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REMINDERS

Next Competition - CROSS COUNTRY - Saturday 9th May - Morrison Reserve - Full Calendar on Calendar Page

Centre Uniforms CLICK  HERE!!! for  Centre Apparel Photos and Prices.

Welcome to the Lilydale & Yarra Ranges Little Athletics Centre (LYRLAC) Web Site! Our site is full of up to date information on LYRLAC and Little Athletics in general. We hope you will visit us often.

Our Notice Board contains recent items of interest listed in reverse chronological order (most recent first).

Cross Country 6th June - Morrison Reserve Mt Evelyn

Note : THERE HAS BEEN A CHANGE TO THE CROSS COUNTRY CALENDAR - The Centre Championship day and the Cross Country Challenge day have been swapped. Centre Champs now on Sat 11th July and the Challenge day is now Sat 18th July. Details on Calendar Page

Photos from Morrison Reserve 9th May 2009 have now been posted (thanks to Narelle Messerle for the photos) - PLEASE CLICK HERE!!

We had 4 of our athletes who travelled to Bendigo 2 weeks ago to compete in the Country Victorian Road Race Walking Championships. Congratulations to Stephanie George - GOLD MEDAL in the U14 Girls 3km event, Lucas Taylor - SILVER MEDAL in the U14 Boys 3km event

These athletes are all travelling to Canberra this weekend to compete in the Race Walking Club National Championships - we wish them all Good Luck!!!!!

We have now completed 3 weeks of Cross Country. The racing has been great and we have had fantastic turn outs every week. Thanks to all of the parents who have been helping out each week.  This coming week is the first time we return to a venue therefore PB's can be achieved. Every PB gets a CHOCOLATE FROG!!!!

We have posted 3 weeks worth of photos - thanks to Narelle Messerle for Weeks 1 & 2 and to Tania Doggett for Week 3

Photos Morrison Reserve 18th April - HERE!!, Photos Lillydale Lake 25th April - HERE!!, Photos Margaret Lewis Reserve 2nd May - HERE!!

We are proud to announce that our Centre now has 2 National Champions. A huge congratulations to Renee Doggett - National U13 400m Champion and to Brendan Lee - National U13 Javelin Champion !!!!

Renee & Brendan both competed in the Australian Little Athletics Championships held in Adelaide over the weekend. This event is for the U13's with an U15 Multi Event also held. The weather conditions in Adelaide were basically atrocious - raining, cold and very very windy (apparently one of the wettest weekends in Adelaide for 20 years!).

Renee competed in the demanding 400m / 800m double.  She had to run a 400m Heat, 400m Final and 800m Final all within apprx 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Renee won her heat of the 400m and followed this with an impressive victory in the Final to take out the Gold Medal.  With barely time to celebrate the victory Renee was off warming up for the 800m. In rainy wet conditions in a very close finish Renee was awarded the same time as the other girl but was given 4th based on the photo finish.

Brendan had a very busy day competing in 4 events. He was out on the Track for most of the day. He started with the Discus where it took an Australian Record to beat him - a fantastic result from Brendan in winning the Silver.  He then went straight to the Javelin where he won the Gold Medal.  Then showing his amazing versatility he was off to the High Jump where at one stage he was in the lead. He jumped a PB of 1.58 and finished in 5th place. With barely time to catch his breath he was off to the Shot Put (in fact he had to run between the Shot and High Jump at one stage to compete). He finished a very creditable 6th in the Shot Put.  Brendan's amazing performances saw him win the Victorian Award for the most points for the Boys Team.

There are some more photos of Renee & Brendan in action HERE!!

The Victorian Team performed magnificently and again won all 3 of the trophies. The points won by the U13 Team was, we believe, a record score. All of the athletes, coaches and management team should be congratulated for this fantastic achievement.

We congratulate Brendan Lee, who last weekend, was named Captain of the Victorian Team for the National Championships. We wish Brendan, Renee Doggett and the rest of the Victorian Team all the best for the National Championships being held in Adelaide this weekend.

Last Saturday welcomed everybody to the start of our Cross Country Season.  We had a great turn out. Our numbers at our Cross Country events are a credit to our Centre. We have great challenging courses and some great competition.  As well as our normal runs we will again be having "special" events during the year.  Thanks to all of the parents who helped out on the day

The next Cross Country is at Lillydale Lake on 25th April 2009 - hope to see everybody there.

Knox Cross Country Open Day - is one of the big Open Days for the year. We run as a Centre at this Open Day (no normal Cross Country on in that week).  A perpetual trophy is awarded to the Centre with the most points at the end of the days racing. Our Centre has won this trophy in 6 of the last 7 years. It is important to get as many athletes (kids and adults) as possible to this event to help to try and retain this trophy.  (This race is part of our Cross Country Program and counts towards our Centre Trophies & Awards!!)

Entry Form is attached HERE!!   and Course Maps HERE!!

You can enter directly or via our Centre (please see the people at our Registration Table)

The final Team of 22 has been named for Victoria to compete in Adelaide on Sunday 26th April. Both Brendan Lee and Renee Doggett have been selected in this final Team. Congratulations to both of these athletes. Selection in this Team is a great honour and a fantastic achievement.

