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The Track and FieldNewsletter of MAWA

Season 12 Issue 2

December 2018

Trophy actionDavid Brook leads the pack chasing Ian Hannaby (inset) on the first lap of thePatron’s Trophy 5000m at WA Athletics Stadium. Hot on David’s heels are AlanGray (left) and David Baird.

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MAWA athletes head OMA awardsMAWA athletes feature in the OMAnominations for WMA awards. LynVentris and David Carr have beennominated for the overall category andtheir categories of walks and middledistance. Gillian Young has also beennominated for the middle distance category.

Nominations for categories are SallyGibbs, Alastair Prangnell and MarkCumming (NZL) and Julie Brims, GillianYoung, Jan Banens, Margaret Taylor, GabiWatts, Trevor Young, Geoff Shaw andRalph Bennett (AUS).

The WMA Council will make theirdecision for the Awards by mid Januaryand the winners will then be notified andannounced shortly afterwards.

Presentations will be made at the WorldIndoor Championships at Torun in Polandif the two winners are there. For thecategory awards, each winner or runner upwill receive a certificate which their regionwill present at an appropriate time (egnational championship etc).

Lyn Ventris is a dual winner of the WMAAthlete of the Year Award and David Carrwas nominated for the WMA Athlete ofthe Year Award in 2013 and 2015.

LEFT: David Carr and (lower) LynVentris each won three gold medalsat the World Championships inMalaga. Photos: GRAEME DAHL

LOWER LEFT: Gillian Youngcompetes in the 1500m in Spain.

Pho

to: E

MM

AN

UE

L TA

RD

I

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Middle distance

Distance

Throws

Jumps

Race walks

Combined events

Overall

GEOFF SHAW

GEOFF SHAWMARGARET TAYLOR

DAVID CARR

SALLY GIBBS

JAN BANENS MARK CUMMING

ALASTAIR PRANGNELL

LYN VENTRIS RALPH BENNETTGILLIAN YOUNG

GABI WATTS

DAVID CARRLYN VENTRIS

WMA Athletes of the Year Nominations

Sprints

JULIE BRIMS TREVOR YOUNG

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Incoming AMA President, RichardBlurton with outgoing President WilmaPerkins.

AMA board members for 2018-2019 (from left, back row) Stuart Paterson, JimLangford (treasurer), Steve McGugan (vice-president), Richard Blurton(president) (front row) Lisa Attenborough, Judy Farrell, Janet Naylon and DonnaHiscox (secretary).

Geoffrey Gee M65 Discus 12.47m ECAC 25/10/2018 SRDavid Graieg M30 1000m 2:54.4 WAAS 13/11/2018 SRTodd Davey M50 Hammer 51.27m WAAS 13/11/2018 SRTodd Davey M50 56lb weight 9.91m ECAC 15/11/2018 *ARJanne Wells W50 56lb weight 2.59m ECAC 15/11/2018 SRTodd Davey M50 Hammer 51.38m WAAS 27/11/2018 SRTodd Davey M50 Shot 16.47m RCAC 29/11/2018 SR*Pending AR

Records

There was a changing of the guard at theAustralian Masters Athletics (AMA)annual general meeting when long servingpresident and board member, WilmaPerkins stepped down. Wilma has servedon the board since 1996.

MAWA’s Richard Blurton has takenover the role of president and fellow clubmember Jim Langford takes on the role ofAMA treasurer. Lynne Schickert wasanother MAWA member who was AMApresident from 2003 to 2009.

The annual meeting was held atWollongong in New South Wales.

Richard takes the reins from Wilma

MAWA athletes honoured at Mandurah Sports AwardsThree MAWA athletes performanceswere recognised at the recent City ofMandurah Sports Awards.

Sharon Davis won the Sportsper-son of the Year Award following hersuccess at the World Masters cham-pionships at Malaga in Spain (two

Silver and two bronze medals) plusone Australian title at the Nationalsand four State records.

