Whether it be a chilly Thursday night at Olympic Park or a sunny day down Corio way, the Bayside steamroller keeps on keeping on. Let's see what our team managers had to say about their weekends.

The Women's team report by Matthew Hanrahan:

After fielding phonecalls all week from those who were unable to make the trip to either the Cheetham Salt Works or the Geelong round of State League, it was with much trepidation that we ventured down the incredibly safe Geelong Road for round 6 of competition. The traffic on the way down indicated that there would be in excess of 50,000 people there.

There weren't. Our team was looking sparse and management was secretly hoping for nuclear holocaust so we wouldn't have to compete. A lone 100 runner, a lone 400 runner, a lone 1500 runner, etc, etc meant that our chances of scoring points were slim.

But we won. Don't know how, but we did. Obviously everyone was having the same problems as us, and some fine performances and some even better team spirit enabled us to take the gold and ensure that Ian Thorpe is not the only one to be wooed by the major networks.

Jeanette Bowles started the day well, coming second in the Triple Jump, leaping consistently around the 11.20m mark. She also ran a great 100 hurdles later in the day in a touch over 16 seconds to win our competition. Sandie Richards again showed her class, easily winning the 100 in 11.90 with a pretty hefty tailwind.

Whilst we were unable to field a high jumper, all the other field events were covered and again our class shone through. Best of our throwers was probably Natasha De Neisse who threw over 39 metres to win the jav and is not far away from cracking the 40 metre mark. Rebecca Neilsen threw 12.70 metres in the shot to take the competition and also racked up the points in the discus.

Can't really comment on the hammer as it was running late and I had to get back to Melbourne for a swim, however, I have no reservations in saying that Gabrielle Neighbour would have won. Same goes with the Pole Vault where Rebecca Weisz was still flying high towards the end of the day.

Two solid performances from Katie Seibold who won her 1500 metres in difficult conditions in a time of 4.48 and Tara Gleeson in the 400, who looked a bit worse for wear after another sub 60 400 run.

But without doubt the highlight of the day was our crack relay team. I had been trying all week to get a relay team to run with Sandie who was looking for the extra run. You'd think it would be easy to find four folk who are interested in the short runs. Apparently not. The team ended up being Tara, Sandie, Jeannette and our new crack recruit Gabrielle Neighbour running the first relay of her life. Anchoring the team, she was so focussed at the end on talking with the Bayside crew, that she was unaware that she had to collect tickets or record in. Hopefully, the photos will turn out well and you'll be seeing them very soon.

Thank you to all for girls who did that little bit extra to score us some very valuable points.

Anyway, we're up again this Thursday, where it should be a little easier, with some of our regulars coming back and a few new folk looking for spots. Must say that I'm very glad I don't manage the Geelong team.

Men's report from Justin Hanrahan:

Another Saturday in January, another sunny day, another howling tail-wind...it must be Geelong.

The trip down the Princes Hwy is never easy and always slow (thanks to Matt and a plethora of bearded engineers) and yet getting there and finding a beautiful tailwind makes it all worthwhile.

The canteen had no dimsims and the pies were so-so, if it hadn't been for the high quality sausage rolls there may have been a rebellion from management. Fortunately, the choc-wedges were juuust right. One day the canteen lady may smile, but don't hold your breath.

As far as the team goes, the men looked pretty strong on paper and proved to be just that on the track and in the field.

Cameron Grant and Simon Baker were out early and doing their usual stuff. Cameron won the Hammer with 59.80m and nearly destroyed the cage on his last throw which later required some poor guy to scale the cage to remove the hammer lodged in the top corner. Simon walked his walk and despite finishing without his cap, performed well in the heat.

The 100s were run with said tail-wind and our guys ran well. Nfa (10.99) Brendan (11.01) and Stu (11.33) were up there with the best of them and Aiden ran a great race by invitation (11.20) to round out the day. Later the same four were to win the relay comfortably.

Kristian Noden debuted for Bayside in the triple jump and only a very close foul prevented a big opener. Still, 14.07 was easily good enough to win our comp and was in the top three for the day. Tommy Farr won the HJ with a huge 1.80 (it looked much higher) and Dave won the javelin (as he usually does, with 59.8?). Nick Baltas threw by invitation and showed good form first up, with a 61+ throw.

Jason Hinkin vaulted a solid 4.60 to win the vault while Matt Brown and Aaron Neighbour threw very well in the discus, 52.20 and 55.41 respectively. The flat infield at Geelong makes throwing much more enjoyable and probably indicates how poor some of the other venues are for these events.

Nfa and Aaron Peterson ran slick times for the 110mH and I believe it was the first time Aaron has been under 15.00. In the 400s, Brendan continued his top form and Stu and Rob ran well in pretty horrible conditions.

Lucas Tickell made his debut for Bayside in the 1500m and ran a strong third (again, in pretty windy conditions) after being "hung out to dry" behind the tearaway leader for more than three laps, meanwhile, after a couple of weeks at Falls Creek, Clint Perrett ran a solid 6th. Look out for some big improvements from these guys in the weeks to come.

Finally a note of thanks to all those athletes prepared to compete by invitation. As manager it is much easier (and I believe, fairer) if people wanting to challenge for a spot compete under the same conditions as the current representative when chasing a position for the next round. I will always do my best to select people on merit once this has occurred. Saturday was a good example (especially given the travel involved) and we appreciate the effort.

Results are here.

Read last Round's report