Athletics Australia - Life Members 2019

Athletics Australia is proud to have elected seven fine servants of the sport as its newest Life Members at its 2019 Annual General Meeting held in Melbourne today (25 October).

Their rich histories in the sport reflect the diversity of athletics and personal commitments over decades which make it very much stronger.

Rob Blackadder first became interested in athletics during his university days in England, continuing through his work as a physical education teacher. Upon his migration to Australia he contributed as an official via the New South Wales combined high schools athletics program.

Rob’s interests as an official were never in specific events but always widespread. Around the mid-nineties Rob also became involved in para athletics through Wheelchair Sports NSW as well as with the events that were being conducted through the schools’ system and ANSW. Rob was one of those who took a special interest in the technical aspects of para athletics. The work he did in provided Australia with a sound foundation for the superb conduct of the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney.

Since 1997, Rob has also been involved with the Summer Down Under Wheelchair Racing Series and in officials’ recruitment and education at state level. Under his guidance, the training and development of officials in NSW took a major step forward.

Rob’s technical knowledge of athletics is widely recognised. He has also been appointed to many senior roles for Athletics NSW and Athletics Australia meets including as technical manager and travelled to many Oceania championships serving as technical manager and developing the skills of officials in these countries. He led a technical management course held in association with the 2019 Area Championships held in Townsville, based on the national workshop he conducted in 2016.

Rob was certified as a World Para Athletics International Technical Official in 2005, and served on the WPC ITO Panel for a period until 2017. Other major appointments across athletics at the highest level included the 1996 World Juniors (TIC assistant), 2000 Sydney Olympic Games (throws judge), 2001 Goodwill Games (field judge), 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games (technical judge) and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (technical manager).

Rob’s contribution to Athletics NSW was recognised with Life Membership in 2014. He was the Athletics Australia Official of the Year for 2008 and has been a long serving and enthusiastic member of the AA Facilities and Equipment Commission.

In all the roles and positions Rob has held, he has at all times conducted himself with good humour and grace, with a smile and encouragement for other officials.

Kirsteen Farrance was a good all round athlete at the Ringwood Club but her greater contribution to athletics has been post her own competition days although her involvement in administration, coaching and officiating did for some time run parallel with her active involvement as one of the first female athletes to take up pro-running.

In athletics administration, Kirsteen’s work has taken two distinct paths, one professional and the other voluntary – but her vision and commitment ensured that when appropriate or necessary she ensured they intertwined to the great benefit of the sport.

Kirsteen was seconded from Watsonia High School to work in the Victorian School Sport Unit in 1988 a time when she was also the treasurer of the VHSSA. In 1996 when School Sport Australia recommended that all sports should have a national secretary, Kirsteen applied to be track and field national secretary, a role she still holds to this day.

She used her own connections within the sport more broadly to lobby for logical solutions to be found between schools bodies and Athletics Australia for national school aged competitions. Kirsteen has been the driving force behind the success of the 10/11/12 years National  Schools Track and Field, her connections with mainstream officials drawing many of them to participate.

Kirsteen was one of the first in both school sport and athletics generally to identify the need for a transgender participation policy. Her advocacy and deep understanding of the issue led to the adoption of AA’s first formal transgender eligibility regulations in 2012.

Away from her work desk, Kirsteen was just as busy in making a contribution to the sport. She was active in the Australian Track and Field Coaches Association Victorian Branch, the Victorian Athletic League and has been a member of the Victorian Olympic Council’s education commission.

In her home state Kirsteen served as a member of the AV Board, was the AV Portfolio Manager Coaching from 1986 to 1988 and was on the AV Schools Committee from 1983 to1988.

At national level, she was a member of the AA Coaching Commission from 1998 to 2001 and then served on the AA Schools Committee from 2001, taking over as its chair from 2008 to 2012. As a coach Kirsteen is well qualified having attained the Level 4 accreditation in both in the sprints, relay and hurdles category and in jumps.

As a technical official at local, state, national and international level, Kirsteen has been both a great servant and a high achiever. She earned the IAAF Level II Diploma in Officiating in 2009 and has been a member of the Oceania International Technical Officials Panel since 2010.

A regular official at state and national competitions for three decades, Kirsteen has been a first choice official for all major international competitions held in Australia from 2000. Her knowledge and application of the rules and firm but athlete-friendly conduct of competitions is widely acknowledged.

