Victorian Athletic League Inc

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT… 📣

It’s back! After an absence of more than 60 years the Lancefield Gift returns Saturday November 16. In partnership with the Lancefield & Romsey Community Bank the Lancefield Gift will run the richest 400m race in Victoria worth $6,000 for both men and women as well as a 120m event worth $5,000 attracting athletes from around the country. With heats during the day the finals will be a spectacular sight being run under lights at night.

Last run in the 1960’s the Gift was it its peak in the late 1920’s when it was one of the main lead up events to the Stawell Gift and featured some of Australia’s best runners including World Champions.

The event was launched yesterday by organising committee members Gina Morgan and 1980 Stawell Gift winner John Dinan. Mark your calendars and keep the date free for when Australia’s athletics spotlight shines on Lancefield. 💪🏽

Join Seymour’s newest club at the ground level - The North Central Review The Seymour Running Club (SRC) is offering foundation memberships, allowing sport enthusiasts and the local community to support the Club in bringing back the Seymour Gift to Kings Park on December 14. As part of the SRC’s vision to establish the Seymour Gift as an annual event and attract more pe...

After successfully debuting last year the Origin Mortlake Gift is back again on Sunday, October 27 at Wilsons DC Farran Oval. It will again form the opening weekend of the Victorian Athletic League season with the Cobden Community Bank Cobden Gift the day prior. Stay tuned for further announcements.

The Cobden Community Bank Cobden Gift is back for 2024. Once again it will kick off the Victorian Athletic League season on Saturday October 26, again forming the opening weekend with the Origin Mortlake Gift the following day. Stay tuned for further announcements.

With the 2024 Olympics complete, focus now turns to the upcoming Australian running season, and there’s some really exciting things happening in the Victorian Athletic League.

Most of you will be aware of the Stawell Gift, but many don’t realise there’s another 20+ race meetings across the season in both regional Victoria and metro Melbourne.

Our athletes have had the pleasure of having the whole season captured on video for the first time ever.

We’d love for you to share in the memories and moments captured during last season, from the Cobden Gift in Round 1, through to the Stawell Gift, with our 2023/24 Season Highlight Film.

We’re kicking things up a level this upcoming season, with even more video coverage and the introduction of a Stable and Athlete Championship.

So if you’d like to take part, make sure to follow the Victorian Athletic League on Instagram, and stay tuned for season registrations opening very soon.

Enjoy the film below:

Your Sanctuary - Victorian Athletic League 2023/24 Check out our website here: https://www.fixonmedia.com.auWelcome to Fixon Media Group. The creators of the Brand Film Framework.We're a video production comp...

Join Our Team: Administration Officer Wanted!

The Victorian Athletic League (VAL) is excited to announce an opening for an Administration Officer. This pivotal role supports the operational management of our sport and serves as the primary contact between our office and the members, clubs, and community.

Role Highlights:

Position: Broad Administration role in sports industry
Location: Flexible: Work from Home
Hours: Flexible: Up to 0.6 FTE spread across the week.

How to Apply:

Review the Position Description for more details.
Submit your application, including a cover letter and CV, to [email protected].
Application Deadline: 1st September 2024.

For any questions or additional information, please reach out to the VAL President at [email protected] or call 0417 164 085.

PD Link:

VAL Administration Officer-PD.pdf

- - - - COME JOIN US - - - -
The VAL is looking for more volunteers to join our event support crew for the 2024-2025 season.

We are calling for new candidates to fulfill the roles of:

- Handicappers
- Stewards
If you are interested in the above roles, can you please express your interest before 4th August 2024.

We are also looking for more hands to assist in a variety of roles on race day. Support can be flexible across the season and on the day depending on your availability, any support can help. Roles include starting, results, photo finish, colour tent, track preparation, logistics support, social media etc.

All roles are Volunteer based, at times and where appropriate the VAL will provide some financial support as an honorarium and/or a reimbursement of costs incurred. All volunteers will receive relevant training, support, and development for these roles.

If you are interested or require further information, please email us at [email protected]

The VAL welcome all interested volunteers from all backgrounds and are committed to providing an inclusive, safe environment of mutual respect.

