Australian Masters Championships 2019 in Melbourne

So after my first Stawell Gift experience it was a drive back to Melbourne and 4 days rest to get ready for Australian Masters T&F Championships at Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne. I needed some rest to recover from Stawell runs but more from the driving. My right hamstring did not enjoy the drives in and out of Stawell plus stop and start drive into Melbourne due to the traffic on the last day of their school holidays.

The way the meet had been arranged, with all the sprints and relays in 3 days, I was potentially looking at 11 races. Heats & finals in the 60, 100, 200 & 400, a 4 * 100 & 4 * 400 relay plus the sprint champions final if I could make it.  Luckily this was the last meet of the season.

Not only were the number of competitors very good in the M45 age group (28 entered for the 100m) but the standard was high as well. The body held up well but I did take the conservative decision to drop the 400m and save myself for later races. Unfortunately the warm weather disappeared and we had mid teens temps during the day with cold winds and occasional rain. At least the winds were tail.

The meet was well organised with events pretty much to time. The live streaming was great and the post race interviews were a nice touch. The standard of competition across the ages was really high and sometimes it was just fun to sit in the stands and watch. Full results at http://www.australianmastersathletics.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Results-Booklet-FINAL-with-pentathlons_compressed.pdf

Results

Event Videos

I was very happy with my results, but I was still want a win in the sprint champions race. It was a great way to finish what had been a good summer.  But now it’s time for a break and then start thinking about the next summer and Toronto 2020.