Jim Davis received theSportsperson of the Year with adisability for his four titles at theNationals in Perth.

Oswald “Ossi” Igel was awardedthe Senior Sportsperson of the Yearaward for a successful yearcomprising two titles at the OceaniaMasters Championships at Dunedinin New Zealand, four titles at theNationals and seven State records.

JIM DAVISOSSI IGELSHARON DAVIS

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Masters turn out

for John Gilmour

10,000m classicSeveral MAWA members competed in theannual John Gilmour 10,000m at Ern ClarkAthletic Centre in early November.

Split into two races the 40mins plusevent was held first and won by OliverKnuckey in 39:21.8. Oliver often competesin MAWA Sunday runs. MAWA’s BertCarse ran 48:54.6 and Simone Solomon53:44.4.

In the second race, Roberto Busi led thefield home in 32:03.0. Ross Langfordfinished fourth in 34:11.1 and Steve Wellerran 38:23.3. Rochelle and Leigh Rodgersran together for the majority of the raceposting times for 41:12.1 and 41:52.7respectively.

LEFT: Steve Weller runs the bendin the opening laps of the sub 40mins 10,000m.

SIMONE SOLOMON

ROSSLANGFORD

BERTCARSE

ROCHELLE AND LEIGH RODGERS

Photos: Focused Ninja Photography

OLIVERKNUCKEY

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Although the 5000m State record attemptwas the highlight of the first day ofAthletics WA’s summer season, severalMAWA members competed at WAAthletics Stadium on the last Sunday inOctober.

Competitors were greeted with abeautiful spring day with a light breeze,changing to a westerly just in time to be atailwind for the 200m.

Spotted in the crowd were Lisa Limonasthere to watch Matthew Ramsden run,Sharon Davis, fresh from multiple medalsuccess in Malaga, seen leaning on thefence checking out the opposition and

Silke Peglow, just back from running theMelbourne Marathon and there to watchher daughter compete in the long jump.Andrew Duncan won the 10,000m racewalk in 51:29.7.

Fiona Leonard and Chris Gould ran the800m with Fiona crossing the line in2:41.54 and Chris in 2:05.28.

World champion Melissa Foster jumped5.32m in the long jump and ran the 200min a time of 27.72.

In the 200m, Lee Stergiou placed secondin his heat in 25.54 and John Dennehy ran35.36 in the final heat.

All these athletes achieved excellentresults for the first day of opencompetition.

Sunday opener

There were ideal conditions for thehighlight of the meet which was themen’s 5000m. Matthew Ramsdenand Nic Harman decided to try andbetter Ray Boyd’s 1995 WA staterecord of 13:59.2. Marc See ran asa pacemaker for the first few lapswith Matthew and Nic runningstrongly, however, it was not meantto happen, with Matthew so closeat 14:03.62 and Nic 14:13.16.

ANDREW DUNCAN

LEE STERGIOUFIONA LEONARDCHRIS GOULD

Matthew Ramsdenstrides out in the 5000mrecord attempt.

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5000m

WAAS November 27% pts

Ian Hannaby M50 20:48.2 67.74David Brook M55 22:54.8 61.50David Adams M40 23:02.0 56.76Campbell Till M60 23:52.5 64.02David Baird M75 24:59.1 72.37Jenn Parker W45 26:21.9 59.74Des Walsh M60 28:32.6 53.55Delia Baldock W55 28:54.7 60.06

ECAC November 29

% ptsPatrick Jones M45 20:19.9 n/aIan Hannaby M50 20:54.1 67.42Colin Smith M55 21:24.6 68.49Graeme Dahl M65 22:38.1 n/aAlan Gray M55 22:57.2 63.88Gillian Young W70 24:34.8 86.26Claire Walkley W50 26:32.2 n/aJanne Wells W50 27:16.2 60.57Bob Schickert M75 30:18.4 59.66John Dennehy M55 33:17.2 44.05Lynne Schickert W75 41.42.3 56.10

Injury stops Sue

Ian Hannaby attacked the distance at WAAthletics Stadium right from the gun andmaintained a sizeable lead after the initialkilometre, his finishing time more thantwo minutes quicker than the improvingDavid Brook. Campbell Till and David

Baird both ran measured races; Davidscoring the highest points on the night.Des Walsh lost no fans with his race overan unfamiliar distance.

