Lilydale Yarra Ranges Web Site Home Page

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).

Note: Could anybody who has attended Little Aths for 5 years or 10 years please see Darren Ford Awards are handed out at Presentation Night.

Our next 2 weeks of Little Aths (6th & 13th of Feb) are FREE EVENT DAYS - that is, all events are offered on both of these days and athletes can choose 5 of their favourites (Note: ONLY 5!!!). The days run similar to an Open Day. Events are on a timetable schedule. If you wish to compete in an event you simply go to that event at the designated time (Note: There will be event clashes - it is unavoidable - we do not run special "extra" events to cater for clashes - please choose events that do not clash). There is no need to ENTER before the day - simply roll up as normal and compete (this means you may not be in your normal age group structure).

These days have been very popular in the past and can be used as a great warm up for your chosen events at Region Championships on the 20th & 21st February.

As we are offering ALL events we need more parent help than usual - we look forward to the continuing great participation we have in this area.

DUE TO THE LARGE NUMBER OF EVENTS ON OFFER WE WILL ALSO BE STARTING ON TIME OR EARLY - DON'T MISS YOUR EVENT - IT WILL NOT BE RE-RUN

There will be no High Jump Training this week. It will re-commence next week Wednesday 27th January 2010 - new starting time at 5.30pm

Our Centre Multi Day was held yesterday in cool conditions. Results from this event will be available in the New Year. Photos will be posted later.

We look forward to seeing everybody back on Saturday 9th January 2010. We hope everyone has a great Christmas.

A number of Lilydale & Yarra Ranges athletes competed at Olympic Park on Sunday in the State Relay Championships. Congratulations to those athletes. We had 2 Teams that won medals, congratulations to:-

Mixed Age Boys Medley (U9 - U12) BRONZE MEDAL. Jack Day, Matthew Gibbons, Lochie Jocob-Porter and Ryan Patterson

U14 Girls Medley BRONZE MEDAL. Emma Canadier, Stephanie George, Emily Loughnan and Renee Doggett

Many thanks to the Team Managers, all of the Coaches and the parents who carried out their Duties

We had 4 of our athletes competing in Hobart over the past 4 days at the 2009 Australian All Schools & Youth Athletic Championships (U14 to U18 age groups). Congratulations to these athletes for firstly qualifying for these Championships and secondly for their amazing performances against the best junior athletes in Australia.

Congratulations to Stephanie Durant who competed in Sydney today in the National Primary Schools Track & Field Championships - Stephanie competed in the Long Jump where she finished in 8th place - a fantastic achievement (she was only about 18cm away from a medal)

25th November 2009

Photos

Heaps of photos from previous weeks have now been posted. (Club V Club Day, Norm Comp 30th Oct, Norm Comp 6th Nov, Norm Comp 13th Nov, EMR Relay Championships and Norm Comp 21st Nov 09) - Please find them all listed on the "PHOTOS" page of this website

Many thanks to Clyde Day for these photos

19th November 2009

Qualifications / Progressions for State Relay Championships

We have a number of Teams who have qualified / progressed to the State Relay Championships to be held at Olympic Park on the 10th December 2009 - congratulations to all of those Teams. Full lists AVAILABLE HERE

Well done to all of the athletes, coaches and parents who attended Region Relays at Doncaster yesterday. We had some great results with plenty of medals. Thanks to all of the parents who carried out their Duties, thanks to the parents who coached the Teams and thanks to our Team Manager - Susan Taylor and Assistant Team Manager - Laura DiGregorio.

A number of our Teams have qualified directly to the State Championships in December. Some others will have to wait for Progressions to be released.

Athletes competed in near perfect conditions last night in our 3rd twilight meeting in a row. Competition is now back to Saturday mornings right through until Christmas.

This coming Saturday (21/11) is our Royal Childrens Hospital Fundraiser Day. We run some Relays at the start of the day (part of our warm up) and we ask every family to bring along a Gold Coin donation. Many thanks in advance for your support of this worthy cause.

