When we first started penning this webpage a couple of years back, our match reports were often a record of managerial frustrations, of missed opportunities and of furtive attempts to instil competing at State League as a routine folks should get into. Well haven't times changed?

We are now half way through the home and away rounds of the 2000-2001 season and the reports are all about good news, victories and PBs, National Records and debuts from exciting new athletes.

So with no further ado, let's see what Matt and Jussie have to say about the chilly night we spent down Yarra Boulevard way:

Firstly, everyone's favourite head trauma victim, Matt Hanrahan:

On a good night for polar bears, the Bayside women's team managed to notch up their third win in a row and cement ourselves as real finals contenders. Dreaming of souvlakis and warm jumpers, the management found that the team pretty much runs itself these days. Credit should go to all the girls for this as everybody is becoming very good at letting us know their availability for competitions.

To keep warm, everyone was yelling at their best and there was a lot to yell about. Gabrielle Neighbour was yelling the loudest over in Yarra Park where she broke the National U18 Record in the hammer, hurling the metal ball 55.77 metres on her third attempt. Not a bad Thursday nights work. We could not wipe the smile off her face (or ours) for the rest of the night. Bec Neilsen won the shot and was third in the discus whilst Andrea Aspris won her Javelin to take maximum points.

Karin Laidlaw was also smiling after running a 3 second PB in the 400mh, running 66.41 and then running another pb in the short hurdles and helping out in the 4x400. Our distance girls were also smiling as both Katie Seibold (17min 40.5) and Kate Harris (17min 53.9) ran pbs in the 5k.

Sarah Dosen showed her dominance by winning the Long Jump and the Sprint hurdles into a significant headwind. Sarah also broke the meeting record in Adelaide on the weekend over the 100m hurdles and is obviously in great form.

Over in the very hazardous high jump torture pit (I only say that cos it cost me six stitches in my head last Saturday), Tess Densley jumped a very solid 1.70 metres and just missed 1.75 on her second attempt, whilst Emily Ryan provides us with great depth, jumping 1.55 metres by invitation.

Shirley Hay again topped her competition in the 3k walk and will definitely have some help after Christmas. In the 200 metres, Tamsyn Lewis competed for us for the first time this season, but was only our second string runner as Sandie Richards again showed her superiority running a very casual 24 seconds, with Claire Gough providing our third runner. Sandie injured herself slightly in the sprint home and had to pull out of the 800, which was a shame, however we were adequately covered by Tara Gleeson and Sue Piper who made her debut for Bayside. These are the events where it is great to see Bayside fill positions as early on in the season these places went idle.

Finally, we again filled a 4x400 relay with Claire Gough, Karin Laidlaw, Tamsyn Lewis and Tara Gleeson putting in a very creditable performance, running about 4 minutes flat. Only rough splits available as none of us can count over 10. So, another day, another win for the girls.

As for the housekeeping stuff, here are a few things to note:

Entry forms for the Vic Champs (under age), multi events and relays close Thursday next week. Don't miss out. See most of your local clubs for forms, or just turn up to the AV office and hand over your money.

First round back is at Geelong (Saturday 13 Jan) and we will need help with transportation of our dedicated athletes. Hot Air Balloons wanted. More info to come, but if you know now that you will have troubles getting there, please let us know now.

Hope you all keep training hard over the break and enjoy the festive activities. See you in 2001

The less clumsy Hanrahan had this to say about the blokes' night:

Five rounds, five wins - no wonder the souvlaki at Zorbas tasted good last night! As we enter the Christmas season it is nice to know that we have a great level of enthusiasm in the team and plenty of capable athletes waiting to get a spot in the team. So to the nights events... The wafting of extreme odours suggested that Dave McCaffrey had another hot date. As this season goes, you can also assume that he had another victory in the javelin. Only Andrew Martin, an Olympian, looks like he can take on Dave in the jav at this point, but with Stussy sales abounding, no one looks likely to overtake his early lead in the fashion stakes. No 400m hurdlers!! Shock, horror. And we still win easily. Go figure... The 200 saw our "old" athlete, Justin Lewis (at about 25yo) run well again, beating everyone but Paul Pearce while Carl Morehouse and Aiden Schannsema brought the average age down to an absurd level - this coming from a dude who had another birthday this week. "Mr Bayside", Jason Hinkin, cleared a height this week and scored an easy 10 points in a star-studded field. It must the relief that the US election shenanigans were winding down that meant he was able to get focussed. The Hammer, Shot & Disc saw Cameron and Matt score the usual mass of points. Special thanks must goes to Hans for organising the hammer competition and Matt Brown for throwing shot each week despite it not being his favourite event. Hopefully we can take some of this pressure off after the break. Our international traveller, Simon Baker was back from his "not a junket" journey to Monaco (among other places) and despite his declaration that his performance was a personal worst, his efforts are just so valuable to the team. A big thanks to Simon. The sprint hurdlers did what sprint hurdlers for Bayside do - namely run one/two and pick up a heap of points. Matt Woodruff did what he does best and won the Long, even if his jump may have been a little down on what was a bumper competition at Glenhuntly last Saturday. Anth and Paul ran very wise 5000m races and were rewarded with personal bests. Paul made a great debut and the fact that he could hardly hold his souva up suggested that he had given it everything he had during the race. "Go Brenno" was yelled out in abundance last night as he made it two wins in a row in the 800, this one by a very small margin and then brought a talented team home in the 4x400. Rob Garland ran well after missing a trip to Adelaide due to illness and Todd Andrews made his point-scoring debut at State League. Thanks to everyone for a great first half and I will be ringing around in the New Year to get a full team down to Geelong. It is a great day down there and everyone should do their best to enjoy it. Cheers Justin PS: Finally a note of thanks should go to Efim Shuravetsky who retired as a full-time coach this week. Efim has helped many of our athletes develop over the years and has been a regular face around Melbourne aths for many years. Thanks Efim.

So the next State League is Jan.13 down in Geelong, the Men's team has cemented itself in top spot, the women are cosily situated second on their ladder, and there are only 9 days left to buy all of us at Bayside Headquarters Xmas presents... life is good...

Results are here.

Read last Round's report