Despite never having been a competitive athlete herself, Sharon Hannan started coaching in Cairns in North Queensland in 1983 - beginning a to-date 35 year involvement in myriad aspects of athletics from grass roots coaching and competition to the heights of international track and field. A move to the Gold Coast in the late 1990s opened broader opportunities in coaching, facility management and competition organisation.

Sharon has been a coach educator and facilitator since 1993, priding herself in developing young athletes who continue in the sport well beyond their school years. She is just as happy coaching novice athletes as she is guiding high performance stars.

As an elite coach, Sharon has an impressive record most notably as the personal coach for 14 years of Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion Sally Pearson. She is highly qualified – as both a level 4 specialist coach in sprints, relays and hurdles and a level 3 advanced junior coach.

She is a former national youth event coach for sprint events (2007-2011) and served also as the national senior relays coach. She was the Athletics Australia Coach of the Year for 2012, having been joint winner for 2010.

As a team official, Sharon’s talents have often been in demand as an assistant team section manager and coach.

Sharon has played a leading role in coach education in Australia, developing and delivering coach education courses across Queensland. She served as a member of the Athletics Australia Coaching Advisory Group until September 2018 and has been an advisor to the development of the AA Coach Education Framework and a lead facilitator of IAAF Coach Education in Australia.

As a competition organiser, Sharon was a pioneer in developing out of season track and field competition – evolving the Winter and PB Series on the Gold Coast. She also drove the Down Under Championships – an educational and sporting experience for teenage North American athletes to compete in Australia.

Gary McBroom began a 25-year commitment to athletics in the most unique manner – first arriving on the scene as an enthusiastic sponsorship liaison for Athletics Australia’s then transport and courier service supplier Comet Express in 1994.

Sweeper as he is almost universally known in the athletics community was efficient and reliable in his professional role – always ensuring that signage, equipment and supplies were containerised immediately after each meet and dispatched overnight.

He soon tired of attending the VIP room each meet, first assisting to pack up after each meet. Within a few meets this extended to assisting with the unpacking and set-up and before long to working during the meets in a range of technical capacities.

By the time the Sydney Olympic Games rolled around Sweeper was an integral part of the delivery team. Whilst still very much the liaison and service delivery operative for TNT (which had taken over Comet) he was by now also an athletics official in every sense of the word – apart from actually being one on paper.

The officiating panel for the Games had been prepared over the preceding years so Sweeper applied to be a “sport specific volunteer” where not surprisingly he was allocated to assist the technical judges’ team.

Sweeper’s method of introduction to athletics was not the only unique thing about his involvement – with almost everyone else in the sport being attached to their state/territory body, he was an “AA” volunteer but with every association getting the benefits of his contribution. He would regularly appear at the AA office between meets checking what was needed for the next and providing suggestions on how things could be improved.

The National Grand Prix Circuit was hugely successful, particularly in the years leading up to the Sydney Games – and with so much of the logistical component thereof due to Sweeper’s commitment and expertise.

Post Sydney and the athletics bug had completely taken hold of Sweeper. He resolved that he should formally join up and qualify as a national technical official.

His grounding on the circuit and at the Sydney Games, gave Sweeper the confidence to make the substantial contribution that has been the trademark of his involvement in athletics ever since. He quickly became the go-to man for extending the life of faulty equipment or implements.

At international level, Sweeper was appointed as a technical judge for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and equipment manager for the 2018 edition on the Gold Coast.

As he wound down his professional career, the new facility at Lakeside was coming on line and Sweeper was a perfect fit to take on a part time professional role as venue equipment and technical manager. Again his commitment was above and beyond the call of duty – supporting and servicing school, club, state and local meets. He was also an enthusiastic contributor to the AA Facilities and Equipment Commission and the AV equivalents and mentor to those who came into the technical side of the sport both at state and national level.

Athletics has been a substantial part of the life of Heather Mitchell. She was awarded a Little Athletics NSW Merit Award in 1993 and Life Membership in 1998 because of this enormous commitment and involvement.

But athletics at state, national and international level were also very significant beneficiaries of her skill and efficiency both in administration and officiating. She thus became one of those who found a way to make a quality contribution to athletics simultaneously in senior and little athletics at local, state and national level whilst also proving her worth as an international official.

When two of Heather’s children joined Port Hacking Little Athletics Centre on its opening day and her two younger ones started as soon as they were old enough, it began a family commitment to athletics. 

Heather has undertaken many roles at club, zone, state and national level including serving as a member of Little Athletics Australia’s Technical Committee.

But at all levels Heather’s most significant contribution to the sport has been in race walking most notably as a judge and officials educator but also in competition organisation and administration.