Congratulations to all of our award winners at our Presentation Night / Disco on Saturday 28th March. A big thank you to all those parents who helped set up the Hall. Thanks to Tania Doggett for again organising the trophies. Michele Durant thanked a lot of people in her President's speech. On behalf of all of our members we would like to thank Michele for carrying out the role of president for the year. Many thanks to all of the parents who have volunteered their services for next season either on the Committee or in other roles.  We have continued our great tradition of having great support from our parents.

Please CLICK HERE!!!! for a list of our award winners for season 2008 / 09

The Victorian Little Athletics U13 State Squad  to compete at the Australian Little Athletics Championships to be held in Adelaide on the 26th April 2009 has been named.

We have 2 athletes who have been selected in this Squad - congratulations to Brendan Lee & Renee Doggett !!

This is a great achievement by these 2 athletes who have both had fantastic seasons. It has been a very long time since our Centre has had representatives in this State Squad.

Congratulations to all of our athletes who competed at the State Track & Field Championships at Olympic Park over the weekend. We had many great performances with heaps of PB's and Centre Championships Records

Our fantastic performances were led by Brendan Lee who capped off an unbelievable year in winning 3 Gold Medals (Discus, Shot Put and Javelin - U13 Boys) and 1 Bronze Medal (Long Jump - U13 Boys) with a State Record in the Javelin and narrowly missing the State and National Records in the Discus

We had 2 dual Gold Medallists in Corey Lee - GOLD in the U12 Boys Discus and Shot Put and Ryan Patterson who won GOLD in the U11 Boys 800m & 1500m

Our other Gold Medallist was Renee Doggett who won GOLD in the U13 Girls 400m

Other medallists were :-

Lucas Taylor - U13 Boys 1500m Walk - SILVER MEDAL, Hayley George - U9 Girls 1100m Walk - BRONZE MEDAL

Full Results are now available on the VLAA Website

Everything was going magnificently - great weather, Program running on time, plenty of PB's, some Centre Records..............   and then BANG!! - along came a massive storm and finished the day.  Well done to all those who competed and achieved PB's.  Thanks again to all of the parents who helped out on the day.  Once again we've had a great year of support from parents with many people doing the same job every week.

Don't forget the Presentation Night / Disco is being held on Saturday 28th March - we hope to see everybody there for a great fun night.

Good Luck to all athletes competing at State Championships next week

This coming Saturday is our very popular Personal Champions Day. By now you should have chosen your 4 favourite events for next Saturday. (If you haven't submitted your Entry you can still compete but you may not be able to choose the events you want). This is our last day of Track & Field for the season.  We then move on to State Championships at Olympic Park on the 21st and 22nd of March - good luck to all those athletes competing.  Updated Qualifying & Progression Lists are available from the VLAA website

The following week - Saturday 28th March is our Presentation Night at St. Patricks Hall - Jones Rd Lilydale - starts at 5.30pm - trophies for each age group - age group champions and PB awards.  There are also Club Champion awards and other various perpetual trophies.  All children will receive a trophy (subject to meeting the 50% attendance criteria). Please all come along to this FUN PRESENTATION / DISCO NIGHT

Our athletes have been performing very well in the past 2 weeks with many records falling - given the very poor condition of our Track due to the drought the new Records on the circular Track are exceptional performances.  Congratulations to the following athletes :- Saturday 28th February 2009 - Emily Giffard U7G 300m, Molly Dixon U10G 1100m Walk, Asha Steer U11G 1500m Walk, Brayden Woolridge U6B Discus, Michael Gibbons U10B 1100m Walk, Charles Warren U11B 1500m Walk, Dylan Brookes U13B Triple Jump and Brendan Lee U13B Shot Put and 300m Hurdles.  Then on Saturday 7th March we congratulate :- Renee Doggett U13G 1500m, Madeline Dunn U14G Javelin, Brendan Lee U13B Javelin and Zak Patterson U14B 1500m.

We thank everybody for their donations to date for the Bushfire Appeal. We will update everybody with the amount raised in the coming weeks (will tally everything after the Presentation Night)

CROSS COUNTRY SEASON - starts soon after the Track & Field Season. All registered athletes are invited to attend (your Track & Field Registration covers you for Cross Country Season)  We only ask for a small fee of $1 per week per athlete to compete.  Cross Country is held on a Saturday morning on a rotation basis at Morrison Reserve, Margaret Lewis Reserve (Coldstream), Lillydale Lake and at Durham Reserve where we run with Croydon.  Mums and Dads are also quite welcome to have a run. Cross country is a fantastic family affair and a great way to keep fit over the winter months

Qualifiers and Progressions for State Championships are now available - Boys -  HERE!!   and Girls - HERE!!

Congratulations to all those athletes who have made it through to States. Note : If you are not intending on competing please let Susan Taylor know and she will "scratch" you from the event. This can allow the next athlete "in line" to take your place.

Race Walking Records tumble.  We had 3 athletes who broke Race Walking Records on the weekend. Congratulations to Hayley George U9G - 1100mm Walk, Matthew Gibbons - U9B 1100m Walk and Madeline Dunn - U14G 1500m Walk.

There are 2 weeks of competition left plus our Personal Champions Day.  Personal Champions Day is a day whereby athletes can select 4 of their favourite events. Please let Andrew Gibbons know your events this Saturday. This day has been a great success in the past.  There may even be a Parents Race!!!!!!!!!!!

