21.47 seconds, ahead of Illawarra Blue Stars’ Jonty Faulkner (22.11) and Mingara’s Matthew Winsor (22.40).
It was a strong showing from Mingara, based on the Central Coast, with three sprinters – Winsor, Will Adams and Jack Vane-Tempest – qualifying for the final.
Mingara’s strong performance in the 200m continued into the open women’s division, with Bronte Carroll winning gold with a time of 23.64 seconds, just two one hundredths of a second behind her own meet record.
She was followed by Maitland’s Katie Smee (23.77) and Port Stephens’ Emma Cotton (24.40) in the final.
Hunter clubs dominate girls 200m
There were a number of junior 200m finals on day one of the Country Champs, with Hunter clubs well and truly coming out on top.
In the girls’ races, Port Stephens’ Elara Barnes took out the under 12s, Macquarie Hunter’s Jenice Hicks won the under 13s and her teammate Tayla Bryant won the under 14s. Keira Carlson made it a Macquarie Hunter hat-trick by winning the under 15s, while Alexis Collins (Newcastle Runners) and Hurdman (Macquarie Hunter) ensured that it was a Hunter Valley clean sweep.
Preview: athletes to watch
One of the most popular events on the athletics calendar returns this weekend when the 2023 NSW Country Championships takes place in Dubbo.
Athletes from all over regional NSW will descend on Barden Park for a weekend full of action, with the carnival to begin on Friday afternoon and wind up on Sunday.
As a meet that contains World Athletics-ratified events in the opens and under 20s divisions, as well as less competitive races in age groups ranging from under 10s to over 70s, the Country Champs will see a fantastic mix of athletes of all different ambitions and abilities hit the track.
Ahead of the meet, we’ve previewed a number of athletes to keep an eye over the course of the weekend.
Grace Krause (Temora Athletics Club)
An excellent junior athlete, the 16-year-old from Temora will be competing in the 100m, 200m, long jump and triple jump events in the under 17s category.
Grace is coming off an outstanding 2022, which saw her claim gold in the under 16 long jump and both the 4x100m and 4x200m relays at the national championships in September. In what was a five-medal haul, she also won silver in the 100m sprint and bronze in the triple jump, and is definitely one to watch this weekend.
Erin Smart (Nowra Athletics Club)
When it comes to sheer Country Champs success, it’s hard to go past Nowra’s Erin Smart. Competing in the 40-49 age group, Erin will remarkably be looking to defend her titles in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m events.
It’s an impressive return for someone who only picked up athletics six years ago as a way to keep fit and get to know a few people.
And with Nowra sending a big team to Dubbo, there are bound to be plenty watching on to see if she can repeat her quadruple-gold heroics from last year.
Liam Fairweather (Maitland Senior Athletics Club)
The Country Champs have been a happy hunting ground for Fairweather, who two years ago set the meet record in the open men’s long jump by leaping 7.27m.
He then backed that up last year on his home track by jumping 7.43 with legal wind and 7.57 (wind assisted) to break the meet record once again. To show it wasn’t just a flash in the pan, Fairweather cleared 7.50m three times last year.
So, will we see a three-peat in Dubbo?
In addition to seeking to defend his long jump crown, the 21-year-old will compete in the 100m dash.
Ella Penman (Dubbo Athletics Club)
One of five Penman siblings competing at their home track, Ella will be looking to medal in front of family and friends as she takes part in four events this weekend.
Ella enjoyed an excellent 2022, which saw her claim silver in the 800m and bronze in the 400m at the national championships in March, and was capped off by taking out the 800m title in the under 17 division at the Australian All Schools Championships just last month.
For the Country Champs, Penman has decided to test herself by racing in the under 20 age group in the 100m and 200m sprints, while she will take on the open women’s field in her favoured events – the 400m and 800m.
Joshua Kalozi (Athletics NSW)
Another defending champion, Kalozi will be out to win the 110m hurdles in the under 20 division after claiming the country under 18 title last year.
The Goulburn athlete had an outstanding 2022, finishing second in the Australian under 18 championships in March, before claiming gold and setting a new meet record at the Oceania Championships in June.
His time of 13.36 seconds saw the 17-year-old finish the year ranked third in the world for under 18-year-olds in the 110m hurdles event, behind China’s Chen Yuanjiang and France’s Theo Pedre.
Katie Gunn (Gosford Allstars Athletics)
The Gosford Allstars athlete will take part in the open women’s 200m dash, as well as the long jump and triple jump events.
Gunn’s main success has come in the long jump, where she finished third in the open state championships in February last year, jumping an impressive 6.17 metres, before taking out the NSW and Australian under 20 titles.
The latter saw her picked to represent Australia at the World under 20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, where she finished 13th in her heat.
Emily Whelan (Adamstown New Lambton Athletics Club)
The 23-year-old, who will compete in the open women’s high jump, is coming off a stellar 2022, which saw her take out last year’s Country Championships, as well as placing second in the Australian Open Championships in April.
Whelan was then selected for an Australian development tour of the UK where she finished first in both the English Championships and Cork City Games, leaping 1.81m in both meets.
After finishing 2022 as Australia’s sixth-ranked senior high jumper, she’ll be looking for a positive start to 2023 in Dubbo.
Shari Hurdman (Macquarie Hunter Athletics Inc)
The 16-year-old will have a busy weekend, racing in six events in the under 17 divisions: the 100m, 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, long jump and triple jump.
In particular, Hurdman will be one to watch in the 400m race, having taken out the NSW All Schools title in September with a meet record of 54.96 seconds.
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