From Little Athletics walk judges’ coordinator to IAAF area judge and lecturer, Heather’s contribution has been measured and effective. In an event area which sometimes draws controversy and disputes, Heather’s calmness in approach and respect in return has been a big positive for the sport.

She has been president and treasurer of the NSW Racewalking Club Inc. and vice president of Race Walking Australia. She has been a regular as a judge at both RWA and AA national events and championships from 1984 and received the 25-year merit award from RWA (then AFRWC) in 2009. More broadly as a national technical official, Heather is qualified in walks, track, jumps, out of stadium and administration and has exercised those skills over more than 30 years. She was accordingly recognised with the AA Gold Service Award in 2010.

Heather began her international officiating career at the 1996 World Junior Championships in Sydney. There were later appointments including as a track umpire and walks official for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and as an international race walk judge for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

She was amongst the first appointed to the International Race Walk Judges Panel (Oceania Area) serving from 2005 to 2013 and was appointed as an IAAF/OAA lecturer to educate and evaluate national, state and local level judges.

Joe Stevens has found myriad ways to make an impact on Australian athletics at local, state and national level. His commitment to the sport seems endless from grass roots contributions as a competition official most weeks of the year to a significant influencer in policy, strategy and direction.

He began his involvement in athletics at home in South Australia with Catholic Collegians United Athletics Club (now United Collegians) in the early seventies as a sprinter and shot putter. He returned in a more formal way as an official in 1998 when his son took up the sport. Joe has been there ever since – as a member of Western Athletic Club (formerly Western Districts Athletic Club). He was named Athletics South Australia Official of the Year in 2003 – 2004.

It did not take long for Joe to make a bigger commitment, joining the board of Athletics SA in 2001 and serving until 2016. He was vice president from 2003 until 2012 when he became the association’s president. He re-joined the Athletics SA board in 2018.

As president of his state association, Joe also took his role as a delegate to Athletics Australia most seriously, playing a key role in Presidents’ Meetings. He readily took up the role of being one of the two member association representatives on the AA Special Awards Committee until 2017.

Joe has played a significant role at national and international events held in Australia since 2000. He was a technical judge at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and assistant technical manager and assistant outside events referee for the 2018 edition on the Gold Coast.

His commitment to national championship events both in and out of stadium whether at home or interstate has been exemplary. Few can match his prolific attendance at national events.

Another impactful involvement in the sport comes through Joe’s role with the iconic City-Bay Fun Run in Adelaide. As a result of Joe’s strong leadership, the event has been successful and as a result has been able to provide significant grant funding to the sport and individual athletes.

Keen to ensure athletics plays its role in those bodies with which it is affiliated, Joe has been a member of South Australian Olympic Council since 2005, serving as vice president from 2010 until 2018 when he assumed the council’s presidency.

Joe was the Athletics Australia Official/Volunteer of the Year for 2010 and has also served on the AA Facilities and Equipment Commission since then. Joe’s devotion and service to the sport at local and state level has been recognised through life membership of both Western AC and Athletics SA.

Bruce Wilson began his involvement in athletics in Western Australia in 1980 and has been a devoted servant of the sport ever since both at state and national level. He continues his involvement in myriad ways – not the least as an enthusiastic masters’ athlete.

The geographic isolation of his state from the rest of the national activity in athletics meant that the sport nationally relied heavily on committed individuals based in WA for several key reasons. Almost from the beginning of his involvement Bruce was prepared to take on such roles.

Bruce quickly came to understand the requirements for valid recognition of all competitions and what was expected in the staging of national and international competitions. He also made sure this applied to state competitions.

Bruce was key to the conduct of the National Grand Prix Circuit throughout the 1990s. Whether or not he was formally a member of the local organising committee for each grand prix meet or national championships, Bruce was always available to make a significant contribution.

It was not only in event management that Bruce has made his mark – also being a highly qualified and committed technical official who was more often than not the go-to man to verify high level performances in Perth. The respect for Bruce was such that if he ticked it off, there was no further question to be asked.

Despite the considerable personal cost, Bruce has been a regular attendee as a technical official at many competitions interstate for more than 25 years. He served as a field judge for the 2000 Paralympics and as a track umpire for the IAAF Grand Prix Final in Melbourne in 2001.

Bruce’s contribution to athletics has been acknowledged through the AA Gold Service Award (in 2010) recognising 30 years of quality commitment and with life membership of Athletics WA.

Bruce Wilson’s unassuming manner often understates his wide range of expertise and knowledge but is characterised well by his willingness to undertake any officiating role to which he is assigned.