Following our Personal Champions Day we have State Track & Field Championships - we have a number of athletes who have automatically qualified.  The Progressions will be known next week some time.

OUR PRESENTATION NIGHT DISCO / AGM ETC WILL BE HELD ON SATURDAY NIGHT 28TH MARCH 2009. THIS IS A GREAT NIGHT!!!.   Trophies for all children who have a 50% attendance.  More details this weekend.  PLEASE DIARISE THIS DATE!!!!

A very successful Eastern Metropolitan Region Track & Field Championships were held over the weekend at Nunawading.  The smoke in the morning was a poignant reminder to us of the Bushfires from the previous weekend and of those still burning across Victoria.  Our athletes performed magnificently - we won 16 Gold, 9 Silver, 4 Bronze, had many other Finalists, many PB's and many Championship Records. Once again a big thank you to our Team Managers - Susan Taylor and Laura Di Gregorio, to our Chief Officials and to our other parents who all carried out their Duties. We really appreciate the support we get from our parents.

Congratulations to the following medal winners :-

Brendan Lee U13B - Gold in Discus, Shot Put & Javelin, Bronze - Long Jump, Stephanie Durant U10G - Gold - 70m, Long Jump, Silver - 100m & 80mH, Ryan Patterson U11B - Gold in 800m & 1500m, Silver in 400m, Renee Doggett U13G - Gold in 400m & 800m, Corey Lee - U12B - Gold in Discus, Silver in Shot Put, Zak Patterson U14B - Gold in 800m, Bronze in 1500m, Emily Loughnan U13G - Gold in Javelin, Hayley George - U9G - Gold in 1100m Walk, Stephanie George U13G - Gold in 1500m Walk, Lucas Taylor - U13B - Gold in 1500m Walk, Michael Gibbons U10B - Gold 1100 Walk, Callum Braun U14B - Silver in Long Jump, Chelsea Di Gregorio U10G - Silver in Discus, Maddy Dunn U14G - Silver in Javelin, Matthew Gibbons U9B - Silver in 1100 Walk, Matthew Smith U9B - Silver in 60mH, Blake Petterd U12B - Bronze in Javelin and Jessica Ford U9G - Bronze in 80mH.

    Eastern Metropolitan Results Click Here

    Southern Metropolitan Results Click Here

    Northen Metropolitan Results Click Here

1st  & 2nd place getters are automatic Qualifiers for State Championships.  Other athletes may Progress to States as the next fastest qualifiers in the State - these should be available next week some time

A successful "Choose Your Event / Free Day" was held on Saturday morning.  The expected extremely hot conditions arrived, as forecast, by late morning and into the afternoon.  The decision to proceed with competition in the morning was made after carefully considering the forecasted morning weather conditions, the VLAA Heat Policy and issues such as shade and water. The relatively cool conditions the night before were also taken into account. Our competition started at 8.00am when the temperature in the area was at a very comfortable 25. The breeze kept things relatively comfortable as the temperature progressively reached 37 by around 11 to 11.30 (by which time the bulk of our Program had been completed). The conditions, whilst hot, were not unbearable and were certainly not as hot as some recent State Championship Events.

There was plenty of natural shade on the Track down the back straight and in the Long Jump area. Additional shade was provided at the start areas of events.  Water was provided at the Circular Track. Parents ultimately had the final say on whether their children competed.  A commonsense approach was taken to the morning's proceedings and everything went well.

On the competition side of things we again had some great performances.  Brendan Lee continued his amazing form this year when he broke the U13B Long Jump Record and also increased his own Record in the Javelin. (Note : Brendan also equalled our Centre U13B High Jump Record 2 weeks ago).  Holly Bedyn set a new Record in the U14G Shot Put and Renee Doggett set a new Record in the U13G 200m.

Our new Centre Singlets, Crop Tops and Shorts arrived during the week and many athletes took the opportunity to "test" out their new gear.  The new Uniforms look fantastic and we look forward to seeing them on show this coming weekend at Region Championships. Many thanks to Tania Doggett for designing and organising these Uniforms.

We wish all of our athletes good luck for this coming weekend and remind parents that they have Duties to carry out. We always have fantastic support in this area and we look forward to this continuing

There is no competition at our Centre this weekend.  We'll see everybody back on Sat 21st Feb 09

Lilydale & Yarra Ranges athletes shine at the Collingwood Open Day. We had a large contingent of athletes (looking fantastic in our new Centre Uniforms) who won heaps of medals at this Open Day.  This culminated in Lilydale & Yarra Ranges winning the "Top Centre" trophy for the day. Congratulations to the following athletes who represented our Centre :- Stephanie & Hayley George, Jack Day, Stephanie & Thomas Durant, Chloe, Molly & Ruby Dixon, Samantha Butler, Mitch Loaring, Kirsty Walles, Braydon Woolridge, Holly Bedyn, Elizabeth Sneddon and Brendan & Corey Lee

We had a number of athletes and families who made the trip down to "windy" Warrnambool for the State Multi Event weekend.  The track and facilities at Warrnambool are amongst some of the best in the State.  All of our athletes performed fantastically after a long hot week and very windy conditions during the competition. Thanks to everybody who carried out their Duties and thanks to everybody who organised the accommodation, BBQ etc - a great "social" weekend was enjoyed by those who attended.

