06.02.2009

Athletics fans in for triple treat this weekend

Athletics fans are in for a triple treat this weekend as competition heats up across the nation and around the globe.

Victoria will be seeking a hat trick of titles as the nation’s premier athletics state on Saturday afternoon in the third edition of the Australia Cup in Brisbane.

The next day, 92 of Australia’s best junior and senior distance runners will take their marks in Canberra to vie for places on the Australian team to contest the 37th World Cross Country Championships in Jordan at the end of March.
 
And across the globe in icy Boston, Beijing pole vault gold medallist Steve Hooker will be looking to pick up where he left off (6.01m) in New York last weekend, at the Boston Indoor Games on Sunday afternoon (AEDST).

2009 Australia Cup

State pride, bragging rights and a $25,000 prize purse will be up for grabs in the state-versus-state team match at the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre on Saturday.
 
Nine Beijing Olympians including dual race walk medallist Jared Tallent will be donning their state ensemble for the Australia Cup hit out - pole vaulter Alana Boyd (QLD), 400m runners Tamsyn Lewis (VIC), Sean Wroe (VIC) and Joel Milburn (NSW), walkers Adam Rutter (VIC), Claire Tallent (ACT/AIS) and Chris Erickson (VIC) and Tasmanian Donna MacFarlane, who will be tackling the women’s 1500m.
 
The most anticipated race on the schedule will be the men’s 400m, where Wroe, Milburn and rising star Kurt Mulcahy (ACT/AIS) will go head-to-head for the first time this season.
 
Competing over 200m, Wroe sliced two-hundredths of a second off his personal best in Hobart last week, clocking 21.13 secs. Milburn had his first hit out of the year in Sydney on January 10, posting 21.20 over 200m and 46.69 over 400m, whilst Mulcahy holds the second-fastest 400m time in Australia this year with 46.57.
 
This Saturday’s race will be a quality test to see where all three one-lappers are at ahead of their showdown with American star Xavier ‘X-Man’ Carter over 400m at the Sydney Track Classic on February 28.
 
Nigerian-born Anthony Alozie and ACT young gun Melissa Breen are the in-form sprinters of the summer, and if the conditions are right have every chance of posting a fast time in the blue-riband event.
 
Last month Alozie, who has now received Australian citizenship, ran a wind-assisted time of 10.16 and last Friday night defeated a quality field in Hobart in a time of 10.29. Flying the flag for Victoria, he will take on Queensland’s Matt Davies and Jump Start to London sprinter Jacob Groth (NSW).
 
Eighteen-year-old Breen was awarded the much sought after crown of ‘fastest woman in Australia’ last year with her brilliant personal best performances over 100m (11.33) and 200m (23.52). After an extended period of solid training at home in Canberra, she will be chomping at the bit to put some quality runs on the board.
 
The men’s long jump will also be an entertaining affair, a battle which is likely to go down to the wire between world youth champion Chris Noffke, John Thornell (ACT/AIS) and Queensland’s rising star Mitchell Watt.
 
Also keep an eye out for Justin Merlino (NSW) in the 100m hurdles, Josh Ross (VIC) and Aaron Rouge-Serret (VIC) in the men’s 100m B race, and a host of emerging stars ready to make their mark on the Australian athletics scene.
 
2009 Australia Cup
Saturday February 7, 2009
Time: 4PM
Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre, Brisbane
Entry is free so be there to support your state!

World Cross Country Selection Trials

Olympians Collis Birmingham, Lee Troop and Lisa Weightman will headline the world cross country trials at Stromlo Forest Park, Canberra on Sunday.

Read the full event preview here.
 
Australian Selection Trials for the 2009 World Cross Country Championships
Sunday February 8, 2009
Time: Various, commencing at 7:30AM
Stromlo Forest Park, Canberra

2009 Boston Indoor Games

Boston Indoor Games organisers are so keen to see Olympic champion Steve Hooker continue his formidable winning streak they’ve disassembled the elevated pole vault runway used in New York last weekend and have trucked it over to Boston.
 
Hooker opened his 2009 campaign on the best possible note in New York, posting a new personal best (6.01m) and clearing the magical six metre mark for the second time in his career at the 102nd Millrose Games.
 
For the first time in his career, Hooker also had three quality attempts at Sergey Bubka’s long standing world indoor record of 6.15m, set back in 1993.
 
The consistency of jumping on the same runway two weeks in a row might be enough to give Hooker another shot at 6.16m in Boston.
 
The 14th-annual Reebok Boston Indoor Games, the second stop in USA Track & Field's Visa Championship Series, will be held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Centre, scheduled for late morning AEDST on Sunday, February 8.

Also competing for Australia are Sally McLellan (60m), Paul Burgess (pole vault), Sarah Jamieson (mile), Erica Fountain (mile) and Vicky Parnov (pole vault).

Event information and live results can be found here.