Croydon Masters Athletics

Greetings all. Thanks to everyone who came to the track last Tuesday, once again we had a great attendance and plenty contesting all our events. The main event being the final of our inaugural 120m sprint handicap about which a good deal has already been posted. We congratulate all eight finalists and especially our champion for 2026, John Cherubin. Overall, the most pleasing aspect was the participation of so many of our members, many of whom are not often seen in the sprints. The plan is to make this an annual event so have your sprint shoes ready this time next year.
The second of our annual winter series events begins this Tuesday with round one of the 3000m age graded challenge. This will be run over the next three weeks with a 3000m run concluding each program and age graded percentages applied to each participant’s performance. The eventual winner will be the athlete with the highest aggregate percentage after three rounds. It would be great to get as many involved as possible, including other venue regulars. There might even be some sprinters who are keen to tackle 7 1/2 laps.
Huge thanks to our unprompted helpers each week who make running the venue so much easier. Les Clarke is likely to be absent more often than not during the winter so we’ll work on having to have a different results recorder each week.
Next Tuesday, 7/12, our program is:
-1500m walk.
-90 m sprint.
-1300m NOT.
-350m NOT.
-3000m A.G. Trophy rd 1.
See you there,
Cheers, Grant.

Hi all. Just received the sad news that masters legend, Glad Wishart, has passed away. I’ll endeavour to get details of the service and pass it on to everyone.

Our place getters from the 120m h’cap final. Winner, John Cherubin, in the centre flanked by 2nd place , Geoff Arnott, on his right and 3rd place, Russell Oakley to his left.

The 120m gift finalists muster for the start. Left to right: John Cherubin, Allan Wood, Colin Williams, Russell Oakley, Geoff Arnott, Andrew Arnott, Jess Dux and Matt Kofi.

Here it is folks, the finalists for the 120m sprint handicap final on Tuesday. Handicaps in Brackets.
Lane 1-Russell Oakley (37)
2-Allan Wood (48)
3-Jess Dux (14)
4-Colin Williams (34)
5-Andrew Arnott (10)
6-John Cherubin (41)
7-Barry Murley (45)
8-Geoff Arnott (37)
Reserve-Matt Kofi (8). We’ve made some minor adjustments to handicaps which should see a nail biting 8 way photo finish!
We will run the final in the main straight, adjacent to Norton rd, to utilise 8 lanes.
Good luck to all.

Greetings all. Firstly, well done to our Socceroos, only a nil all draw but it’s enough to get through so a few more early mornings beckon.
Meanwhile, back on home turf, another premier athletic event will be taking place on Tuesday. The final of our 120m sprint handicap will see the culmination of three weeks of preliminary rounds which saw a total of 22 athletes run at least once and 14 contest all three. A huge thanks to everyone at Croydon for getting into the spirit of the event and supporting this inaugural initiative. Particularly those who normally baulk at sprinting but stepped up to have a go anyway. A few of whom have surprised and impressed everyone including themselves. Final participants list to follow. All our other events continue to be well patronised each week and I’m sure I’m not the only one seeing considerable improvement from most of our regulars over the different events.
A nod to Liz for stepping into the role of results recorder in the absence of both Les and Phyllis, as well as arranging the food.
Next Tuesday, 30/6, our program is:
-2x2x400m walk relay.
-120m h’cap sprint final.
-600m NOT.
-200m sprint.
-5km run/2200m walk NOT.
See you there.
Cheers, Grant.

Heats of 120m sprint handicap for Tuesday 23/6. Handicaps in brackets.
Heat 1.
Lane 2-Ron Smith (60)
4-Kathie Williamson(45)
5-Barry Murley (46)
6-Allan Wood (50)
7-Annemarie Lee(44)
Heat 2
Lane 2-John Cherubin (42)
3-Colin Williams (34)
4-Geoff Arnott (35)
5-Russell Oakley(35)
6-Andrew Egginton(19)
7-David Gorman (37)
Heat 3
Lane 2-Chris Andonopoulos(16)
3-Jess Dux (14)
4-Andrew Arnott (10)
5-Matt Kofi (7)
6-Ryder Dux (10)
7- Grant Murfett (0)
As before, if anyone who hasn’t yet run but wishes to, we’ll find a lane for you.
Special thanks to Paul Durrant for recording each of the heats and to Cec and Gary for the finish line recording. Good luck everyone.
Grant.

Greetings all. Thanks to those who came to the Dorset Gardens hotel on Friday night. A good time had by all and plenty of good food too. Perhaps a bit too much in my case.
We had another successful night on the track last Tuesday, again with good numbers and plenty of volunteers helping out. Our second round of the 120m handicap saw much closer finishes in the three heats after we refined the handicaps. Round three takes place this Tuesday after which our seven finalists will be decided for the following week. I’ll post the heats separately here.
Les Clarke is taking a holiday to visit family so will be absent this week as will Phyllis Gosbell who will be celebrating a significant family birthday, best wishes to both Les and Phyllis. We’ll need a results recorder for the night if someone is free.
Our program for Tuesday, 23/6, is:
-1400m walk NOT.
-120m sprint hcp rd 3.
-1000m run
-40 secs NOSP.
-3km run/1km walk.
See you there,
Cheers, Grant.

Greetings all. Andrew Egginton has booked us in at the Dorset Gardens hotel for 6.30pm tomorrow (Friday).
See you there. 😀