We had 3 athletes who were Finalists (Top 8) - congratulations to Stephanie Durant U10G - 5th and Renee Doggett U13G - 8th, and a......

.........  special congratulations goes to Brendan Lee who won the GOLD medal in the U13B. Brendan's point score was also a New Victorian Best Performance (State Record)

Hot humid windy conditions and a very hard Track greeted us for our Twilight competition last night. We presented the remainder of the Age Groups with their Multi Event Results. Well done to all the competitors. Congratulations to Renee Doggett U13G and Brendan Lee U13B who both set new Centre Records in the Multi Events

It has been a while since we congratulated other athletes who have broken Centre Records - congratulations to the following Record breakers since 19th Oct :-

Brendan Lee U13B - Javelin 31/10 and 23/1, Discus - 31/10 & 20/12, Renee Doggett U13G - 300m Hurdles - 17/1, Ashley Gibbons U14B - 1500m Walk - 14/11, Lucas Taylor U13B - 1550m Walk - 14/11, Raff Phelan U14G - 1500m Walk - 14/11, Stephanie George U13G - 1500m Walk - 14/11, Hayley George - U9G - 1100m Walk - 14/11 & 10/1, Michael Gibbons U10B - 1100 Walk - 29/11, Asha Steer U11G - 1500m Walk - 29/11, Molly Dixon U10G - 1100m Walk - 29/11, Liam Whitchell U11b - 1500m Walk - 17/1

There is no competition this weekend due to State Multi Event in Warrnambool.  Good Luck to all of our athletes competing at this event

FREE COMPETITION DAY

Our next competition day is Saturday 7th February 2009.  This day is to be  Free Event Day (these days were very popular and successful last year)

General Rules for the Day (Summary)

1. All events for all age groups will be available (except for U6 & U7 who will have set Programs)

2. Timetables will be provided on the day (there is a small possibility that we may have one available on the website before the day)

3. Maximum of 5 events per athlete

4. A set Program will be provided for U6 & U7 age groups (it didn't really work with these age groups last year without a set Program)

5. PB's, Centre Records etc are all applicable as per normal

This day is a great opportunity for athletes to "tune up" for their Region Championship Events or to simply compete in the favourite events.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF OUR ATHLETES WHO ARE COMPETING AT GEELONG THIS WEEKEND IN THE AV COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Sorry no photos this week

Well done to the competitors in our Multi Event held before Christmas.  We awarded medals and certificates to about 1/2 of the age groups on Saturday (the other 1/2 will be done this Friday night). The first 3 place getters in each group were the very first recipients of our new Centre Medals (thanks to Tania for designing and organising these medals)

More PHOTOS HERE!!!!

Welcome back and HAPPY NEW YEAR to everybody.  Reminder : Region Track & Field Entries are due in this Saturday 17th January (NO LATE ENTRIES CAN BE ACCEPTED). These Championships are available for U9 - U15 athletes and a maximum of 4 events can be entered.  They are held at Bill Sewart Reserve in Nunawading (Melways 62C7) over the weekend of 14th & 15th February.  (There is no Little Aths at our Centre on that weekend). We encourage all athletes to compete.  Those finishing in the top 2 automatically qualify for State Championships at Olympic Park on 21st & 22nd March.  Other placings can also Progress to States depending on other Results from around the State. Timetables of events are available on the VLAA website or CLICK   here!!.  Entry Forms have been available at the Front Desk at Little Aths.  All parents, by entering their children, are also agreeing to carry out Duty as allocated.  GOOD LUCK!!!

More PHOTOS HERE!!!

Sunshine at last.  A great day was had by all at our Centre Multi Event Day.  All competitors who completed the 5 events will receive Certificates etc in the New Year.  Santa visited us in a Fire Truck and lollies etc were enjoyed by all.  We look forward to seeing everybody back on Saturday 10th January.  Merry Christmas to everybody!!!

More PHOTOS HERE!!!!

Congratulations to our U12 Boys who won the Bronze Medal in the Medley Relay at Olympic Park last Sunday.  This medal continues our strong tradition in the Medley Relays.  These boys also made the Final in the 4 x 200m Relay finishing 7th - a great effort.  Congratulations also to the U14 Boys for finishing 7th in the Medley Final and making it to States in the 4 x 200m

More PHOTOS HERE!!   (Thanks to Narelle Messerle for these photos)

The Pacific School Games were held in Canberra last week.  This event was attended by all States and Territories of Australia plus competitors from countries such as New Zealand, China, Singapore etc.  The event was therefore the Australian Championships plus other countries attending. The standard of competition was very high.  Numerous PSG and National Records were broken.  We had 6 athletes from our Centre competing at these Games.  This was an amazingly high number for such a small Centre.  We congratulate the following athletes :-Renee Doggett - 12 yr 800m - 4th in Final, 13yr 400m - 6th in Heat, Stephanie George - 13yr 1500m Walk - 10th, Brendan Lee - 13yr Discus - 9th, Corey Lee - 11yr Discus - 7th, 11yr Shot Put - 10th, Ryan Patterson - 11yr 800m - 7th In Heat and Lucas Taylor - 13yr 1500m Walk - 15th. All competitors should be congratulated for making the Victorian Team and performing fantastically.

