Latest News

15 Jul 2010 - Cross Country

A cold, wet and windy day greeted runners last Saturday at Bendigo.
Results and Photos

18 Apr 2010 - Annual General Meeting

The Ivanhoe Harriers AGM will be held on Friday 21 May at 7:30pm at the Willinda Park club rooms.

21 Mar 2010 - Winter Paralympic Games

You may have seen that at the Winter Paralympic Games, being conducted at the moment at Vancouver, partially sighted Jessica Gallagher won Australia’s first ever medal at these Games in the women’s downhill skiing.

What has that to do with Ivanhoe Harriers?

Well, there is a connection. John Boas had a hand in her training and conditioning. I do not suspect that John taught her how to ski, but she trained with his group last year doing long jump training, and special exercises designed my John for her skiing.

So not content with coaching an Olympic Summer Games medallist, John has now a winter Paralympic medallist on his C.V. Congratulations, John. Is there no end to his talents?

20 Mar 2010 - Australian Junior And Youth Championships

After a break of a few years, when the Australian Youth Championships were incorporated into the Australian All-Schools Championships, they were revived as a stand alone championships, conducted this time with the Under 20s. (Previously the Under 20s were held with the Under 23s. Confusing isn’t it).

They were held at Sydney’s Olympic Park from 11th to 14th March, and Ivanhoe Harriers was well represented.

In an exciting contest, James Alavuk became our newest Australian Champion when he won the Under 14 Pole Vault. He equalled his PB of 2.60m, and won on a count-back, having cleared all heights up to then on his first attempt. After his performances in warm-up he was hoping to go higher, but 2.80m proved just out of reach on the day.

For someone who had not done any athletics before October last year, he has had a meteoric rise. He answered our publicity for a pole vault clinic we ran at the start of the season, and has not looked back from there. However, as he was advised after the contest, it is harder to repeat as Australian champion, and a good challenge for him next season.

In the Under 18 Pole Vault, Lewis Seccombe also equalled his P.B. of 3.70m, and this sufficed for a bronze medal. Actually, he won two bronze medals, as the same competition was also the Oceania Championships to qualify athletes for the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore later this year, and medals were handed out for both.

In the same event, Tim Welch found that on the day he could not improve on his opening height of 3.10m. However, fourth place in an Australian Championships is a good climax to the season for him, no matter what the height.

The female pole vaulters did not jump up to their expectations. In the Under 20s, Alana Green, who had a very mixed lead up to the championships, which included bouncing off the mat at training, hurting her shoulder and wrist, cleared 3.20m for sixth place. This was probably the lowest height she cleared in competition all season, and it was disappointing that she was unable to jump up to her best on the day.

But worse was to follow in the Under 18s. Madi Heather had a brilliant warm-up, including clearing heights well above her P.B., but in the competition, she had the dreaded no height at 3.40m.

These two will be determined to show what they can really do next time.

In the Women’s Under 20 Long Jump, Christine Rogers followed up her Victorian medal with another promising performance, jumping 5.17m for 10th place.

Congratulations to all our athletes who qualified for, and competed in the Championships. They are all a credit to Ivanhoe Harriers.

09 Mar 2010 - Victorian Youth And Under 20 Championships

Ivanhoe athletes had great success at the Victorian Youth and Under 20 Championships at Olympic Park from 26th to 28th February.

In the women’s under 20 pole vault, Alana Green (who has joint registration with South Coast Athletics) won the gold medal. Although not happy with her height cf 3.40m, it was her first Victorian Championship and when she feels comfortable with the bigger poles she was using, increased heights will result.

At the other end of the age range, James Alavuk won the under 14 pole vault, with a clearance of 2.30m. He is returning to form after interrupted training since Christmas, and should also be looking for bigger heights in the future.

After a succession of fourth place finishes, Madi Heather broke through to win the bronze medal in a tough competition in the under 18 pole vault. She cleared 3.50m and had two very close misses at a PB of 3.60m.

Lewis Seccombe and Tim Welch both won medals in the under 18 pole vault. Coming back from illness and injury (so what is new at Championship time) Lewis finished second with 3.50m and Tim won his first state medal when he was third with 3.15m. It was good to see two Ivanhoe athletes on the victory stand when getting their medals.

In the under 20 women’s long jump, Christine Rogers jumped above expectations and was rewarded with a bronze medal with a leap of 5.15m, and excellent performance.

Anna Wiseman finished a creditable sixth in the under 16 200m hurdles final, with a time of 34.89. One of the hurdles did not co-operate with her stride pattern as it should have, resulting in a slower time than in her heat, which she ran in 34.02.

The Australian Youth and under 20 championships will be held in Sydney from 11th to 14th March, and we wish our athletes competing there all the best.

09 Mar 2010 - Victorian Youth And Under 20 Championships

28 Feb 2010 - Post-Season Competition

There will be two additional rounds of competition for East Region athletes after the conclusion of the 2009/10 Shield season. The twilight rounds will be held on 9/3/2010 and 16/3/2010 and use a shortened program.

Round 1 Tuesday 9 March (Box Hill)

Time	Track
6:30pm	800m
7:20pm	200m
8:10pm	3000m

Time	Triple Jump	Shot Put
6:30pm	>10.50m	<8.50m
7:15pm	8.50m – 10.50m	>10.50m
8:00pm	<8.50m	8.50m – 10.50m

Round 2 Tuesday 16 March (Doncaster)
Held in conjunction with AV Throwers Meet

Time	Track
6:30pm	100m
7:20pm	1500m
8:10pm	400m

Time	Long Jump	High Jump
6:30pm	>5.50m	1.10m – 1.45m
7:15pm	4.50m – 5.50m	1.60m+
8:00pm	<4.50m	1.35m - 1.70m

There will be no separate age groups. However Junior athletes in the Shot Put will be able to throw their age group weight and be scored appropriately.

