As the summer track and field season wraps up, the winter cross country season is soon to start, kicking offf with the Jamieson 5km at Scotch College on 10 April at 2.30pm - always a popular event to get the season rolling.

This season we will be putting a particular focus on a few of the big teams events, including the Dyson on 15 May. We will also be organising a few Sunday group runs to give people the opportunity to get out for a training run together every now and again at some of the best running spots in Melbourne. More details will follow, but for now, a reminder that the Winter Season Fixture is available here.

A good array of results at the Victorian Open Championships, including (if we have missed any, please let us know):
- Steve Cain: 100m (11.67), 400m (51.61) Discus (39.19), Pole Vault (4.60, 4th), Shot Put (13.55), 110H (15.38, 3rd), Javelin (58.68, 4th)
- Alex Rowe, 1:50.70 (2nd) in the 800m
- Regan Logan's PB of 4:37.92 in the women's 1500m for 5th place in the final, also 2:16.13 in the 800m
- Justin Rinaldi's 3:55.96 to make the final of the men's 1500m
- Mark De Luca: 4:04.20 in the 1500m, 1:57.74 in the 800
- Gerard Kerr, 53.05 in the 400m
- Chris Wilkinson, 53.34 in the 400m
- Eamon Lynch, 2:02.73 in the 800m

Full results are available here. By AV's points system we were 14th of the 38 clubs in Victoria who were represented in the Vic Championships - a very decent result.

Well done to all athletes, particularly the medallists, Steve and Alex.

Chris Bridge has won the Victorian Masters Games 5000m in the 35-39 age group, running 15:57.41. Well done Bridgey!

A big few days for SKAAC at the National Junior Championships in Sydney:

- in U17, Timas Harik won both the 800m (1:56.20) and 1500m (4:00.46);
- Alex Rowe won the U20 800m title in 1:49.31, to defend the title he won last year;
- Matthew Bertacco was 3rd in the U17 long jump in 6.80m, 4th in the U18 4x100m in 42.61, 7th in the U17 100m in 11.30 and 8th in the 200m in 23.30; and
- Anthony Aloisio was 8th in the U20 5000m in 15:34.77.

Congratulations to all 4 boys, their coaches and families - a really great result for the club to have genuine contenders in national finals from 100m and long jump to 1500m and 5000m.

Particular congratulations of course to the medallists, Timas, Alex and Matt. It is sensational for the club to have the Australian 800m champion in both U17 and U20 agegroups (not forgetting Timas' win in the 1500m too of course), continuing a great middle distance tradition at the club and a lot of promise for the years ahead!

The Richard Hope Tan Championship will be held on Saturday 13th March at 2pm. All athletes should meet at the Pillars of Wisdom (opposite the Swan Street Bridge) at 1:45pm.

This event is an ideal lead-up event to the winter season that commences on the 10th April. The calendar is available here.

Highlights package featuring Rowie's amazing run and an interview from the man himself after the race (courtesy of Athsvic TV):

It's looked like it was coming for a while, with very consistent running in the 1.49s and a new 400m PB last weekend. And tonight Alex Rowe has run a huge new 800m PB by 2 seconds in a time of 1:47.56.

To give some measure of comparison, the Australian U18 record is 1994 800m World Junior Champion Paul Byrne's 1:47.21, which is also the Victorian U18 and U19 record.

The time also takes Alex to #2 on the SKAAC all time list, surpassing Rob Fregon, Alex's own coach Justin Rinaldi and John Higham, leaving only Simon Lewin's National Championship winning 1:47.06 ahead of Alex on the list. Alex also now sits 5th in the Australian open age 800m rankings for 2010, #1 Victorian by over 2 seconds.

The race itself was also pretty sensational, being won by David Rudisha of Kenya, in the fastest 800m time ever run in Australia, of 1:43.15. Alex's time gave him 6th, just behind Lachlan Renshaw and just ahead of Nick Bromley. All the athletes ahead of Alex ran Commonwealth Games A or B qualifiers.

Video footage will be posted when available.