The Sydney University Athletics Club (SUAC) started 2014 in the best possible way, winning its third consecutive Open title at the Treloar Shield (formerly Club premiership).
The eight week competition, which is held across a variety of venues throughout NSW, saw SUAC take out the Open (senior) Pennant in dominant fashion beating home second placed UTS Norths by more than 800 points. A score of 400 points would win most single rounds of the competition.
It was a big team effort for SUAC, with more than 70 athletes scoring points for the club over the course of the competition.
The biggest contributors included SUSF Elite Athlete Program (EAP) scholarship holders Jacqui Fry (Bachelor of Health Science), Ella Nelson (Bachelor of Arts) and Emily Duve (Bachelor of Political Economy & Social Sciences) in the women’s competition, while the field events cartel of Andrew Giltrap (Bachelor of Philosophy), Matthew Mountford (Bachelor Chemical Engineering / Bachelor Science) and Miles Cole-Clark (Bachelor of Science) scored the big points for the men’s team. Giltrap’s contribution was so large that had he competed just on his own he would have finished 15th out of the 40 participating clubs.
In other news, Brendon Reading walked a phenomenal 20km walk last weekend to win an invitational race walk held in conjunction with the Australian 50km Walk Championships.
Reading beat home Olympic medallist Jarred Tallent and Australian Olympic representative Chris Erickson. The performance was a big personal best, a club record and a qualifying time for Reading to compete at the World Race Walking Cup.
On the same weekend Nicola Fagan won the NSW 10,000 Walking Championship. Fagan will next contest the Australian Championships in Hobart on Feb 1.
This weekend sees SUAC compete at the NSW Club Championships, a two day event incorporating all Olympic events. SUAC are the defending champions in this event in both men’s and women’s categories and look to be well and truly in the mix to defend their title.
