Around the Grounds | Weekend Review

State level track and field action is well underway for the 2021/2022 season and athletes are wasting no time in showing just how much work they put in over the off-season, with a series of strong performances across the country ahead of a mouthwatering 2022 international calendar.

In Queensland it was the rising stars of Australian athletics who took to a blockbuster sprints program at QSAC, with 21-year-old Ella Connolly (Mark Ladbrook) leading the charge in the women’s 100m in a new personal best time of 11.50. Fellow 21-year-old Kristie Edwards (David Reid) also clinched a shiny new best of 11.55 in second, whilst Australian Under 20 representative Torrie Lewis (Gerrard Keating) put an early season 11.61 on the board to round out the podium.

The trio also did battle over 200m, with the podium repeating itself as Connolly (23.49) edged out Edwards (23.50) and Lewis (23.67) into a slight headwind (0.3).

Young gun Ashley Wong (Travis Venema) stamped his authority on the Queensland sprinting scene when tearing down the straight in 10.66 to finish ahead of Alex Hartmann (Travis Venema) and Jalen Rucker (Gary Bourne) – both in 10.70.

The run from Wong comes just one week after he was crucial in the QUT Athletics Club’s Under 18 4x100m relay which clocked 40.59 at the Queensland Relay Championships – currently the world lead for the U18 age category in 2021. The team was comprised of Toshi Bultin, Ashley Wong, Rory Easton and Kaleb Clark.

Connor Diffey (Matt Lynch) proved too strong for the field in the men’s 200m, registering a performance of 20.98 (-0.8). Diffey narrowly defeated of Olympian Alex Beck (Mark Ladbrook) by four hundredths of a second, with Zane Branco (David Reid) taking third in 21.12.

The action in New South Wales was headlined by the NSW 10,000m Championships, with Thomas Do Canto (Gary Howard) and Aynslee Minnaar (Ben St Lawrence) taking home the men’s and women’s titles respectively in challenging conditions.

Do Canto stopped the clock in 29:09.71 to blow the field away and win by a significant margin, with the Run Crew athlete in good shape ahead of next month’s Melbourne Marathon where he will mix it with a classy lineup over 42.2km – hoping to secure a time that places him in contention for a World Athletics Championship and Commonwealth Games berth.

Minnaar won secured her second state title in as many weeks when clocking 34:29.11, despite technical difficulties with the ground lighting forcing the field to run most of the race in darkness on a cold and blustery night in Illawong.

The South Australian 5000m Championships looked all but certain to be the main drawcard of the weekend  in SA, but 18-year old Aidan Murphy (Peter Fitzgerald) all but stole the show with a scorching performance of 20.64 (+2.0) over 200m.

The 0.66 second personal best sees Murphy close in on Fred Martin’s 20.48 Under 20 Australian record, one that has stood for 36-years but appears well within reach for the prodigious talent.

The state 5000m titles were won by Tokyo Olympians Izzi Batt-Doyle (Nic Bideau) and Matthew Clarke (Adam Didyk), with class podiums in both events reflective of the state of distance running in South Australia.

Batt-Doyle clocked 15:41.29 to finish ahead of the Adam Didyk coached duo of Caitlin Adams (15:49.42) and Jess Stenson (15:52.79), whilst Clarke ran 13:40.39 to claim bragging rights over training partners Isaac Heyne (13:44.66) and Max Stevens (13:51.02)

Meanwhile in Western Australia, Matthew Ramsden (Nic Bideau) took out the 10km event at the Fremantle Running Festival in a time of 29:37 as he lays the foundations for a big season on the track.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 29/11/2021