Farewell Taylah


Dear VAL Community,

It is with mixed emotions that we announce the resignation of our Executive Officer, Taylah Perry, who has been an integral part of our organisation for the past two years. Taylah's last day was earlier this month.

Taylah joined us during a crucial time post-Covid and played a pivotal role in revitalising our community engagement efforts, re-establishing our event calendar, and significantly contributing to the growth of our membership and event participation. Under her leadership, we successfully supported 20 events annually and greatly enriched our member experience. Taylah has been a steadfast support to the Board, helping to set strategic priorities that have guided our organisation's development. Her efforts in building strong relationships with both internal teams and external stakeholders have laid a foundation that will benefit our sport for years to come. Additionally, Taylah's behind-the-scenes contributions in implementing new operational efficiencies and process improvements have enhanced our overall effectiveness.

On behalf of the VAL Board, we extend our sincere gratitude to Taylah for her dedication and outstanding contribution to our sport. We wish her every success in her future endeavours.

Thanks, Taylah.

———————————————————————————
The VAL Board is currently in the process of recruiting a suitable replacement for the Executive Officer position. In the interim, we have support measures to ensure continuity in office administration and the ongoing success of our operations and if you need to get in touch, please email us at [email protected]

Regards,

Matt McDonough

jamesonsphotography capturing the memories as always 💪🏼📸

*** UPDATE***

A funeral mass will be offered for Brian Morgan at Our Lady Of Perpetual Help, 14 Bedford Road, Ringwood on Tuesday 2 July at 11:30am.

The funeral will then proceed to Lilydale Memorial Park for burial.

The family request guests wear some red, white and black in honour of Brian (optional).

VALE Brian Morgan 'Morgs'

The Victorian Athletic League is deeply saddened to advise the passing of Brian Morgan on June 19th. A stalwart of professional running and a cherished friend to many, Brian was an invaluable contributor to our community. His enduring legacy includes significant involvement with the Ringwood Gift and Ringwood Professional Athletics Club, where he mentored and coached numerous athletes to success over several decades. Brian ‘Morgs’ was widely respected, and beloved throughout the professional running community.

We wish to extend our heartfelt sympathies to Brian's family, friends, and the entire Ringwood Professional running community. Brian will be greatly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him.

We're grateful to David Griffin, who had the opportunity to sit down with 'Morgs' in 2020 and capture just a small glimpse of the many stories Brian had about professional running.

____ People of Pro Running – Brian Morgan 2020 ____

Professional foot running and the Stawell Gift in particular, has a habit of creating legends.

Whilst most are found wearing spikes pounding the Central Park grass, some are hidden amongst the crowd, casting a skilled eye over those that run.

Having first walked through Stawell’s Central Park gates way back in 1951, Brian Morgan is one of those legends.

The 91-year-old Ringwood Gift stalwart has forgotten more about the pro game that most will ever know and recalls his first year in the game as if it was yesterday.

“My very first run was at the Maribyrnong greyhounds in 1951”.

“They used to have races at the greyhounds every Tuesday night and they ran pro races in between the dog races. It was a great time and very popular”, Morgan said.

For a brief time Morgan balanced competing with coaching.

“My focus was on the people I coached really, although I did win the 70 meters at Northcote”.

“I raced the shorter distances earlier in the day because I wanted to focus on coaching later in the day”.

“I didn’t win at Stawell, the closest I got was a 3rd in the 70 meters. I was probably a better coach than I was runner anyway and I devoted more time to that over the years”.

His greatest moment at Stawell was in 1994 when Rod Lewis saluted in the Stawell Gift. Lewis held out a fast finishing Steve Brimacombe who ran off Scratch.

“Lewis winning was my greatest thrill. He wasn’t the favorite going into the race but ran very well off the 7.5 meter mark”.

“I have been lucky really. Jarrod Meagher another of my athletes ran in the Stawell Gift final three times. He was a very good runner.
John DeCoite was another athlete trained by Morgan who was roundly acknowledged as one of the best Pro runners of any era.

DeCoite made the final of Stawell in 1981 and was narrowly beaten into 3rd place when Scotsman George McNeill won. He was also an Australian sprint champion.