    Renee - 800m                                                                                            Stephanie - 1500m Walk                                                                                            Ryan - 800m

                                                                                                                            Lucas - 1500m Walk

    Corey Lee - Shot Put                                                                                                                                    Brendan Lee - Discus

This Friday night is our 2nd last competition day before our Christmas break.  Next week is our Centre Multi Day. What is a Multi Event Day?  All age groups compete in 5 events - 100m, 80m Hurdles, Long Jump, Discus & 800m (there are some variation for the younger age groups, eg, 200m / 400m in lieu of 800m).  Each performance is awarded points (based on a points Table - we use VLAA Table for U9 - Open and our own for the younger age groups).  The points from each event are added together and the athletes with the most points is the winner.  You must complete ALL 5 events to be eligible.  This is a good challenging day and is a great lead in for events such as the Ringwood Multi Event Open Day and the State Multi Event Championships to be held in Warrnambool at the end of January.

PSSST!! - We may even have a surprise visitor next week

More PHOTOS from 6 December HERE!!!      (Many Thanks to Clyde Day for these photos)

Well done to everybody who competed at Region Relays at Ringwood last Sunday.  Our Centre (whilst being relatively small) won the best "CHEERING" Centre for the day.  Well done to those Teams that have automatically qualified for State Championships. We also have Teams that have Progressed through to State Championships.  The VLAA has released details of Qualifiers and Progressors HERE!.  A Timetable for State Championships available HERE!

Results from Region Championships are available HERE!

We had 4 of our athletes who qualified for the Victorian Primary School State Championships held in Bendigo on Monday. Firstly these athletes should all be congratulated for getting there - they had to come 1st at District Championships, 1st at Zone Championships and then in the first 2 at Region Championships to qualify.  All of our athletes had fantastic results and all performed PB's. The conditions were very hot - what else in Bendigo!!

Congratulations to :-

Corey Lee - Silver Medal in 11B Discus and Bronze Medal in 11B Shot Put

Renee Doggett - Broke the Victorian State Record in the 12/13G 800m - Silver Medal     and 7th in the 1500m

Ryan Patterson - Bronze Medal in 11B 1500m and 5th in the 800m

Ella Vandevelde - 10th in the 9/10G 1500m

We had a number of our athletes who entered the AV All Schools State Championships last weekend.  We had a number of great performances and plenty of PB's

Congratulations to the following medallists :-

Brendan Lee - Silver Medal U14B Discus

Stephanie George - Bronze Medal U14G 1500m Walk

Congratulations to the following athletes who also competed - Samantha Butler - U14G 400m & 800m, Lucas Taylor U14B 1500m Walk, 90m H, Shot Put and Javelin and Liam Dell U15B 2000m Steeple. For those who are interested full results can be found at www.athsvic.org.au

A great night was had by those who attended the 40th Anniversary Celebration Night.  Many thanks to Andrew & Lisa Gibbons and to all those who helped in organising a great event.  A fantastic Slide Show was put together by Andrew and along with good music, good food, plenty of drinks and good company the night was a great success. It was also great to see so many of our Life Members in attendance.

Sorry no photos this week

Well done to everybody who competed at Box Hill Relays on Sunday - we all had a great day.  Thanks to all of the Coaches and to the Di Gregorio's who were Team Managers on the day.  We now look forward to Region Relays in 2 weeks time. Results from the day available HERE!!

The Club V Club Day was a great success. It was the best one of these days that we have held. A big congratulations to the Mighty Jaguars who won the Champion Club Trophy, Mustangs were 2nd for the 3rd year in a row, Comets were a very close 3rd and the winner of the last 2 years, the Redbacks, were very close in 4th position.  Congratulations to all of our Club Captains who were fantastic on the day.  Jaguars - Liam Dell & Kirsty Walles, Mustangs - Zak Patterson & Kelly Deslandes, Comets - Anthony Messerle & Kirsty Harris and Redbacks - Ashley Gibbons & Samantha Butler.  All of the kids at our Centre should also be congratulated for their enthusiasm and great sportsmanship.

More PHOTOS HERE!!!!

A big congratulations to Zak Patterson who yesterday won a Gold Medal in both the 800m and 1500m at the Victorian Secondary Schools State Championships - well done Zak!!

This Saturday is "Bring A Friend Day" - everybody is welcome to "bring along a friend" and have a try out for Little Aths. Please register at the Front Table upon arrival.  Please arrive early to register

Another large turn out in good conditions.  A big thank you to all of the parents who are helping out each week.  Our great tradition of parents helping is continuing and its great to see so many new parents getting involved.  This help is greatly appreciated by the Committee and more importantly by the kids.

THIS SATURDAY WE LOOK FORWARD TO OUR CLUB V CLUB DAY. This day is similar to a Schools "House" sports day.  We allocate points for 1st,2nd & 3rd in each race and the Club with the most points at the end of the day is the winner.  All races are still run in the normal age groups.  For each age group we have a sprint, a distance race, a throw, a jump and a Relay.

Club Captains will be announced on the day

We encourage all kids to dress up in their Club Colours (Redbacks - Red, Comets - Yellow, Jaguars - Green and Mustangs - Blue).  Colour your hair, use face paint, streamers etc.  This is all adds to the atmosphere of the day.  This will be our third one of these days.  The first two were a great success and enjoyed by all.  Redbacks have won the first two trophies.  We need the other Clubs to come up and knock them off.

