Mentone Athletics

🏆 Hunter Award - Best Junior Club Person

This award is based on overall contribution to the club - encouraging & supporting other team members and demonstrating team spirit.

🏆 The 2025/26 winner is Celestine Debargue-Tamai.

Celestine had another successful season as a distance runner for the club. She is always friendly and supportive and juggled training and competing while achieving an amazing year 12 ATAR score!
Congratulations Celestine!

🏆 2025/26 MASTERS AWARDS
This category acknowledging outstanding performances from out Masters athletes.

🏆 Anthony Holohan
🥇 1st at Discus at Victorian Championships

🏆 Dorn Jenkins
🔥 Regularly the highest points scorer at AVSL
✅ Recently broke the world record in the weight throw
🥇1st at Discus at Victorian Championships

💛🖤 Congratulations Dorn & Anthony!

💛🖤 XCR ROUND 3 - XC8 WRAP-UP

The longest road trip of the season saw a small but spirited Mentone team head north to Bendigo for what is currently considered the toughest challenge on the XCR calendar. A course featuring vineyards, deep gullies, uneven terrain and plenty of climbing ensured there was nowhere to hide, while alternating sunshine and rain added another layer of challenge. It was cross country in its purest form.

It was great to see such strong team spirit on show again with everyone having given their absolute all by the finish line. The team rose to the occasion.

🔥 Team highlights:
🥇1st for our men’s 40+ team (Travis Boyle, Aleksandr Ruda and Adam Barker)
👉🏼 4th for our women’s U16 team (Eliza Ayres and Teagan Smullen)
👉🏼 5th for our men’s division 1 team (Michael Kernahan, Sam Bunnage, Michael Tosin, Travis Boyle, Oliver Scott and Lachlan Fulton)
👉🏼 5th for our men’s U18 team (Louay Benaoum and Oliver Shaw)
👉🏼 5th for our men’s U14 (Denzel Santos)

🔥 Individual highlights:
🥇 1st for Travis Boyle in 45-49
🥈 2nd for Louay Benaoum in U18
🥉 3rd for Aleksandr Ruda in 40-44
👉🏼 12th for Michael Kernahan in open race
👉🏼 5th for Lily Lambert in U18
👉🏼 5th for Eliza Ayres in U16
👉🏼 6th for Adam Barker in 40-44
👉🏼 7th for Denzel Santos in U14
👉🏼 8th for Louise Shaw in 50-54
👉🏼 21st for Sam Bunnage in open race
👉🏼 37th for Michael Tosin in open race

From our biggest road trip to our local event in Cruden Farm, we are primed for a very strong showing at our home event in two weeks from now.

💛🖤 Go Mentone!

🏆 2025/26 Outstanding Performance Awards

🔥 This category acknowledges the outstanding performances from our open and under 20 athletes.

🏆 Haddi El Shorbagy
🥈 Victorian Championships - 2nd in javelin
👉🏼 Australian Championships - 5th in javelin

🏆 Michael Tosin
👉🏼 XCR - Consistent performances across the season.
✅ New Club record for the marathon

🏆 Michael Kernahan
👉🏼 XCR - Consistent performances across the season.
🇦🇺 Represented Australia in the World Mountain Running Championships

🏆 Seif El Shorbagy
👉🏼 Victorian Championships - 7th in shot put, 8th in javelin
👉🏼 Australian Championships - 17th in shot put and 19th in discus

🏆 Karen Haidar
👉🏼 Victorian Championships - 6th in the 800m
👉🏼 Competed in the A final at the Miler Club
Australian Championships - preliminary round

🏆 Sarah Hastings
👉🏼 Victorian Championships - U20 4th, 400m
👉🏼 Australian Championships - U20 400m SF

🏆 Sophie Cheep
👉🏼 Victorian Championships - U20 6th, 100m & 200m
🥈 Victorian Schools Championships U20 2nd 200m
👉🏼 Australian Championships - 23rd in 200m & 38th 100m

💛🖤 Congratulations to all these amazing athletes!

🏆 2025/26 Open & Junior Track & Field Champion
Based on outstanding results in AVSL, State, National & International Championship events.

🏆 Female Open Champion - Claudia Hollingsworth
🥇🥇🥈Australian Champion over 3,000m and 1,500m and runner-up in the 800m
🥇 Melbourne Track Classic winner over the 1,500m

🏆 Make Open Champion - Seth O’Donnell
🥇🥈🥈 Australian Champion over 10,000m and runner-up in the 5,000m and 3,000m
🥈Runner- up in the Melbourne Track Classic winner in the 5,000m

🏆 Female Junior Champion - Eliza Ayres
🥇 Victorian Champion U15 2,000m SC and 4th in the 3,000m
🥈Runner-up at the Australian Championships in the 2,000m SC

🏆 Male Junior Champion - Asher Buzza
🥇🥈Victorian Champion U14 400m, 2nd in the 1,500m and 5th in the 800m
🥉Victorian Schools Championships - 3rd in the U14 800m
🥉Australian Championships - 3rd in the U14 800m

💛🖤 Congratulations Claudia, Seth, Eliza & Asha!!!

🏆 Club Award Winners Season 2025/6

We recently held our club awards night. Thanks to everyone who came along. It was great to see so many of our athletes attend. Our first awards went to our XCX Champions.

🏆 2025!26 XCR CLUB CHAMPIONS
These awards are based on outstanding results in XCR, State, National & International Championship events.

🏆 XCR Open Champion (Male)- Sam Bunnage
Top athlete in 4 of the 10 XCR rounds. Competed in all 10 rounds of XCR. Congratulations Sam!

