The NSW Relay Championships are the largest and most successful relay event in Australia with teams from all over NSW, so for a small country club like Nowra to field so many teams was a testament to the passion and commitment of our club members.
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The relays were hotly contested featuring a large line-up of international representatives such as Commonwealth Games representatives Alex Hulley, Nick Hough and Michelle Jenneke. Our Nowra athletes did themselves proud with some personal best times, lots of laughter and team spirit and even a couple of medals.
Our athletes also embraced the opportunity to make new friendships with our fellow competitors at Illawarra Blue Stars (IBS) and here our combined efforts resulted in several medals.
Erin Smart was our very own star when she joined Illawarra athletes in three events. Erin stepped up to run in the men’s 200 plus 4x400m relay and ran a super-fast 400 to assist the boys to a silver medal. In the 4x200m 160+ relay Erin and the Illawarra girls won a bronze medal. Erin also ran in the 4x100m event. It was great to see our athletes from the two clubs welcoming and supporting each other.
Emerson Brian and Lachlan Kaszonyi also teamed up with Illawarra Blue Stars in the 4x200m and won silver. The boys were deservedly elated! Our Nowra “boys” speared a silver medal in the 160+ javelin event. Steve Thomson, Mark O’Leary, Kane Barrett and Geoff Crook combined to throw a total of 112.46m to take second place.
This came off the back of the shot put relay the previous day where the boys Steve Thomson, Kane Barrett, Carl Heidke and Scott Johnson were unlucky to miss out on a medal when one of Kane’s huge throws was given a “foul” call. These teams certainly demonstrated what it takes to be “a good sport” and have fun with the competition with Mark volunteering himself for the javelin team after a scratching earlier in the week, and Club President Scott Johnson being told by the relay organisers the night before (aka Darlene & Mel) that he’d been entered in the shot team to fill a vacated space, and as President he had no choice but to answer the call of duty! The boys ended up missing out on a medal by just 15mm.
The masters men had some more fun on the track with Perry Strand, Pete Berry and Marcus Baxter joining Scott Johnson in the 4x1500m. Marcus led the runners for the first couple of laps, setting the early pace. He passed the baton to Perry who ran as fast as he could in order to “get beer and ice-cream at the end” (sadly he was disappointed not to get any). Pete Berry took the third leg with a calm confidence and Scott brought the relay home, getting passed in the closing strides on the home straight by a young faced runner who did not look like he belonged in the 160+ race.