Nowra Athletics Club in fine form at NSW Relay Championships

Nowra had 29 teams travel to the Campbelltown Athletics Centre which is believed to be close to a club record of participating teams.

It was a strong showcase of athletic competition over the two day event with Nowra making their presence felt against the much bigger city clubs as they claimed a total of 14 medals, a massive achievement for a small regional club.

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The local athletes secured three gold medals, four silver medals and seven bronze medals.

Despite some tough circumstances thrown their way, the women's shotput team made up of Mel Jennings, Katrina Ward, Mel Mustapic and Darlene Musgrove put together a complete performance to take home the silver medal with a combined distance of 25.07m.

The 4x200m unit of Loretta Norris, Katrina Ward, Jo Higgins and Erin Smart also secured a medal finish as they were able to snatch bronze in a time of 1.57.34.

Ward, Higgins and Smart then backed it up in the 4x800m team, joined this time by Cathleen Chang. The unit ran a strong race to take home silver in 11.33.89.

The men's U18 4x800m had a great race and finished third to take the bronze medal. Will Dyball, Cooper Barrett, Toby Dyball and Harrison Baxter ran a combined time of 8.25.97.

The masters men team of Mark Thirwall, Gavin Dyball, Marcus Baxter and Katrina Ward dug deep in the 4x800m 160+ event and took a bronze medal in 10.10.04.

In the mixed relays, Loretta Norris, Mark O'Leary, Paul Musgrove and Erin Smart combined to add another bronze medal to the Nowra tally.

Unfortunately as Paul Musgrove finished his leg of the race, he suffered an injury and just managed to pass the baton to Erin before then having to use a wheelchair to leave the track.

On Sunday, the under 16 boys of Toby Dyball, Nic McGill, Cameron Baxter and Oliver Baxter put in a strong performance to take the bronze medal in the 800m in 9.19.34.

In the field, the masters women combination of Mel Jennings, Leanne O'Leary, Tori Sayer and Mel Mustapic not only speared a gold medal in the 160+ javelin they also claimed a new javelin record for the Championships with a combined measurement tally of 80.22m.

Like the annual 4x100m Country Championships relay challenge, the men's 800m also had an A and B team challenge on the track. Both teams put in solid performances and the race commentary described how closely contested both teams were and praised the depth of the competition at Nowra.

In the end, it was the B team of Glen Mustapic, Mark O'Leary, Marcus Baxter and Harry Davis who took out the challenge and the silver medal whilst the A team of Matt Watson, Erin Smart, Geoff Crook and Gavin Dyball were relegated to third place for the bronze medal. The difference between the two teams was less than 4 seconds, with the B team clocking 11.56.10 and the A team clocking 11.59.48.

The men's 4x800m under 18 team of Cooper Barrett, Toby Dyball, Will Dyball and Harrison Baxter ran well to take the bronze medal in 4.24.11.

The men's 4x400m 160+ team dominated the field, taking a convincing win. Matt Reid made the 400m look easy, striding it out and setting the team up for an early lead. Erin Smart then continued this lead with another great lap. Marcus Baxter and Harry Davis both gave it everything they had to retain the lead and bring the race home for that gold medal in 4.24.11.

They finished ahead of Ryde Athletics who crossed in 4.37.53 and Hornsby who clocked 4.38.17.

The combination of Will Dyball, Harrison Baxter, Cooper Barrett and Nic McGill earned a silver medal in the Under 18 1500m. The boys completed the event in 18.44.36, running in 2nd behind a very strong Randwick Botany team who clocked 17:28.02.

In the last race on the program for Nowra, the 160+ 1500m, the masters men added a final gold medal to the weekend's haul. Gavin Dyball, Marcus Baxter, Harry Davis and Matt Watson again had the ANSW commentary team applauding the participation and competition level of Nowra athletes, and an out-of-breath Matt Watson was interviewed after the race to comment on the success of the Nowra Club.

It was the perfect ending to a strong outing by the Nowra Athletics Club.