Some of the action from last year.

CENTRE RECORDS - we again had some new Centre Records set on the weekend - congratulations to Michael Gibbons U10B Walk (a special mention to Liam Pickett who came 2nd in the race and also broke the old Record), Holly Bedyn U14G Shot Put, Charles Warren U11B Walk and Renee Doggett U13G 300m Hurdles.

More PHOTOS from the day HERE!!!

A large number of athletes and parents turned up on Saturday for our 2nd day of competition in near perfect conditions.  Our numbers are well up on last season and the hard work by the parents is resulting in the smooth running of our Programs.  Now that we are aware of the numbers in each age group we are working to try and relieve some of the small "bottlenecks" we are getting on some occasions - please be patient.

CLUB V CLUB DAY - this is a day where we have a competition between the Clubs - basically a Sprint, a distance race, a Throw, a Jump and Relays.  Points awarded for placings in each event 1st, 2nd and 3rd and the Club with the most points at the end of the day are the winners.  Our Club numbers this year are very even so we should be in for a great battle.  The REDBACKS have won for the last 2 years - come on the other Clubs - let's see if we can get a new winner this year!!.  We encourage the kids (and parents if they wish) to dress up in their Club Colours - coloured hair, streamers, face paint.  This day has been a great success for the past 2 years and is a highlight on our Calendar.  We will also announce our Club Captains on this day.  The day is now being held on Saturday 25th October (not this Saturday as originally advertised)

RELAYS - by now you should have let your Coach know if you are committed to Relays for this season - Teams will be finalised this Saturday for Box Hill on the 26th October

RELAY TRAINING - a fun afternoon for Relay Training is being held this coming Saturday at the Track from 3.00pm to 6.00pm.  Free Pizza after training.  This is a great opportunity to get to know your teammates (this is the only Team Event for Little Aths).  Please come along and have a great fun afternoon and learn some really good Relay techniques.  This session can also help you with your School Relays. 

CENTRE RECORDS - Congratulations to the following athletes who set new Centre Records last Saturday - Brendan Lee - U13B Discus, Hayley George - U9G - 1100 Walk, Maddie Dunn - U14G 1500m Walk, Lucas Taylor - U13B 1500m Walk, Stephanie George - U13G 1500m Walk, Renee Doggett - U13G 800m

Results from last weekend have been posted

More PHOTOS HERE!!

Grey skies and drizzle greeted us for the opening of the Little Aths season.  We had a large number of enthusiastic kids and parents in attendance.  The day went really smoothly for the first morning.  Thanks to all of those parents who helped out.  Little Aths cannot operate without parent help. Please see the Coaching / Training page for details on Training sessions available.  (Due to the wet weather we had to cancel High Jump)

Relays for U9 - U15 age groups.  You need to be available for Box Hill - Sunday 26th October and Region Championships at Ringwood on Sunday 16th November.  Both of these days are ALL DAY.  Some Teams will then compete at the State Championships at Olympic Park on Sunday 14th December.  Please see the various Coaches or Andrew Gibbons if you are interested.  WE NEED TO FINALISE NUMBERS BY NEXT SATURDAY.  We also have a Training afternoon with a Camp Sleepover organised for Saturday 18th October - more details next week.

Results from Saturday 4th October available on the RESULTS page

A big congratulations to Brendan Lee who started the season off in fine style in setting 3 new Centre Records in the U13B Javelin, Shot Put & Discus

More PHOTOS HERE!!

We will be running Program 1 - CLICK HERE!! for details

NOTE: JAVELIN will be held for the Open Age Group (Boys & Girls) - please arrive at 7.45am for an 8.00am sharp start

We require as many people as possible to arrive early to help set up and to get started on time.  There are a lot of things to get through on the first day of competition.  We had fantastic help last season from parents and we trust that this will continue this season.  We look forward to seeing everybody on the first morning of competition.

We have 6 of our athletes who have been selected in the Victorian Team to compete at the Pacific School Games in Canberra in December.  Well done to Renee Doggett, Stephanie George, Brendan Lee, Corey Lee, Ryan Patterson and Lucas Taylor.  Congratulations to these athletes and we wish them well!!!

OFFICIALS CLINICS Attention all parents.  The EMR (Eastern Metropolitan Region - of which we are a member) is conducting some of the popular Officials Clinics.  These clinics are a great way to learn the basics of an event.  They are held after hours and are FREE - only your time is required.  Little Aths requires parents to run the events - it therefore makes sense to learn the Rules.  Please CLICK HERE!! for details of upcoming Clinics.  Please register your interest with us on info@lyrlac.org.au to book your place.  Why not get together with a few friends and all go together.  Be part of the proactive parents at our Centre who make the whole Little Aths experience more enjoyable for children and parents alike.

