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Matt Shirvington completed his first 100m race since the lead-up to the 2005 Helsinki World Championships and demonstrated that the he remains a contender for a 100m spot at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Racing in interclub competition at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra last night, the five-time national 100m champion ran the 100m twice in a bid to record a Commonwealth Games qualifying time. In the opening race he clocked 10.43sec and followed up 20 minutes later with a wind assisted (+3.5mps) 10.28sec.
The 'A' standard for the Games is 10.21 seconds and the 'B' standard 10.35. To date only Patrick Johnson as recorded the A standard, with dual national champion Joshua Ross, and Athens Olympians Adam Miller and Adam Basil all dipping under the B standard.
It was Shirvington’s first completed race since returning from his base in London - he lined up in the National Series meeting in Perth last month but was disqualified after two false starts.
After the race, he told the Canberra Times, "I would have liked to have done a legal run, but to be running fast again, or that sort of fast, it's been a long time."
"At the moment, all the indicators are there for each section, but I just can't put it together," he said.
He plans to return to Canberra next Tuesday to compete in another interclub meeting before the NSW Championships next weekend.
It was a good night for long jumping with Queenslander Jacinta Boyd leaping a personal best 6.64m, easily bettering the A qualifying of 6.55m. Jacinta’s sister Alana has already cleared the A standard in the pole vault – which will please their parents Ray and Denise Boyd who both have Commonwealth Games gold medals on the mantelpiece at home. Ray in the pole vault in 1982 and Denise in the 200m in 1978.
AIS athlete Kerrie Taurima and Lisa Morrison, from Sydney, both jumped over the B qualifying distance of 6.40m, recording jumps of 6.49m and 6.43m respectively.
Promising NSW distance runner Madeleine Heiner proved her move to the steeplechase was a wise one – clocking 9.57 to record an A-qualifier in an event that will make its Games debut in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, preparations continue for the Tasmania’s Forest Industries Graeme Briggs Memorial Track Classic to be staged at the Domain Athletic Centre Track in Hobart this Friday night (6 January) where Tasmania’s most talented athletes will have the chance to compete against many of Australia’s best, including world championship medallist Craig Mottram who will line up in the 1500m.
Donna MacFarlane’s successful return to the track after maternity leave will take a further step when she competes in the 1500 metres against her main rival for Commonwealth Games steeplechase selection, Victoria Mitchell (Vic), leading New South Wales athletes Emma Rilen and Emily Morris and the visiting Chinese runner, Lingling Zao, who when last in Australia in early 2005, won the Australian Youth Olympics title over that distance.
The women’s 800 metres was a late addition to the programme for Friday night but has drawn a strong entry including the two most likely contenders for spots at that distance in the Australian Commonwealth Games team, Victorians Libby Allen and World Youth Championships bronze medallist, Katherine Katsanevakis.
Virtually all the Commonwealth Games Team contenders will take part in the men’s 800m with the likes of Queenslander, Werner Botha, Sydney University pair Tom Richardson and Mark Abercromby and Cathy Freeman’s former training partner, Andrew Krumins will be hoping that the favourable evening conditions in Hobart can deliver them a time close to the Games selection standard of 1.46.20.
Two interesting competitors in the event will be New South Welshman Michael Barwick, whose father Stan, also a successful 800 metres runner, hails from Tasmania, and the emerging star Collis Birmingham, who has chosen to run the shorter distance in preference to his normal event, the 1500 metres.
But the 1500 metres will certainly not be without interest, drawing entries not only from Craig Mottram, but the exciting youngster, Jeremy Roff, who is considered by many to have a real chance to become a top class miler.
Grant Page (Northern Suburbs) will finally have his chance to record a fast time on his home track. Starved of opposition throughout the domestic season, Page should be ideally suited by the make-up of the field, which is dominated by athletes with marginally faster personal bests.
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