Hills District Athletics Club

On the 4th and 5th of July, the Gold Coast Marathon, and associated events were held. This has always been a successful and popular event for Hills Athletics runners, and this year was no exception. A look through the archives of old photos will definitely show that. From PBs to records, it looks like there was time for some fun too. The results were:

Marathon
- Matt Van Arkel: 2:44:32
- Andy Kotlar: 2:59:44 (10th Gold Coast Marathon)
- Dan Fernandes: 3:16:33 PB
- Jeff Knapp: 3:21:47 PB (top 10 in age category)
- Dave McEwan: 3:22:32 (1st in age category and NSW Masters age category record)
- Ming Fu: 3:35:00

Half Marathon
- Andy Kotlar: 1:23:11
- Steve Whelan: 2:27:04 (17th Gold Coast Half Marathon)

Double 63.3km (Combination of Half Marathon and Marathon Time)
- Andy Kotlar: 4:22:53 (1st in age category) *

5KM
- Andy Kotlar: 19:44
- Marcus Mingsong Fu: 26:14

*Andy Kotlar went in the Half Marathon and 5km on Saturday, then the Marathon on Sunday!

Congratulations everyone.

On 20th June, the NSW Cross Country Championships were held at the Willandra Cross Country Track in Nowra. On an incredibly challenging course, Hills District Senior Club had 11 runners and won 4 medals:

🥇Jeff Knapp, 60-64 Male, 8k
🥇Lisa Harrison, 60-64 Female, 6km
🥇Rosemary Roediger, 70-74 Female, 6km
🥉Jessica Filocamo, Open Female Para, 3km

4km
- Lily Golding, 16s Female, 18th/26

6km
- Cameron Bloem, 17s Male, 10th/30
- Sonya Clarke, U20 Female, 17th/25
- Chloe Grogan, U20 Female, 20th/25

8km
- Oliver Golding, U20 Male, 13th/23
- Daniel Cooper, 50-54 Male, 6th/7
- Paul Byleveld, 55-59 Male, 11th/14

The full results will be on the website in due course and, until such time, can be viewed here on the Skywalker Creative website: https://results.skywalkercreative.com.au/results.aspx?CId=20034&RId=6079

On 21st June there were a number of runners from Hills Athletics Senior Club who participated in the Parramatta Half Marathon. The new event, starting at O'Connell Street and finishing in CommBank Stadium, was both enjoyable and successful by all accounts. The results were:

- Andrew Kotlar: 1:24:16
- Tony Coles: 1:27:58
- Daniel Fernandes: 1:29:00
- Matt Van Arkel: 1:29:43 (90 minute pacer)
- Dave McEwan: 1:34:01
- Joal Taylor: 1:45:38
- Lily Bisazza: 1:49:22 PB
- Dennis Williams: 1:59:13
- Kim Coles: 2:06:57
- Helen Collins: 2:07:48
- Mark Gibson: 2:552:19

Congratulations everyone.

On 6th June, Kasey Wallace and Lisa Harrison competed in the Winter Track and Field Round 1 at Campbelltown. Here are some great pictures of Kasey but unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of Lisa.

Kasey Wallace
- 100m Open: 13.99
- Long Jump Open: 4.81m

Lisa Harrison
- 1000m 30+ Masters: 3:56.61

Congratulations to both

Training during the Winter Season is going very well. Despite it being colder and darker, we still have lots of fun. If you are interested in training, we are still going all year round. Please feel free to come to Alfred Henry Whaling Reserve on a Monday or Wednesday prior to 7pm or be in contact.

On 7th June, Di Kipp and Tony Williams took on the 27km at the Sapphire Coast Winter Sun Festival and finished in a little over 3 hours. For those not familiar, it is a challenging course of rugged terrain, coastal forests and stretches of sand. In addition, Di managed to finish as 3rd overall female. Both known to like a trail run or two, they completed 31km the very next day!

On 31st May, the Team Walks were held at Newington Armory, despite postponement of NSW Cross Country Relays. The Race Walkers have certainly been busy this season.

10k Open Race Walk
- Zoe Woods: 2nd in 50:22
- Sophie Polkinghorne: 3rd in 51:51
- Laelia Byatt: 4th in 55:03 (PB)

This formed the Gold Medal winning team- what an amazing trio! Congratulations Zoe, Sophie and Laelia.

The full results will be on the website in due course and, until such time, can be viewed here on the Athletics NSW website: https://athleticsnsw.anet.live/meets/74596

Thanks for the photos David Tarbotton

Following on from the last post about the Oceania Championships in Darwin, there was further success. Sophie Polkinghorne won a bronze medal in the U18 5000m Race Walk. This is one of multiple Australian Teams for Sophie this year having already competed at the World Athletics Race Walking Championships in Brazil. Congratulations Sophie.

From 18th-23rd May, the Oceania Championships were held in Darwin in The Northern Territory. It's a super impressive achievement to represent Australia and wear the green and gold. In addition, Vanessa Apel won a silver medal in High Jump with a distance of 1.80m. Congratulations Vanessa.