Sue Coate led the women for severallaps before her ‘dodgy’ ankle forced herretirement. Jenn Parker was then left in‘no girls land’ but produced a fine run withDelia Baldock completing the 5kmsubstantially quicker than her recentparkruns.

At Ern Clark Athletic Centre IanHannaby ran only six seconds slower thanhis WAAS time. Once again Colin Smithshowed great endurance and appeareduntroubled by the distance. Alan Graycrafted an impressive performancefollowing his DNF from WAAS to fullyredeem himself.

Gillian Young produced a master classin 5km running, scoring a well deserved86 percent age-graded performance. JanneWells scored well with a fine run withLynne Schickert demonstrating true gritwith her performance.

Patron’s Trophy

DELIA BALDOCK and DES WALSH

Sue Coate (left) and Jenn Parkerare all smiles in the early laps of

the 5000m as Campbell Tillprepares to lap them. Sue was

forced to retire with injury.

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Long jump

Jumpers take offPatron’s Trophy

Favourable conditions prevailed at WAAthletics Stadium for the long jumpcompetitors with David Graieg soaring outto 5.88m with his sound technique. Toppoints scorer, Campbell Till, in his firstjump for several years engaged a hitch kickto stop over-rotation and spurred hiscompetitors on. Des Walsh put in a solideffort finishing with the same distance asSue Coate, the women’s top scorer.

Delia Baldock drew upon her vastjumping experience to score well and theconsistent Carol Bowman increased herdistance in each round.

At ECAC Campbell extended hisdistance by 24cm and gained thecommensurate four extra points (as did DesWalsh) to again top score. Distance wise,Campbell was closely followed by ColinSmith who put his considerable speed togood use with a consistent series of jumps.Ossi Igel added over 70 points to his tallywith a splendid best of 4.14m.

Jenn Parker hit the board perfectly tograsp valuable points, outscoring SueCoate's Tuesday performance. GillianYoung enhanced her reputation as a steelycompetitor under pressure, with her effortin an unfamiliar event. Far more at homeover long distance running races, hercompetitiveness covers her lack of speedand puts her at the pointy end of a varietyof competitions. Aleisha Sutton made thejourney to ECAC to keep herself in thecompetition and made it worth the effortby jumping over 4m – no mean feat.

OSSI IGEL

Colin Smith’s hat goesflying as he sails throughthe air in the long jump atErn Clark Athletic Centre.

WAAS October 30% pts

David Graieg M30 5.88m 65.70Melissa Foster W40 5.08m 75.04Ian Hannaby M50 4.55m 62.50Campbell Till M60 4.30m 67.61Lisa Limonas W45 4.06m n/aSue Coate W50 3.87m 64.50Des Walsh M60 3.87m 60.85Alan Gray M55 3.53m 51.76Delia Baldock W55 3.43m 61.14John Dennehy M55 3.21m 47.07Carol Bowman W60 2.69m 51.53Mark Dawson M55 2.66m 39.00Ivan Brown M70 2.55m 46.96

ECAC November 15% pts

Campbell Till M60 4.54m 71.38Colin Smith M55 4.50m 65.98Jenn Parker W45 4.35m 68.08Ossi Igel M65 4.14m 70.29Des Walsh M60 4.13m 64.94Aleisha Sutton W40 4.08m 60.27Julie Gaglia W40 3.69m 54.51Janne Wells W50 3.47m 57.83Gillian Young W70 2.60m 58.56Bob Schickert M75 2.13m 42.86Lynne Schickert W75 2.06m 51.24