Attention Athletes - are you interested in Senior Athletics? - why not try a Dual or Youth Athletics Membership - are you interested in competing at some AV (Athletics Victoria) meetings this coming season. Don't be put off by the word "Senior" - there are "heaps" of young athletes competing at AV meetings. We already have many of our current athletes competing for some AV Clubs. AV meetings are generally held on a Sat afternoon at either Box Hill, Doncaster or Nunawading in a relaxed friendly environment.  The Dual / Youth Athletics system is a great concept and a fantastic way to "dip your toe in the water" for Senior Athletics at a very low cost. Dual Registration for athletes (aged 11 to 15) is available with the Croydon AV Centre at a very small cost of $25. Youth Athletics is for U16 & U17 for $40 (some conditions). Glenn Oakley (President of Croydon AV) resurrected the Croydon Athletics Club last season and has already built it up to a good size.  We already have a number of our current and past athletes registered (aging from 11 to 16) competing at Croydon AV. Please contact Glen Oakley 0412 549 025 for further information.  The attached Flyer put out by AV to promote Dual Athletics features a photo of two of our athletes Renee and Samantha who have both joined Croydon. (photo taken at AV Youth T&F State Championships last year)                         Information FLYER attached HERE!!!

INTRODUCTION TO COACHING - An "Introduction To Coaching Course" is being held at Doncaster's Track on the 21st September 2008.  This Course is a great introduction for those parents wishing to learn more about Little Aths. It covers all of the events and is a great "lead in" to Coaching and / or Officialling.  There is a cost of around $99 for the Course.  Our Centre reimburses this cost -please speak to Andrew Gibbons (9736 2270) if you are interested or email info@lyrlac.org.au These courses are usually booked out so please get in early!!      Dates for ITCC Courses this year  - CLICK HERE - Temp\Dates_for_ITCC_2008.pdf     

Thanks for all of the interest in the new "Controller of Chief Officials" position.  We'd like to thank and congratulate Megan Sheffield who will fill this position for the upcoming season.  Megan will be responsible for coordinating the Chief Officials and helpers each competition day.  Little Aths requires the help of all parents in order to run safely and smoothly. All parents commit to this when registering their children.  We have enjoyed fantastic support in this area in the past and we look forward to everybody cooperating with Megan and continuing this tradition at our Centre.

Congratulations to those athletes who competed in National Championships last weekend.

We had 2 athletes who competed at the Australian Junior Road Walking Championships at Albert Park Lake.  Congratulations to Lucas Taylor who finished 6th in the U14 Boys and to Stephanie George who finished 11th in the U14 Girls

In Geelong at the Australian Primary Schools National Cross Country Championships we had 2 athletes competing in both the individual race on the Saturday and a relay on the Monday.  Congratulations to Ryan Patterson who finished 5th in the 11 year old Boys race and to Renee Doggett who finished 12th in the 12 year old girls race.

We have 4 of our athletes competing in National Championship events this coming weekend.  Ryan Patterson and Renee Doggett will be competing at the Australian Cross Country Championships at Eastern Park in Geelong on Sat 23rd Aug and Mon 25th Aug and Lucas Taylor and Stephanie George will be competing at the Australian Road Walking Championships at Albert Park on Sun 24th.

We wish all of these athletes the best of luck

Congratulations to all who competed in the IGA State Cross Country Championships on Sunday at Lardner Park in Drouin

A special congratulations to our medal winners :-

Ryan Patterson - GOLD - U/10 Boys

Renee Doggett - SILVER - U/12 Girls

Dane Fencaros - BRONZE - U/13 Boys

Congratulations also to our Team Medal winners :-

U/13 Boys - SILVER (Dane Fencaros, Zak Patterson, Sam Duncan)

U/13 Girls - BRONZE (Samantha Butler, Casey Wright, Jade Nicol)

Results available HERE 2008_State_XC_Results   (courtesy EMR website)

More PHOTOS HERE!!!!

We now look forward to running at Cockatoo on Saturday morning for the Hills Challenge Day - this day was a great success last year - please get along there for a great fun day as our last day of Cross Country for the season

THEN ON SATURDAY NIGHT WE HAVE OUR CROSS COUNTRY PRESENTATION NIGHT. Following the success of last year's Bush Dance we are going with the same theme with a bigger and better Band.  Free Entry.  BYO Drinks and Nibbles.  It is being held at the Hall at Margaret Lewis Reserve (where we run our Cross Country at this venue). We look forward to seeing everybody there for a celebration of another fantastic season of Cross Country

A great days racing on our most challenging course.  Well done to all those who competed and helped - the morning was a great success.  Congratulations to all of the medal winners.  We now look forward to next week on a new course at Silvan Dam - Melways 120 G11 - please stay and join us for a picnic lunch afterwards - BYO lunch and drinks.  Duty Rosters for State Championships will be ready soon.

More PHOTOS HERE!!

A number of important updates have been made to the website - Registration Information for 2008 / 09, Calendar for Track & Field for 2008 / 09, Information in relation to joining an AV Club (very cost friendly Dual Athletics Registration available), Introduction to Coaching Course Information, Request for Advertisers in our Handbook for 2008 / 09, Request for a volunteer for a New Position on our Centre Comp Days and finally information in relation to the Cross Country End of Season Events -  Information in relation to IGA State Cross Country Championships, Information in relation to our Centre Cross Country Championships and information in relation to our change of venue for Sat 26th July Cross Country

Please take the time to read all of this information - it is all relevant

Diarise Sat night the 9th August - GALA CROSS COUNTRY PRESENTATION NIGHT - Bush Dance - Details Soon

Thanks to the Croydon Centre for hosting us on Saturday at Durham Rd - sorry no photos this week

We now look forward to our inaugural Centre Championship Day this coming Saturday at Morrison Reserve.  Medals will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each age group - U6 to U15 (boys and girls).  There will also be medals for the Open Men and Women in the 3000m race only. (Note: there is a 50% attendance criteria to be eligible for medals - you must have attended and competed in at least 6 cross country race meetings to be eligible) Reminder - all athletes must run in the correct distance for their age group and in only one race. The first race will start at 9.00am.  Medals will be awarded at the end of all of the races, that is, after the 3km race. We look forward to seeing everybody there on Saturday for some good challenging races. 