We have quite a large number of our athletes competing at Doncaster this Sunday in the Eastern Metropolitan Region Relay Championships. We wish all of the Teams Good Luck and we look forward to seeing our kids compete with their usual enthusiasm and good sportsmanship.

Just a reminder to all parents to make sure they turn up for their "Duty" as allocated. The smooth running of the whole event is dependant upon parent support from all Centres. We have a great tradition of helping in this area and we look forward to that tradition continuing.

Training / Coaching - we have had fantastic numbers turning up to the various training nights offered by our Centre this season. Brendan Dixon and his Team put in an enormous amount of time and effort in bringing you these sessions. A lot of our athletes have made major advances in their techniques and performances due to these sessions. We encourage you to attend the Training - there is something there for everyone.

Our Coaching / Training page details the sessions available. Please feel free to talk to Brendan if you have any queries

We had a number of athletes who competed at the Victorian All Schools State Championships last weekend. The conditions were hot and all of our athletes performed extremely well. Our Centre has more State Medallists from these All Schools Championships - Renee Doggett - GOLD U14 400m, SILVER U14 800m, Stephanie George - GOLD U14 1500m Walk and Lucas Taylor - BRONZE - U15 3000m Walk. Following these Championships we have some of our athletes who have qualified to compete at the National All Schools Championships in Hobart in December 2009 - congratulations to Renee Doggett - 400m & 800m, Stephanie George - 1500m Walk, Zak Patterson - 2000m Steeplechase & 800m and Lucas Taylor - 1500m Walk & 3000m Walk. We wish these athletes good luck.

We have a Friday Night competition again this week due to Region Relays on Sunday. Good luck to all of our athletes competing at Relays!!

REMINDER TO PARENTS: NO PARENT (unless they are an Official) are allowed on to the centre of the Track. All children MUST walk to their events around the outside of the Track (could the Age Group Managers please help with this). The only people who should be in the middle of the Track are the competitors and the Officials

Could we also please remind parents that the Officials are in charge of the Events. Please respect these parents and their decisions. If you feel there is something that requires clarification please consult with the President or a Committee Member (or better still get in there and help out!!)

These Rules are in place for the safety of the athletes (our kids) and the smooth running of the Program. These Rules will be enforced this weekend.

We have a twilight competition this Friday night - this is due to the Relay For Life being run at our Track over the weekend. Next week is also a Friday night competition due to Region Relays being held on that weekend.

We have quite a few of our athletes competing at the Victorian All Schools State Championships this weekend (Friday night through to Sunday) - we wish all of these athletes good luck!!

Photos from the Club Day and Box Hill Relay Day are still coming - they will be posted asap!!

After finishing 2nd for the past 3 years the Mustangs were convincing winners of today's competition in glorious conditions. Many thanks to all those people who made the day a great success. We also congratulate this year's Club Captains:-

Comets - Courtney DiGregorio & Anthony Messerle, Jaguars - Emily Loughnan & Xavier Warren, Mustangs - Hayley Anthony & Callum Braun and Redbacks - Holly Bedyn & Ashley Gibbons. Photos from the day will be posted later in the week.

Remember this coming week is our first twilight meeting (Friday Night) - we generally hold meetings on a Friday night when it is a long weekend.

It is difficult to get things started with work commitments (yes the Committee etc. work as well!!) - please arrive as early as possible to help set up and get the Program started. We can only start when people have arrived and everything is in place (that generally does not mean arriving at 5 to 5 for a 5 o'clock start!!!!)

*** A PDF VERSION OF THE CENTRE HANDBOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE ON THE "HANDBOOK" PAGE OF THIS WEBSITE ***

Registration for Little Aths is made Online (NEW MEMBERS ARE MOST WELCOME) - all of the information is contained on our "Registration Information" page. Or you can go straight to www.vlaa.com.au and click on the McDonalds logo on the right hand side. (Please Note: Existing members require a password - you should have received this by now. Any queries please contact our Centre Registrar - Beth on 0413 770 018

Note: There may be some out-dated info in some places on the website - we'll work through this over the next few days as well as updating information on the Cross Country Season and other activities

We had a number of our athletes competing at various School State Championships over the last 2 weeks. Congratulations to all of those athletes who made it through to these Events. Competing at State Championships generally means you have come through Districts, Zones and Region Events.

