Sunday, October 5, 2008

2008 Australian Short Track Championships

The 2008 Australian Short Track Championships has been decided after some close racing between the 'young' masters and 'old' masters.

After some very tight racing, the overall classification was decided on count back after Frank Anderson and Herbie Labiche ended with the final same points.

The overall top 3 place getters were:
1st Frank Anderson
2nd Herbie Labiche
3rd Jim Lynch

Jim Lynch showed that he is just a freak of nature to be able to get back onto the ice, finish third in the nationals, break a world record and several Australian Masters records after just a few months back in training. Well done Jim, it was great to skate against you again. Commiserations to Herbie; I felt the same heartbreak last year after my disqualification in the 3000m final saw me finish second.

There was a strong display from Harry Spragg, known for his second place in the 1978 World Championship. Harry has been a strong skater over the years, having skated for Great Britain before moving to Australia. Harry made the A final of the 500m, and like Jim, this was after only a few months training.

The division welcomed newcomer Ryczard Jakowski whilst Marianne Reece and Alison Throssell skated again after a couple of years hiatus.

It was pleasing to see 11 masters entered this year and I know there were many more in the crowd who were thinking about pulling on the skates again for next year.

I would like to thank all the officials on behalf of the Masters for a great competition - it can be difficult at times to keep things on track, but you all did a great job - without you, there would be no competition.

I am hoping to have a copy of the protocol posted up here within the next couple of days, along with some videos. I will also post all the records that were broken over the weekend - I believe there was at least 10 records broken across all Masters age groups.
For now, I have attached a link to some photos from the Championships, mostly all from finals.

2008 Australian Short Track Championships - Masters

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the great coverage Frank - photos & report.

Congratulations to Frank, Herbie, Jim and all Australian masters.