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High flyer

Patron’s Trophy

High jumpECAC November 1

% ptsCraig Tyrrell Vis 1.60m n/aCampbell Till M60 1.40m 74.47Ossi Igel M65 1.35m 76.27Alan Gray M55 1.30m 65.00Colin Smith M55 1.25m 62.50Reid Barron M40 1.25m 53.42Jenn Parker W45 1.25m 69.44Greg Kennedy M70 1.20m 72.73Sarah Correia Vis 1.20m n/aFranz Schlechter M65 1.15m 64.97Des Walsh M60 1.10m 58.51Kevin Collins M50 1.10m n/aJanne Wells W50 1.00m 58.48John Dennehy M55 1.00m 50.00Gillian Young W70 1.00m 75.76Carol Bowman W60 0.95m 62.50Bob Schickert M75 0.95m 61.69Lynne Schickert W75 0.85m 69.67Delia Baldock W55 NH

WAAS November 13% pts

David Graieg M30 1.60m 65.31Hans Venter M50 1.45m 68.72Mal Clarke M45 1.40m 63.06Ian Hannaby M50 1.35m 63.98Michael Farro Vis 1.35m n/aAleisha Sutton W40 1.30m 68.78Sue Coate W50 1.25m 73.10Greg Kennedy M70 1.20m 72.73Ivan Brown M70 1.15m 69.70Delia Baldock W55 1.15m 71.43Mark Dawson M55 1.10m 55.00Julie Gaglia W40 1.10m 58.20

Campbell Till took out the top heighthonours and employed the rarely seen‘straddle’ technique (not the Western roll)and that the onlookers were excited as theyrarely see anything other than the ‘scissor’and ‘fosbury’ method of jumping. OssiIgel must now be considered a true multi-eventer with his top score of the night andhad his ‘game face’ on. Alan Gray alsoshowed a talent beyond his distancerunning with his efforts.

Gillian Young was a surprise with animpressive height to top score in thewomen’s event, despite a severe lack oftraining, with Jenn Parker and LynneSchickert both attaining just under 70points each. It must be said the high jumpwas conducted under closing darknesswith many jumpers entering thecompetition early due to their lack ofconfidence and training in the discipline.Carmel Meyer earnt everyone’s respect bydisplaying outstanding patience underpressure for an inordinate amount of timeto enable the event to be completedsuccessfully.

At WAAS Hans Venter demonstratedsound technique adding just shy of 70points to his total with Ivan Brown justedging him in their duel. ‘Youngster’

David Graieg soared over 1.60m to scorewell and delight everyone with his eagerattitude to competition.

In the women’s event, it was Sue Coateto the fore with a confident display andgrabbed the overall best score of the night.A talented athlete, Sue appears to relishthe opportunity to compete no matter theevent. Aleisha Sutton was close behind ina very closely fought competition. DeliaBaldock pushed her title claims with hereffort along with the ever smilingnewcomer Julia Gaglia.

Gillian Young clears the bar on her way to the highest percentage of thewomen’s high jump competition.

CAMPBELL TILL, CARMEL MEYERand JOHN DENNEHY

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One-lap dashCampbell Till displayed his Malaga goldmedal-winning form over the one-lap dashwith a judicious mix of focus anddetermination giving him the highestpoints of the evening. Unhampered byillness he enhanced his reputation as aclutch performer. Ian Hannaby had hiscustomary assertive race and Alan Graydisplayed a surprising turn of speed to pickup valuable points. Mark Dawson looked

casual despite a classy run with IvanBrown unwittingly pacing John Dennehyand gaining over 66%.

Enviable technique took Julie Gaglia toa sub-75-second run to pip Sue Coate byless than two points with Delia Baldocknot far behind.

