State Multi’s Recap
Hills Little A’s had 20 families attend this years State Multi’s, and about half attending the carnival for the first time. Most left Sydney in rain on Friday afternoon which didn’t abate on the journey to Cessnock. The drive by that evening of the running track at Aberdare saw water pooling in the throws and long jump pits, lanes 1 and 2 were under water in sections. We were advised earlier that State Multi’s would go on rain, hail or shine so we headed to the ground on Saturday morning to see that overnight conditions had improved and the carnival started around 9:30 a.m. after some remedial measures by Cessnock Little A’s team to clear any water. Trainers and sports shoes were replaced by thongs, wellingtons and bare feet as the mud started to creep up your legs as you hopped across dry spots whilst walking to our events and Long Jump duty, and by Saturday afternoon the local stores sold out of wellingtons, gumboots and rubber shoes. From our vantage point under the marquees and gazebo we had a great view of the field and a contest developed to see who could have the cleanest feet for the longest. After a couple of light showers on Saturday morning we didn’t see any rain for the remainder of the weekend. As it is a multi’s event age groups were finishing at different times during the day, those that finished early had a chance to head back to the motel, clean up and relax before a team dinner that evening in the Potters Brewery Restaurant, we had 60+ in attendance and had a section to ourselves. The older athletes looked after the younger one’s whilst the parents enjoyed their meal and chatted. Karaoke kicked off in the bar next to the restaurant with the “Hills Hotties” reforming with some new members to knock out a JPY hit, others with stamina held out to the wee hours gassing on.
Sunday was a complete contrast to Saturday with blue sky, hats and sunscreen needed as the temperature got into the 30’s, which helped dry out the track and muddy sections. Little A’s State Multi event converts your running times and distance to points, after each round new points are tallied and leadership positions change as athletes tend to have a preferred event which can elevate them. Each age group finishes with a pack start or 800m, often it is the result of this event that makes a difference to who finishes in the Top 8 and we had a few athletes pull out the big runs and achieve a personal best.
Well done to all the athletes that competed, Top 8 placegetters for Hills were Tiana Death U12G, Emma Ralphs & Anja Kolodziej U14G, Daisy Bryant U15G, and Matthew Collins U17B. The LANSW have published all the carnival results, please click here.
Next year the LANSW State Multi will be held the first weekend in March in Orange.
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