Stephanie Durant - Primary School State Champion for Long Jump (Stephanie has also been selected in the Victorian Primary Schools State Team to compete at the National Championships in December in Sydney - this is a great achievement!!)

Ryan Patterson - State Champion in the 1500m at Primary School State Championships. Ryan also placed a very close 4th in the 800m.

Well done to everybody who competed at Box Hill Relays on Sunday. It was a long day but was enjoyed by all. All of the kids performed fantastically (some at their very first Relay events!!). We won quite a few medals - mainly in the Medley and 4 x 200 events. We can now look forward to some further training in readiness for Region Relays in a few weeks time. Thanks to all of the parents who coached the various Teams and thanks to our Team Managers

Please find attached photos from our first day of competition. many thanks to Clyde Day for these photos

Training - additional training sessions will commence this week. Hurdles with Andrew Gibbons on Wednesdays at 4.00pm (before Relay Training) and Walks on Thursdays at 4.00pm for 1/2 hour with Susan Taylor.

VLAA Walk Clinics - there are some Clinics being held at Collingwood on Sunday 18th October - these Clinics will cover Race Walk Judging, Race Walk Clinic for athletes, Officials Clinics. Details are available on www.vlaa.com.au or see Susan Taylor.

Over the holidays a number of our younger athletes attended an U6 - U10 Coaching Clinic run by the VLAA and sponsored by McDonalds. All who attended had great fun despite the rain. Here is a photo of most of our kids who attended.

Our first day of competition ran very smoothly. Despite very difficult weather conditions in the weeks leading up the start of the season Dom Di Gregorio and his helpers had the track in great condition. Many thanks to those guys who were working as late as Friday to have the track ready to go. We'd also like to thank all those parents who helped out on the first day. Little Aths can only operate with parent help. A final thank you to all those Committee members who helped out with Registration Day and the whole Registration process. There is a lot of work that goes into getting everything ready for the season.

Our very first event of the day - Opens Girls Javelin - produced 2 Centre Records. Congratulations to Courtney Di Gregorio and Madeline Dunn who both broke the old Record. Madeline Dunn is now the new Record holder.

All those children who are interested in competing at Relays (U9's to U15's) should see the Team Manager (Susan Taylor). Relay events are held on Sunday 25th October 2009 at Box Hill and Region Relays are on Sunday 15th November 2009 at Doncaster. Successful Teams at Regions can progress through to State Championships to be held at Olympic Park on Sunday 13th December. Relay training has already commenced. Relays are the only Team Event for Little Aths. They are great fun!!

We are proud to announce that our Centre has 1 more National Champion and 1 Silver Medallist at National level. A huge congratulations to Stephanie George - National U14 Road Walking Champion and to Ryan Patterson - Silver Medal in 12 Year Old National School Cross Country Championships.

Stephanie won the 3km National Road Walking Championships held in Parramatta NSW last weekend. She walked a perfectly timed race and was a convincing winner in a very good time. This caps off a fantastic season for Stephanie who has won most of the major State Road Walking events this season!

Ryan Patterson also finished off an amazing season by running a fantastic race over a very challenging 3km course at Nowra in NSW to claim the Silver Medal in the National Cross Country Championships against some very tough competition.

Zak Patterson ran a fantastic race in finishing 19th in the U16 age group. This was a great result for Zak who can run in this age group again next year ( Zak was 6th for his age group!!)

Hayley George competed in an Invitational U10 Walking Event at Parramatta and in a "barnstorming" finish came home with the Bronze Medal - well done Hayley!!!!

We have 3 of our athletes travelling to NSW this coming weekend to compete in Australian Championship Events:-

Stephanie George will be competing in the Australian Road Walking Championships in Parramatta, and

Ryan Patterson & Zak Patterson will be competing in the Australian Schools Cross Country Championships in Nowra NSW

Well done to these athletes for making these Teams (it is a great achievement) and we wish them good luck!!

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.

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!!)

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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"