Last Sunday we held our club Championship Day, being the first time we gave our athletes the opportunity to select their events of choice to compete in – following a similar format to a Regional or State event. With a huge army of helpers, great weather and most importantly 146 enthusiastic athletes we created a truly memorable day.
 
The presentation area was the most popular location of the day!  The kids loved being recognised with medals and the chance to stand on the podium.  The big shiny PB medal was definitely the most coveted of the day, and rightly so – finishing the season with a PB rewarded their dedication and effort. The reward of a medal has our PB tally skyrocket to 226 PB’s! What a great way to finish the season.

We had 5 new Centre Records on the day:

Remy Davies U6B 14.21 60m Hurdles
Ella Halliday U7G 12.36 60m Hurdles
Iris Stojanovic U8G 12.16 60m Hurdles
Iris Stojanovic U8G 3.11m Long Jump
Jessica Dingley U9G 11.14 60m Hurdles
 
Perhaps the biggest smiles of the day were on the faces of our smallest athletes.  Our On Track athletes gathered excitedly with their friends and coaches at the podium to receive their participation medals.  It looks like they had a wonderful introduction to competition!  Congratulations to the U7s who graduated to ‘big’ Little Aths.  We can’t wait to see you all back next year in U8’s.
 
It was a bittersweet day for some of our older athletes for whom this was their last SMDLAC event.  Thanks for being great role models and congratulations on your years of dedication and enthusiasm. We hope to continue to see you at our club as coaches or volunteers.
 
Another fun highlight was our coaches vs kids 4×100 relay – what a hotly-contested event!  To loud cheering from their friends and parents, nine teams battled for glory and all of them got the baton around successfully.  Well done to our victorious coach team but watch out, our rising stars are coming for you! 
 
We acknowledge that we experienced a few mix ups and sometimes applied rules inconsistently and we sincerely apologise to athletes and parents who were left disappointed.  However, we also ask for your understanding – running a championship event for the first time with 142 events was an enormous undertaking. We will take on board all feedback to make next year’s event even better.
 
Thanks to the committee, coaches and parent volunteers.  Such a successful day couldn’t have happened without you. 
 
We look forward to seeing everyone at our Presentation Night at the end of April – please keep an eye on TeamApp for the  date and venue.

In fun & fitness
SMDLAC Committee