Overall it was Colin Smith’s stunning57.5 performance that top scored at88.83%. Despite the recent passing of hismother, Colin displayed exceptional focusand determination to produce a time thatwould have had him in the recent final atthe world titles, with little competition.Once again, David Baird ran a strong raceand missed the 80% mark by the smallestof margins. Alan Gray and John Dennehyboth ran faster than their WAAS times.Ossi Igel ran a sub eighty lap to againsurprise onlookers with his long stride andsmooth action.

Gillian Young used her nous to producethe best women’s percentage of 78.71overcoming her lack of speed with herincredible endurance and aggression. Theconsistent Janne Wells and LynneSchickert gained valuable points withCarol Bowman running a fine lap to putherself in the picture.

400m

WAAS October 23% pts

Lee Stergiou M45 58.8 81.11Ian Hannaby M50 61.2 80.60Campbell Till M60 63.2 83.80David Adams M40 74.4 n/aMelissa Foster W40 68.5 74.00Des Walsh M60 72.1 73.45Julie Gaglia W40 74.8 67.77Alan Gray M55 77.8 65.66Mark Dawson M55 69.5 73.50Sue Coate W50 84.1 66.00John Dennehy M55 86.7 58.92Ivan Brown M70 87.3 66.30Aleisha Sutton Vis 78.1 n/aBarrie Kernaghan M75 83.4 n/aCarol Bowman W60 85.0 62.31Quentin Gould Vis 86.9 n/aDelia Baldock W55 89.4 65.19

ECAC October 25% pts

Colin Smith M55 57.5 88.83Graham Griffin Vis 68.5 n/aReid Barron M40 70.5 65.48Fiona Leonard W50 71.4 77.75Rohit Dodia M35 75.2 59.48Rob Colton M55 76.4 66.86Alan Gray M55 76.5 66.77David Baird M75 77.3 79.99Ossi Igel M65 79.9 68.96Janne Wells W50 83.0 66.88John Dennehy M55 85.3 59.88Kristine Wells Vis 1:30.2 n/aDelia Baldock W55 1:31.3 63.83Gillian Young W70 1:31.6 78.71Carol Bowman W60 83.8 73.63Bob Schickert M75 1:34.0 65.78Karyn Tolardo W50 1:46.0 52.37Lynne Schickert W75 2:24.3 56.02Cecil Walkley M85 4:49.5 n/a

ALAN GRAY

Patron’s Trophy

MAIN PHOTO: Campbell till leadsLee Stergiou in the first heat of the

Patron’s Trophy 400m at WAAS.

JULIE GAGLIA

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The Patron’s Trophy for 2018 opened atWAAS, the metric mile taking centre stagewith a varied mix of runners, throwers andjumpers. Ian Hannaby showed his handearly and led a strong field for the entirejourney, unusually also scoring the highestage-graded percentage. Quality athletes,Mark Dawson and Campbell Till (aprevious winner) also scored highly withmeasured performances. Ossie Igel relivedhis junior decathlon days, albeit startingwith the 1500m not finishing with it andgave a surprisingly competent run.

Noted field eventer, Jenn Parker allayedfears of a further knee injury with a finely

executed run to score the highest in thewomen’s event, marginally ahead offormer winner, Sue Coate and newcomerJulie Gaglia.

Two days later at ECAC, a similar sizedfield completed the 1500m with severalathletes keen to improve on theirperformances from Tuesday. Malagaworld relay medallist, Colin Smith,aligned himself early with Alan Gray (whoimproved his performance), beforestriding away to record an exceptionaltime belaying his status as a sprinter andlooked comfortable in the process. DavidBaird, showing much improved pacingjudgement also excelled recording a 75%only topped by the Masters’ Patronhimself, David Carr, who not surprisinglyscored over 90% to strike fear intocompetitors before reluctantly admittinghe would be unable to fulfill requirementsfor the trophy as he was about to undergoa medical procedure requiring up to sixweeks of recovery.