🏆 XCR Open Champion (Female) - Cassie Servadei
State XC Championships U16 (1st)
National XC Championships U16 (3rd)
Congratulations Cassie!

🏆 XCR Round 2, Jells park relays - Wrap-up!

🍁 It was once again time for the ever-popular Jells Park Relays, with the XCR season rolling on just six days after the fast racing at Lakeside. On a particularly warm late-Autumn afternoon, 36 Mentone athletes across 11 teams took on the twists and turns of Jells Park, continuing the strong momentum to start the season.

💛🖤 Strong team spirit was on full display, with plenty of encouragement given all the way around the course and Mentone colours never far away. It was exciting to welcome new member, Oliver Shaw to the team.

Some of the highlights were:
🥇 1st for our men’s U14 team (Sam Challis, Alby Phipps and Asher Buzza)
🥈 2nd for our men’s 40+ team (Billy Strachan, Adam Barker and Seunggil Hong)
👉🏼 4th for our women’s U18 team (Lily Baker, Tilly Harrison and Lily Lambert)- within 4 seconds of 3rd
👉🏼 4th for our men’s U20 team (Matthew Bergin, Alex Pizer-Di Ciero and Lachlan Fulton)
👉🏼 6th for our women’s U16 team (Eliza Ayres, Winter Foon and Teagan Smullen)
👉🏼 8th for our men’s Division 1 team (Michael Kernahan, Michael Tosin, Oliver Scott, Travis Boyle, Nikolaj Djordjevic and Sami Merhi)

🔥 Our fastest open runners were:
👉🏼 Michael Tosin, racing for the first time since his impressive 4th place finish at the Ballarat Marathon, who led the way with a speedy 19:05
👉🏼 Louise Shaw, who continues to fly the flag for our open women this year, running 30:16.

🔥 In the juniors we saw some lightning-quick runs.
🥉Lily Lambert recorded the 3rd quickest U18 leg of the day with her time of 11:01
🥉Sam Challis was the 3rd quickest in the U14s with his time of 10:22.
🔥 We also had several other top-10 performances in age groups across the day, including Alby Phipps (5th in U14s), Asher Buzza (6th in U14s), Lachlan Fulton (8th in U20s) and Eliza Ayres (9th in U16s).

It was a great day overall for the team, especially for some of our juniors and men’s 40+ team. We look forward to the next challenge ahead, which is always quite an adventure. Next round we travel to Bendigo for the short course cross country. Hopefully we can build on the momentum from this round with another strong showing there. Make sure to enter before next Wednesday (27th of May) at midday if you want to race!

🏆 AGM & Presentation Evening this Sunday!

📍Sunday (24th of May) is our AGM and annual presentations. This year we will be at Parkdale Bowl Club (Alameda Place, Parkdale).

🕓 4pm for the AGM.

🕔 5pm for Presentations.

Lawn bowls will be available for your amusement.

💛🖤 See you there!

🏆 XCR Round 1 Wrap-up

Round 1 of XCR saw the second running of the Lakeside 5. A round in which all athletes raced over 5km. On a perfect morning we saw some incredibly quick times run and countless personal bests in some of the deepest fields ever seen in Australia. This event is quickly becoming the race to do if you are aiming for a 5km pb.

The team had a solid turnout to open the season with some strong team results and standout individual performances too. We also welcomed 4 new members to the team.

🔥 Highlights:

🥈2nd for our men’s 40+ team (Travis Boyle, Adam Barker and Billy Strachan)
🥉3rd for men’s U14 team (Denzel Santos and Jess Gamble)
👉🏻 5th for men’s U20 team (Willem Duncan and Josh Keys)
👉🏻 6th for men’s division 5 (Kane Bradley, Josh Christieson, Mat Lorencak and Rohan Day)
👉🏻 6th for men’s U16 team (Marcel Incani and Calvin Sharp)
👉🏻 8th for women’s U16 team (Teagan Smullen and Winter Foon)


Some of the standout individual performances were:
🥇 1st for Travis Boyle in 45-49- 15:38
🔥 29th for Sam Albiston in open men’s race- 14:25 (only 7 seconds off open club record)
🔥 4th for Willem Duncan in U20- 15:23 (U18 club record)
🔥 4th for Marcel Incani in U16- 16:29
👉🏻 6th for Seunggil Hong in 45-49- 17:15
👉🏻 7th for Alisha Henderson om U14- 19:28
👉🏻 7th for Adam Barker in 40-44- 16:28
👉🏻 9th for Billy Strachan in 40-44- 16:42
👉🏻 10th for Aleksandr Ruda in 40-44- 17:06
👉🏻 10th for Louay Benaoum in U18- 15:54
👉🏻 12th for Lily Lambert in U18- 18:27

Overall it was a very strong effort from the team and great to see so many personal bests as a reward for the hard work everyone puts in.

The next round sees a return to relay action at Jells park where we are set for a strong turnout.

💛🖤 Go Mentone

💛🖤 AV bibs 1–20 are reserved for Victorians who have represented Australia at the highest level.
Congratulations to our own Seth & Claudia who have received bibs number 9 and 12 for this Season!

9: Claudia Hollingsworth (Mentone) is improving her record in a particularly strong era of female middle-distance running in Australian athletics. She travelled to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, and finished 19th in the 800m. Claudia showed outstanding 800m form throughout the season, including setting a new Victorian record. A National Championship gold medal in the 3000m at the Hobart Track Classic added to her growing resume.

12: Mentone’s Seth O’Donnell took his athletic performances to another level this season, finishing 26th in the 5000m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, and 45th in the World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, USA. The hard-working O’Donnell also found time to win gold in the 5000m at the National Championships in Perth, as well as winning a National title in the 10,000m in his home town of Melbourne – the Zatopek:10.