26 Feb 2010 - Pete's Blog

For some thought provoking reading have a look at the articles written by Peter Rule in the World of Athletics section of the web site.

09 Feb 2010 - East Region Final

The Mens Division 2 team finished third at the Region Final on Saturday.

12 Jan 2010 - Vale Ron Stephens

With deep regret, Ivanhoe Harriers announces the passing of club Life Member and stalwart, Ronald Garth Stephens OAM, on 20th December 2009, aged 82.

Ron joined Ivanhoe Harriers in 1944 and competed in middle distance events at which he would later excell.

During the 1950s, Ron was our leading distance and Cross Country runner with impressive personal bests of 1:59.0 for 880 yards, and 4:20.0 for the Mile. In addition, he was the club Cross-Country Captain, responsible for organising athletes and entereing teams.

Despite moving to Parkdale in the early 1950s, where he continued to reside, Ron stayed loyal to the club and built up an outstanding record of service both as an athlete and administrator. For 33 consecutive years, between 1944 and 1977, Ron competed for the club, an unmatched achievement.

Also, for 22 consecutive years, from 1947 to 1969, he served on the club committee, and during this time he was Treasurer for 9 years and then Vice President for another 9 years. He acted as club President in 1966 when the then President was overseas for work commitments.

It was therefore fitting that in 1993, after a 50 year association with the club, the club’s highest honour, Life Membership, was awarded to him.

The club offers its condolences and sympathy to his wife, Dulcie and his children Rozlyn and Michael.

R.I.P.

Thanks to Andrew Edney for the information on Ron’s career with the club, which has been taken from his book, “The First 80 Years in the Life of the Ivanhoe Harriers Athletic Club”.

21 Dec 2009 - Rare Air Club Meeting

The Rare Air Club conducted Pole Vault and High Jump competitions at Box Hill last Saturday (19th). The Pole Vault started at 1pm, and was still going at 5pm when your correspondent left. It is a credit to those encouraging the event in Victoria that it is so popular.

It was the last opportunity for athletes to move up the 2009 ranking lists, Madi Heather and Alana Green both took advantage of this to record PBs. Madi and Alana cleared 3.36m confortably, and then Madi was also successful at 3.51m. More will be heard from these athletes in the new year, as there is plenty of scope for further improvement.

Alana’s 11 year-old brother, Ben, kept the family tradition alive by clearing a PB height of 2.31m. He has already qualified for his first national championships in March next year. He is eligible for the under 14s for all of 2010 and 2011!

12 Dec 2009 - East Region Round Changes

Athletics Victoria have agreed to a request from the East Region committee to switch rounds 10 and 12 to the following Saturdays as early start (4:30pm) twilights. Round 11 remains unchanged as a Thursday twilight at Nunawading.

Saturday, 16 January 2010,	Box Hill	starting at 4:30pm
Thursday, 21 January 2010,	Nunawading	starting at 5pm
Saturday, 30 January 2010,	Doncaster	starting at 4:30pm

09 Dec 2009 - National All-Schools Update

Ivanhoe athletes competing in the Australian All-Schools and Youth Championships in Hobart last week-end came away with two silver medals, and another two set personal bests. It was an excellent performance overall, and each athlete represented Victoria with distinction.

03 Dec 2009 - Ivanhoe Harriers Update

The Pole Vault clinic was a great success. Seven youngsters turned up on the day, and of these, two have become members of our club. One of them, James Alavuk, although only 12 years old, progressed so well that he has qualified for the Victorian team to compete in the Australian All-Schools and Youth Championships in Hobart this weekend.

The Comedy Night was enjoyed by all who attended. Numbers were less than we hoped for (93 being present when we could have catered for 250) but we ended up with a tidy profit. Most of the people there, although sold tickets by members, had no previous connection with the club, which was an aim of the evening. Meeting a number of new people in a social situation was good for the club, and already one new competing member joined after her parents attended the night. It was a good opportunity for "networking" and I am confident that some more initiatives and help for the club will come about because of the function.

Peter Rule, President

30 Nov 2009 - AV Shield Round 7

Round 7 of the summer program was conducted over the weekend at Nunadwading with the Men’s B division team once again putting in a strong performance as they hold onto second position on the Shield Ladder.

In the 200m sprint event, David Burke 25.65, Philip Jacob 25.80, Ian Rogers 26.40 and Phil Ramsey 32.52 all handled the windy conditions well, whilst in the distance events, James Lynch had another full program on the track competing in the 800m 2:15.3, 3000m 10:13.8 as well as the 4 x 400m relay.
In the field, junior athlete Ben Neal recorded a PB of 10.88m in the Men’s Under 16 Shot Put, whilst pole-vaulter Todd Dawson cleared a height of 1.85m in the Men’s Open High Jump.
Glen Nicholson continued his strong season winning the Men’s Long Jump with a distance of 6.64m, whilst team member Stephen Peg in his first jump for the season recorded 5.10m, with veteran athlete Ian Rogers recording 4.98m.

In the Women’s events Christine Rogers leapt 4.75m in the Long Jump, whilst sister Alison Rogers threw 12.89m in the Women’s Hammer Throw.

One of the highlights of the day was the performance of Stephen Pegg, Ritchie Philips, James Lynch and David Burke as they combined in the men’s 4 X 400m relay event to finished a close second place in the B division in the time of 3:47.90.

27 Nov 2009 - National All-Schools Preview

Congratualtions to the five Ivanhoe Harriers athletes who will represent Victoria at the Australian All-Schools and Youth Championships at Hobart next week-end. We wish them luck, and success. Their progress at the championships can be followed on this website from next Friday, with daily reports, and comments from the athletes.