Hello All,

Well we have done it the 20/21 Summer Athletics season has finally come to a close, a long way from where we started in a very challenged year with the pandemic constantly threatening to put the brakes on our athletics season, in the end been a triumph for so many.

Through the adversity of School, State and National events being cancelled, our members have not blinked and held there heads high, to train whenever and however the rules have allowed. We have seen some ‘green shoots’ coming back into the QA (Queensland Athletics) side of the club, with record turnouts from all levels in our very short Winter XC season to members returning to the track for the first time in 30+years, through to some of our young up and coming prospects stepping their toes into the big QA pool for the first time.

As a club we have had a very successful QA State Champions, the weekend before last with 12 athletes competing across the four days, many hitting career PB’s. Including Ashleigh Sitcheff earning a Gold medal in the U20 Javelin with a 45.07m throw. I will leave it to Wayne & Peter (Seniors Co-Ordinators) to give a full wrap of the season in later newsletter.

On the LAQ (Little Athletics Queensland) front, we had 67 athletes competing over a very long State Championships weekend (one of the best club representations in over 10years at a State Champs). I was very proud of the way these young athletes represented the club and themselves competing with gusto, pride and integrity. With PB’s galore and numerous athletes ending up on the dais, There are too many highlights to mention as we have had so many making finals or achieving medals. But for me the best part of these big competition weekends is seeing old or longterm records broken, please see the list of Club & State records broken over the over the weekend.

• Zoe Renton - 1100m Walk Club)
• Felix Birchall - 80m Hurdles (Club)
• Samuel Anderson - 400m (Club record from 1998)
• Bec Teahen - 1500m Walk (Club record from 1998)
• Jonathan Riese - 300m Hurdles (Club)
• Laura McGlennon- 300m Hurdles (Club)
• Thomas Bryant - 800m (Club)
• Olivia Boyd - 400m (Club), 800m 1500m(Club & LAQ State records)

This was Olivia’s last year with the little Athletics side of the club and as well as breaking the Club records she also broke the LAQ 800 & 1500m state record.

With the sunset on the Summer season we turn our eyes to the Winter Cross Country [XC] Season, we have been working with QA and other clubs to finalise the proposed season, and we have a full one. The Brisbane XC21 season will be made up of 8x Brisbane XC events, 1x All Schools XC Championships, 1x State XC Relay Championship, finishing up with the QLD XC Championship on the 31^st July at Toogoolawah

Brisbane XC Series Dates (hosted by various clubs for Qld Athletics):

#1 - Sat 24 April - Minnippi Parklands (hosted by Thompson Estate)
#2 - Sat 01 May - CJ Greenfields Park, Richlands (hosted by Toowong Harriers)
#3 - Sat 15 May - Upper Kedron (hosted by Ashgrove Rangers)
#4 - Sat 22 May - Sherwood Arboretum (hosted by intraining)
#5 - Sat 05 June - Teralba Park (hosted by Athletics North)
#6 - Sat 12 June - Fig Tree Pocket (hosted by Toowong Harriers)
#7 - Sat 26 June - Capalaba College (hosted by Redlands)
#8 - Sat 10 July - Minnippi Parklands (hosted by Thompson Estate)

Qld All Schools XC Champs - Sat 08 May 21 - TBA

Qld XC Relay Champs - Sat 19 June 21 - Nudgee College (Nudgee)

Qld XC Champs - Sat 31 July 21 - Toogoolawah Golf Course (Toogoolawah)

All events will be nominated through the Queensland Athletics, Revolutionise Sport portal, we will have more derails when we get closure to the events, please check our website for updates.

And one final note, we now have will have some new Club Running Kit becoming available, fingers crossed before the first race of XC21, we have new running singlets and T-shirts in Men’s & Women’s specific fits and a new Toowong Harriers light weight runners cap.

So lets all get up and get running fit for the season head (I know you haven’t really stopped 😉), Thursday night XC Training starts this week, plus we hope to be running some other running Squads in parallel through the season to keep you all motivated and moving. Please join the Toowong Harriers STRAVA club or Toowong Harriers facebook(Closed membership) for further information.

As always don’t be afraid to drop me a line if you have any questions, get up and get moving, Stay Fit and Stay Fast!

Regards

Ross Anderson

President

Toowong Harriers Inc

www.toowongharriers.org.au