There will be a number of "key" people absent on Saturday (attending VLAA conference etc) - some extra help would be appreciated from parents.

LILYDALE & YARRA RANGES WINS KNOX OPEN DAY PERPETUAL TROPHY!!!!!!! - Well done to everybody who competed at the Knox Cross Country Open Day - we have won the Perpetual Trophy for the 6th time in 7 years - a great performance!. 

Many thanks to the Knox Centre who again put on a superb day of racing at a great venue.  We had some great results and lots of Team medals - the racing is probably the toughest competition outside of State Championships - so well done.

We now travel to Durham Rd in Kilsyth next Saturday where the Croydon Centre is hosting the day.  Then on the 19th July we are having our Centre Championship Day.  Medals will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each age group for boys and girls.  ALL ATHLETES MUST RUN IN THEIR CORRECT DISTANCE AND ONLY IN ONE RACE.  You must have a minimum attendance of 50% to be eligible for medals. (this means that you must have been at least 6 weeks by the time of the Championships)

More PHOTOS HERE!!!

Yesterday four of our athletes competed at Albert Park in the Victorian All Schools Road Walking State Championships.  Albert Park was probably the windiest place on earth yesterday. All four athletes achieved PB's in these very difficult conditions - a fantastic effort.  Well done to :-

    Stephanie George - BRONZE MEDAL

    Lucas Taylor - 5th

    Hayley George - 4th

    Lee Taylor - 8th

Another very successful Cross Country Challenge / Handicap day was held this morning at Margaret Lewis Reserve.  It was great to see some of the front runners running well when given the chance out in front (let's hope they can take this attitude and confidence into future weeks).  Well done to all those back-markers who tried their best to make up some large head starts.  The sportsmanship and attitude displayed by all athletes was great to see.  Many thanks to Rob Belli for working out all of the handicaps and thanks to the Recorders, Timekeepers, Start / Finish Marshalls, Course Marshalls and Hares.

We now move on to Nortons Park in Wantirna (Melways 72 A2) next Saturday for the Knox Open Day.  This day is part of our Cross Country Calendar and therefore is part of Attendance trophies etc. Our Centre has won the Perpetual Trophy 5 out of the last 6 years.  We expect some major challenges this year from Centres such as Waverley, Casey and Bacchus Marsh.  Every runner counts towards points for this trophy - we need as many runners as possible - please make sure you all come along and participate in this great day of running.  This Open Day is probably the biggest day of racing outside of State Championships on the Cross Country Calendar!!

More PHOTOS HERE!!!!

Cold rainy weather and a wet, muddy and slippery course greeted runners at Doncaster on Sunday for the EMR Region Cross Country Championships.  Well done to all those athletes who competed and thanks to the parents who carried out Duties.  A special thank you to our Chief Officials who were on Duty all day - Rob & Melissa Belli and Susan Taylor - Team Manager.  All those athletes who completed their race are now eligible to run at the State Cross Country Championships at Lardner Park in Drouin on August 3rd.

Congratulations to our individual medal winners :-

    GOLD - Ryan Patterson U10B, Renee Doggett U12G

    SILVER - Dane Fencaros U13B, Josh Patterson U15B

    BRONZE - Zak Patterson U13B, Casey Wright U13G

and congratulations to the many Teams that won medals

Results for LYRLAC athletes available HERE!!!

More PHOTOS HERE!!

We had a number of our athletes compete at Bundoora yesterday in the State Championships for Primary School Cross Country.  This race is the premier race for Cross Country for 9 - 12 year olds for the season.  It is the culmination of competing and qualifying through School, District and Zone events.  At States there are 2 races for each age group of around 90 - 100 children.  The "A" race is made up of all those children who finished 1st to 3rd in their Zone and the "B" race is made up of all those who finished 4th to 6th at Zones.

A big congratulations goes to Ryan Patterson and Renee Doggett who both qualified for the Victorian Team to run at the National Championships in Geelong in August.

This is the 2nd year in a row that Ryan has made the Team and the 3rd year for Renee  - these are both fantastic achievements and we wish them all the best in the upcoming Nationals. 

We had a number of other children who competed yesterday - a big congratulations to Liam Pickett, Stephanie Butler, Stephanie George, Molly Dixon, Mitch Loaring, Patterson Saunders and Ella Vandevelde (please let us know if we missed anybody) - this is an exceptional number of children from a smallish Centre - well done to everybody

Exciting times at LYRLAC right now with the release of our brand new web site. Make a note of our web address for future reference or better still put us in your 'Favourites' list. We will be adding lots of information over the coming weeks in preparation for the forthcoming T&F season. Make sure to visit often!

Lilydale & Yarra Ranges Little Athletics Centre is proudly affiliated with the Victorian Little Athletic Association (VLAA)
and supports the VLAA motto "Family, Fun & Fitness"

This page was last updated on Thursday, 04. June 2009
 

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