Gillian Young, as befits a world recordand title holder, raced to an 83%performance unhindered by a nagginghamstring that has plagued her in recenttimes. Janne Wells safely executed herrace plan with Karyn Tolardo also‘looking the goods’.

Mark scores highly1500m

WAAS October 16% pts

Ian Hannaby M50 5:17.6 74.29Mark Dawson M55 5:39.4 72.80Campbell Till M60 6:00.0 72.08Stuart Manning M40 6:02.6 59.68Ivan Brown M70 6:59.8 69.32Alan Gray M55 6:00.1 68.62David Brook M50 6:35.9 59.60Julie Gaglia W40 6:37.6 61.83Jenn Parker W45 6:40.7 64.16Des Walsh M60 6:50.9 63.15Sue Coate W50 6:59.3 64.27Ossi Igel M65 7:40.7 59.39Delia Baldock W55 7:45.3 60.84John Dennehy M55 8:27.1 48.73

ECAC October 18% pts

Colin Smith M55 5:34.6 73.85Alan Gray M55 5:55.3 69.54David Baird M75 6:54.8 75.75Kristine Wells Vis 6:55.5 n/aJanne Wells W50 7:00.5 64.08Gillian Young W70 7:02.0 83.03David Carr M85 7:24.7 90.46Karyn Tolardo W50 7:35.1 59.21Claire Walkley W50 7:54.0 56.85Delia Baldock W55 8:06.1 58.24John Dennehy M55 8:42.5 47.29Bob Schickert M75 8:44.1 59.95Lynne Schickert W75 11:55.3 54.97Cecil Walkley M85 19:11.2 n/aDAVID BAIRD

Patron’s Trophy

Mark Dawson posted thesecond highest percentageof 72.80 at the 1500mround at WA AthleticsStadium.

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Morland’s positiveAt an age when most people are saying“I can’t do that anymore,” Morland Smithjust gets on and does it. Whilst mostpeople in their 80s would laugh ruefullyif you mentioned them riding a bike,Morland has found an age-appropriatesolution and rides to and from Saturdaytraining on his e-trike. This attitude of‘can’ typifies his approach to life andexplains his sixty-year involvement withathletics.

Born and raised in Queensland,Morland gained his Bachelor and MastersDegrees in Science at the University ofQueensland. He forged his career as ageologist, at first in academia and then inprofessional mineral exploration.Morland married Jan Poggio in 1962before his studies took them to live inCanada for five years. Whilst in Canada,he gained his PhD at Queen’s UniversityOntario. Two sons were born in Canadaand later, a daughter in Kalgoorlie.Kalgoorlie was home while Morlandworked on exploration projects and aneventual career highlight, the discoveryof a new mineral deposit – WindarraSouth Nickel deposit near Laverton.Morland’s work as a geologist has meantextensive world travel. In addition toCanada and the US, he has seen stints inIndonesia, Argentina, Papua New Guinea,Japan, Georgia, Malaysia and Africa toname a few.

Morland attended Queensland’sWarwick State High School, one of thestate’s oldest educational institutions. Heonly started running in year 11 and wonraces over 880 yards and 1 mile. His bestperformance at that time was winningthe Queensland secondary schoolchampionships 1-mile event in 4:46.0. Inaddition to his track successes, he wasalso accorded the honour of being namedWHS athletics champion boy and captainof the school athletics team. He latercaptained the University of Queenslandathletics team. After high school, runningmostly took a backseat to Morland’suniversity studies but towards the end ofhis UQ days, he committed to takingrunning seriously again.

In 1959-1960 Morland benefitted froma training stint with club-mate andOlympian Dr Tony Blue who waspreparing for the Rome Olympics. A runof stellar performances and accolades

followed for Morland and he bested histraining mate on numerous occasion. InApril 1960 Morland ran his fastest 880ydever (1:52.8) in a match race betweenHerb Elliot and Tony Blue. Morlandcontinued to make headlines throughout1960 and ’61. He recorded his best mile

time of 4:10.5 in December 1960,however in an example of the pleasureand pain of running (and life!) Morland’smain intention that day had been tocelebrate his engagement to Jan byrunning 4:10.4 and breaking theQueensland 1 mile record.

