2015 Beijing world championships 5000m finalist Eloise Wellings will attempt to be the first women to win back-to-back Australian 10,000m titles on two separate occasions at Zatopek:10 next Saturday 5 December at Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park.

33 year-old Wellings claimed the national 10,000m track crown in 2009, 2010 and 2014, and will hope to replicate that outcome next Saturday night.

Zatopek:10 will double as the Rio 2016 Olympic Games selection trial for the 10,000m events and Wellings will be looking to go under the qualification standard of 32:15.00 minutes.

After a couple of weeks in Uganda, final preparations for Wellings will take place at Falls Creek before traveling to Melbourne to compete.

Great Britain 2010 Commonwealth Games 10,000m fourth placegetter Charlotte Purdue will be one of the international raiders in the mix for line honours.

After limited racing in 2013 and 2014, the 24-year-old has returned to the road and track in 2015 and will line up with a personal best of 32:03.25 over 10,000 metres

2015 City2Sea winner Makda Haji (Ethiopia) will be another at the front of the pack, pushing Wellings and Purdue after an average pace of 3.23 and time of 50:55 minutes at the 15km Melbourne road race, ahead of Glenhuntly distance runner Tarli Bird (53:15), who will also line up in the 10,000m at Zatopek:10 2015.

A bit of unknown will be New Zealander Camille Buscomb who steps up to the 10,000m track event. With a respectable personal best of 15:30.50 over 5000m in California at the start of 2015, Buscomb is one who may pull a surprise on the night.

2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games marathon representative Sarah Klein will also be in the mix along with pacers Melissa Duncan and Genevieve La Caze out to set up the race for Wellings and co.

In the men’s event 2014 Zatopek:10 winner Brett Robinson will return to Lakeside Stadium in a bid to raise the Zatopek bust for a second consecutive year.

The race will have a strong Melbourne Track Club flavour with Robinson joined by 2008 winner David McNeill and pace Luke Mathews.

Along with Wellings, Robinson, McNeill and Mathews have used Falls Creek as training base in the lead up to Zatopek and the start of the domestic summer track season.

On the international front US athlete Brian Shrader looks the most likely to cause trouble for the local runners. The former Northern Arizona All-American will follow in the footsteps of 2013 Zatopek:10 winner Sam Chelanga who won and was four spots ahead of Shrader at the US National 12k Championships earlier this month.

Essendon’s Mitchel Brown will head into the national 10,000m with confidence after an impressive win at the Victorian 5000m championships last week ahead of Knox up and coming talent Zak Patterson.

Brown will be joined by fellow Essendon and Glasgow 2014 marathon athlete Liam Adams, who backs up after a solid win at The City2Sea earlier this month in a time of 44.34 minutes.

New South Wales athlete Harry Summers is another who will be preparing to mix it with the front pack and have one eye on the clock and a sub 28 minutes time to claim a Rio 2016 Olympic qualification standard.

Highlights off the track will be Australia’s leading women pole vaulter Alana Boyd (Queensland) starting her summer season in the Steve Hooker Pole Vault challenge.

With Zatopek:10 sitting within the 2015 Australian All Schools Championships program there will be a number of support events including; the under-18 Swedish Relays, Victorian 100 yards championships, Gary Honey Long Jump Challenge and De Castella (men) and Ondieki (women) under-20 3000m events.

What: A celebration of Athletics featuring the Australian 10,000m Championships doubling as the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Selection Trial supported by our friends at Little Athletics Victoria and Athletics Australia.

• Rio 2016 Olympic Games Selection Policy: Download Here
• Zatopek:10 event information and timetable: Access here
• Zatopek:10 2015 event entry lists: Download Here

Where: Lakeside Stadium, Albert Park
When: Saturday 5 December 2015
Entry: Tickets at the Gate from5:30pm
Cost: $20

Social Media: #Zatopek10

AV Shield Round 5 competition was your last opportunity to post a ranking and be eligible for AV Knockout Round 1 on Sunday 13 December, 2015.

For AV Rankings and AV Knockout athletes will feature in their age group based on their D.O.B as at 31 December, 2016.

Entries for AV Knockout Round 1 close at 11:59pm on Sunday 29 November, 2015. No late or on the day entries will be accepted.

Draft Timetable: Download here (as of 17.11.2015)

AV Knockout Round 1 800m & 1500m events:

Please note that 800m and 1500m events have been incorporated into Victorian Milers Meet 2 on Tuesday 1 December, 2015 and entries close at 11:59pm on Wednesday 25 November, 2015. Read more here…

The 2015 Australian All Schools Track and Field Championships will return to Melbourne for the first time in five years and Victoria will welcome the rest of the nation with its biggest ever team of 222 athletes from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 December at Lakeside Stadium.

“To have the best school athletes from around the country head to Melbourne in December is great for athletics and there will be plenty of exciting competition,” Athletics Victoria CEO Glenn Turnor said.

“The Big V has a considerable task ahead of it, and hopefully we will build on  the success of previous years.”

2015 IAAF World Youth Championships representatives Ned Weatherly and Danielle Shaw will captain the Big V team made up of athletes from 136 Victorian schools.

A launch pad for a big summer of track and field, both Weatherly and Shaw will once again be focused on international competition and qualifying for next year’s 2016 IAAF World Junior Championships.

At the 2014 championships Weatherly threw a meet record of 79.03m in the hammer and, after taking bronze at the 2015 IAAF world youth championships in Cali, Colombia last July, Weatherly threw a Victorian under-18 record of 79.34m at this month’s 2015 Victorian All Schools Track and Field Championships.

