ACHIEVING a qualifying mark for the Australian Junior titles to be run in March will be the goal for many athletes at this weekend’s Victorian multi-event titles at the La Trobe University Bendigo athletics complex in Flora Hill.
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The two-day titles incorporate the Australian Masters multi-event championships.
First events will be run at 1.30pm this afternoon when the hurdles are on.
The meet involves the 10-event decathlon; seven-discipline heptathlon; or five-event pentathlon across various age groups.
Athletics Bendigo clubs are well represented on home turf at the Retreat Road complex.
Eaglehawk clubmates Rebekah Lock, Morgan Power and Carlie Whitford are in the six-athlete field in the under-18 girls’ heptathlon.
Visitors to watch include Tim McGrath from New South Wales in the 50-plus decathlon.
Wodonga’s Greg Simpson is also in the 50-plus class.
A top performer at last month’s Athletics Bendigo multi-event titles, Wodonga’s Don Chambers will contest the 75-plus decathlon.
The Kangaroo Flat-based Pryse brothers, Blake and Jemuel have put in many hours training for these titles.
Blake is in the under-18 boys’ decathlon against South Bendigo’s Joseph Pickthall, Box Hill’s William Seton, and KSB’s Scott Sidley.
Pryse’s form on the athletics track in 2011-12 earned the Cyril Michelsen Trust Fund award in the bankmecu-backed Bendigo Advertiser-WIN Television Sports Star of the Year award.
It will be an all-Bendigo duel in the masters 35-plus decathlon as Bendigo Harriers’ Brett Gilligan and South Bendigo’s Chris Timewell show their all-round skill.
Eaglehawk’s Toni Phillips is in the 40-plus heptathlon.
Bendigo Harriers’ clubmates Jemuel Pryse and Declan Rochford had a great battle in the AB championships and will do so again in the under-16 heptathlon. Their opponents include Wodonga’s Mitchell O’Neill, and Harry Blackburn from Knox.
Contenders in the under-20 decathlon include David Thomson from Knox, and Richmond’s Liam Dell, who competed at the Athletics Bendigo titles.
Richmond’s Tony Dell will compete in the 45-plus decathlon.
The under-16 girls’ heptathlon field includes Wendouree’s Ashlee Bylsma, and Wodonga’s Brandy Galvin.
Queensland’s Vasyl Shuter and Peter Kennedy will compete in the 60-plus and 65-plus decathlons.
Tomorrow’s events start at 10am.