At this point, Morland had to make adifficult choice between pursuing athleticgoals and academic study. When he wasawarded a scholarship to Queen’sUniversity in Ontario his mind was madeup.

CONTINUED – next page

Morland Smith wins the mile in 4:11.3 in 1960 at Lang Park Brisbane.

In focusWith Carmel Meyer

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FROM – previous pageHe continued to run in Canada for fitness and in intercollegiatecompetitions but study came first. In the 1980s Morland joinedMAWA, returning to competition if work and injury concernsallowed. In 1980 he ran the City to Surf 12km in 47.08 minutes.In 1981 at the age of 43, he ran his first Perth Marathon in 3hrs3mins. In 1993 Morland set a masters state record for 1500m.Morland would describe himself as a part-time athlete overthese years but in 2006 when he was 69 he again returned toserious training.

Morland’s favourite events have traditionally been the 800mand 1500m but he now favours the 1500m and 5000m. In anexample of the ‘can do’ attitude which belies his age, this yearhe discovered the 2000m steeplechase and this event is nowon top of his favourites list!

Although Morland has never had a coach he approaches hisrunning with the same academic rigour evident throughout hislife and has been an avid reader of running books by the likesof Franz Stampfl, Sebastian Coe, John Gilmour, Percy Ceruttyand others. That same Percy Cerutty (Herb Elliot’s coach) mayhave inadvertently spurred Morland’s drive to succeed. Whenhe saw Morland run at university he derisively told him he hada ‘terrible style’ and would never become a good middledistance runner. Morland says ‘I hope I have proved him wrong’.The record books would confirm he has indeed!

Having joined David Carr’s training group Morland creditsDavid’s training programme for performance improvements. Ingeneral, however, Morland says he prefers long slow runs inthe winter and faster track work leading up to competitionseason. He feels he has had ‘the usual’ in terms of runninginjuries; his most serious injury occurred off the track – a brokenleg resulting from a motorcycle accident in 1997.

Morland competed in the 2018 Oceania championships inDunedin and came home with five gold medals and one silver.He was particularly pleased to win his first ever steeplechase.His steeple age-graded result was also higher than his other fiveevents. For the 2018 Perth Nationals Morland aimed to win agold medal in the M80 division. He ended up winning six! At therecent WMA Championships in Malaga he won gold in the2000m steeplechase.

One of Morland’s retirement goals was to write biographiesof the families of his four great-grandparents. He has completedthree to date and the resulting impressive manuscripts havebeen published. He is also an accomplished photographer.Morland says this was inevitable as there was always a cameraon hand to record life in the Smith household as he grew up.Morland says he was pleasantly surprised with the first imagehe ever created, using a home made pin-hole camera. The seedwas sown and he has amassed an extensive catalogue of works.Ever the academic Morland has created a website whichcontains an in-depth trove of memorabilia arising from hisfascinating life journey. I thoroughly recommend a visit to -morlandsmith.com

Morland’s enthusiasm for athletics burns as brightly as ever.He is motivated by his love of running and the health benefitsaccrued and hopes to continue into his 90s if possible.

approach to life

Morland Smith competesin the 1500m at the WMAworld championships inMalaga.

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Welcome to this summer season. Ihope your winter training programmeis proving beneficial and thebeginning of the season has beenpositive. I am sure that most athleteswill enjoy the sunnier conditions aftera wet winter. It does appear to beeasier to perform well when theweather is warmer. If you areplanning to compete in the nationalchampionships in 2019 then notethat they will again be held at theend of April in Melbourne, which isagain a longer summer season.Planning is essential to achieve yourpotential.