At this year’s edition of the Australian All Schools Track and Field Championships, 11 gold medallists return to the Victorian team, including; Melvin Monleh (3 gold), Weatherly (2 gold), Liam Richardson T35 (2 gold), Maxine Paholek, Shaw, Eliza Clarke, Emma Berg (formerly NSW), Cooper Saunders, Bradley Bishop, Jemuel Pryse and Aaron Leferink.

The team will consist of nine para-athletes and includes Doha 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships representative Jaryd Clifford from St Helena Secondary College.

Maribyrnong College’s athletics program is paying dividends, the school will have the strongest student representation with 15 qualifying for the championships. Both Caulfield Grammar School and Frankston High School have seven students and Sacred Heart College – Geelong are next best, with six representatives.

Congratulations and good luck to all athletes that have qualified to represent the Big V on home soil this December.

2015 Victorian All Schools Track and Field Championships wrap: http://athsvic.org.au/generalnews/barber-clinches-2016-world-junior-standard-and-records-drop-at-victorian-all-schools-championships/

2015 Australian All Schools Track and Field Championships webpage: http://athsvic.org.au/event/2015-australian-all-schools-track-field-championships/

Full team list: 

In the final event on the track program at the 2015 Victorian All Schools Track & Field Championships Kardinia International College athlete Lachlan Barber clinched a 2016 world junior qualification standard of 1:49.30 in the 800m under 20 event at Lakeside Stadium on Sunday 8 November.

With only three athletes on the start line Barber turned the race into an individual time-trial and powered clear at the first bend to go under the qualifying time of 1:49.50 minutes.

2015 world youth hammer throw bronze medallist Ned Weatherly was at his best and showed early season form to eclipse his own Victorian record with a final attempt of 79.34m in the under 18 hammer throw competition.

After fouling his first two attempts Weatherly threw consistently with attempts of 74.97m, 76.42m, 74.12m before unleashing a distance 31 cm’s over the 2014 record of 79.03m.

Frankston High School athlete Lawson Power indicated he was in for a big season with line honours in his pet event the under 18 400m in a time of 47.79 seconds.

Breaking the 48 second barrier was cause for celebration on the finish line and Power is now 0.46 seconds outside the 2016 world junior qualification standard.

Power earlier in championship showed his speed to claim victory in the under 18 200m final, stopping the clock on 22.14 seconds ahead of Maribyrnong College sprinter Cosimo Mucci (22.53 sec).

Geelong College’s Oliver Courtnay had a championship to remember after claiming two Victorian records in the under 14 shot put and hammer throw.

Newhaven College thrower Raffael Laurins 1999 record of 17.86m in the shot put was passed by Courtnay with a throw of 18.03m on his first attempt. The next record to drop was Luther College’s Bejamin Voogd’s 2015 record of 47.98m, when Courtnay’s threw 52.61m on his final attempt.

Voogd’s finished the competition in silver with a mark of 47.15m and will no doubt be looking to reclaim his Victorian record.

More records broke in the field when under 14 Zoe Cunningham of Mentone Girls threw 40.28m in the hammer to beat Kianhna Evans 2014 record of 37.83m, Chloe Beovich of Huntingtower School produced a mark of 45.07m in the under 15 age group to record a Victorian record.

Maribyrnong College thrower Louise Mendes also added her name to the Victorian records list with a throw of 53.15m in the under 17 hammer competition.

Girton athlete Joseph Baldwin recorded a personal best clearance of 2.10m to win the under 18 high jump competition.

Baldwin surprised himself as he attempted the 2016 world junior qualification standard of 2.16m without success on the three attempts.

In the under 14 age group Salesian College athlete Lachlan Jorgensen was prominent on the medal podium across the weekend with gold in the 400m (53.72), javelin throw (41.65m) and 200m hurdles (29.27). Along with silver in the 100m (12.08), 200m (24.41), 90m hurdles (13.93) and high jump (1.65m).

Mooroolbark College sprinter Lateisha Willis was dominant in the under 16 age group with wins in the 100m (12.32 sec), 90 metre hurdles (13.06 sec) and 200m hurdles (28.76 sec).

Willis’s training partner and 2015 world youth championships representative Danielle Shaw has had a good start to the season with a convincing win in the under 18 100m hurdles, in a time of 13.99 seconds, and claimed bronze in the under 18 100m sprint final in 12.50 seconds.

The battle between Canterbury Girls Zoe Brito-Babapulle and Sacred Heart’s Heidi Demeo in the under 16 800m was one of the highlights of the championships with the later setting the pace early before Brito-Babapulle showed her turn of pace to kick on the home straight and stop the clock at 2:09.26 to take the victory ahead Demeo who finished in 2:10.18.

The 2015 Victorian All Schools Track and Field Championships attracted over 1,000 athletes and 2,200 event entries across the three days of competition at Lakeside Stadium.

Congratulations to all athletes that participated in the championships and a big thank you to the schools, officials and volunteers for making it such a great weekend of track and field.

Victoria will have a team of over 200 athletes compete at the 2015 Australian All Schools Track & Field Championships here in Melbourne from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 December at Lakeside Stadium.

The popular Zatopek:10 is being held on the evening of Saturday 5^th December , featuring the national 10,000m championships and 2016 Rio Olympic Games qualifiers, along with the exciting Victorian 4x400m relay finals.

For more information on the 2015 Australian All Schools Track & Field Championships visit: http://athsvic.org.au/event/2015-australian-all-schools-track-field-championships/

Results from the weekend’s competition can be found here: http://athsvic.org.au/event/2015-victorian-all-schools-track-field-championships/

For highlights and various track and field event video check out the athsvicTV YouTube page over the next couple of days: www.youtube.com/user/athsvictv

Day 3 Highlights

Day 2 Highlights

Day 1 Highlights