Set your goals for the seasonrelative to your age, level of fitness,injury history and ensure they areachievable and measurable. Thesegoals may be based on time ordistance, technique, one aspect ofcompetition or a combination ofthese. Organise your training andracing programme to ensure your setgoals can be achieved and yourperformance can show improvement.

Research also appears todemonstrate that older athletes aremore susceptible to injuries. After anintense training session, the bodydoes take longer to recover,therefore remember the veryimportant training sessions of restand recovery. As masters athletesage, these recovery sessionsbecome more important.

The research appears to show alinear decline in performance untilthe age of about 70, but then thisdecline becomes more rapid.However, there is no definitive age –some athletes will have this declineoccur earlier and some much later.Many older athletes have spoken tome and state it is as thoughovernight something just gets turned

off and they cannot produce thesame times or distances again –even if the performance was a veryshort while ago. Where thereappears to be no physical reasonsuch as injury or illness for this rapidchange in the level of performance,and with no obvious reason this willbe very frustrating to the athlete. It isa good idea to talk to other athleteswho have been through similarexperiences and discuss how theymanaged.

There can be many possibilities forthis performance decline occurring.Muscle size, power and strengthdecrease as we age. Older athletesappear to lose flexibility – anessential component for manyevents. The rebuilding of musclestakes longer in older mastersathletes and this relates to rest andrecovery training sessions.

Enjoy the challenges of the comingseason.

the edgeWith Margaret Saunders

Planning essential

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2018-2019 Summer Track and Field Programme

Peter Hopper, IvanBrown and JohnDennehy head up themain straight in a100m at WAAS.

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2018-2019 Summer Track and Field Programme

MICHELLE KROKOSZ

Richard Blurtonkeeps track of results

with the electronictiming system as Jim

Langford looks on.

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Julie Gaglia clears the barto record a best of 1.20m

on the night.

Track and Field – WAAS

DAVID ADAMS DAVID GRAIEG

LEE STERGIOUJOHN DENNEHY STUART MANNING

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Track and Field – ECAC

PATRICK JONES CLAIRE WALKLEY KARYN TOLARDO

Bob Schickert (11.7s) and Julie Wilson (12.3s) stride to the finish in a 60m.

Janne Wells (10.2s), Colin Smith (8.7s), Des Walsh (9.2s) and David Solomon (9.4s) power off the line in a 60m heat.

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Track and Field – throws

PHIL SMYTH

SUE COATE

JENN PARKER

MAL CLARKENORMAN STANGER

RIGHT: Todd Davey steps down therunway on his way to a 31.18m throwin the javelin. In November, Todd seta pending Australian record of 9.91m

in the 56lb weight throw, broke theM50 hammer state record twice witha 51.27m and 51.38m distance andset a state record in the shot with a

16.47m mark.

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Looking ahead

2019 - WMA Indoors - Torun, Poland - March 24-30.www.wmaci2019.com2019 MAWA Championships (10,000m), Thursday,April 4.2019 MAWA Championships (Pentahlons), Saturday,April 6.2019 MAWA Championships (Steeplechase), Thursday,April 11.2019 MAWA Track and Field Championships (Mainweekend), April 13-142019 AMA Track and Field Championships -Melbourne, April 26-29.www.melbourne2019.com.au

2019 - Oceania - Mackay, August 31-September 7http://athleticsnorthqld.org.au/Oceania-Masters-Athletics-Championships-2019

2020 - WMA Champs - Toronto, Canada - July 20 toAugust 1. www.wmatoronto2020.com

2021 - Oceania - Norfolk Island - January 17-232021 - WMA Indoors - Edmonton, Canada - April 6-12.www.wma2021.com

2022 - WMA Champs - Gothenburg, Sweden - August17-27. www.masters2022.com

Lee Stergiou runs thebend in a 200m at a

Strive meeting at WAAthletics Stadium.