In the 68 years since Morgan first took the journey up to Stawell, he has seen the best come and go.

“I have seen a lot of great runners but the best run I ever saw was in 1975 when Jean Louis Ravelomanantsoa won”.

“He ran 12.0 on a rain sodden track from scratch and I will never forget it.

“It’s a good story because Ravelo nearly went home before the heats when he realized that it was a handicap race. He didn’t know he was starting behind other runners. He obviously stayed and it's ended up being one of the great stories out of the Stawell Gift”.

“I also liked Bill Howard and John Stoney, they were great runners”.
Howard won back to back Stawell Gifts in 1966 and ’67, and Stoney was runner-up to Barney Ewell in the 1950 world sprint championship.

Morgan admits to seeing the sport change a lot over the years.

“It was very popular years ago, its different these days and its seems to have lost its prestige a bit. You never really see it in the paper at all and back in the day it was always in the paper”.

“The stewards were also tougher. They aren’t as tough now. If you didn’t run up to expectation you were suspended with no argument to be had”.

“Suspensions and fines were given out weekly and you don’t see that these days”.

Morgan was also heavily involved in football and after retiring as a player, was a driving force in the formation of the North Ringwood Football Club in 1967.

Aussie rules was a popular place to spot running talent and many of Morgan’s athletes came from football.

“I trained well over 150 athletes over the years. A lot came from football, some stayed a long time, and some disappeared”.

“I think I have trained winners at every major running carnival in Victoria over my time”.

Morgan is also responsible for the establishment of the Ringwood Gift 41 years ago.

“I have enjoyed the sport, its kept me healthy and I have got to know a lot of people”.

“I almost died having an operation earlier this year. If I wasn’t for my running and being fit they told me I wouldn’t have survived, so Pro running has kept me alive you might say”.

THE UNDER 14 SERIES IS LOCKED IN FOR THE 2024-25 SEASON THANKS TO NEW SPONSOR, JIM BRADLEY SPEEDBALL!

It's with great enthusiasm that we announce our partnership with Jim Bradley Speedball for the upcoming season as our Under 14 Series sponsor 🏆

We can't thank the team at Jim Bradley enough for their invaluable support of our up and coming junior athletes and look forward to seeing the series continue to grow!

The Under 14 series was super exciting last season, with an Under 14 event featured at nearly every Meeting on our calendar! Athletes competed each week in exciting races, to accumulate points based on their performances. The top 8 point scorers won the honour of competing in the series final at the prestigious Stawell Gift!

You can check out last year's series leaderboard and results >>
https://www.val.org.au/Series/VAL120mUnder14Series.aspx

We're getting in early, it's time to start planning your 24/25 season! 🤩

23 Meetings are locked in for next season, we can't wait to welcome two new Meetings at Lancefield and Seymour!

📆📆📆📆📆📆📆📆📆📆📆

*Please note this is a draft calendar and is 95% locked in but some dates/meetings may change.

We can't wait to celebrate with over 100 of you on Saturday the 29th of June at the Brighton Beach Hotel!

Best of luck to all the nominees, we can't wait to see who takes home the trophies 🏆

The final award for the 23/24 season - VRTA Athlete of the Year 🏆

Who was the most outstanding athlete in your opinion? 👀

Only a hand full of tickets left >> https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1213790

WE'VE ADDED ONE MORE TABLE! 🤩

Tickets to the 23/24 Gala Awards dinner are almost all gone!

Ticket sales will close this Sunday if not sold out prior, so get in quick >> https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1213790

WHAT IS THE VAL MEDAL? 🥇

SWIPE TO SEE IF YOU RECEIVED VOTES THIS SEASON 👀

Who do you think this year's winner is?

ONLY 20 TICKETS LEFT, DON'T MISS OUT >>
https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1213790

The future looks bright 🤩

Our junior athletes absolutely dominated this season, picking a winner will be tough!

The ladies just keep getting stronger and faster 🤩

There weren't many points between the top 6, who do you think will be taking first place honours?

Tickets close next Sunday, don't miss out!
>> https://www.trybooking.com/CRBOG

The men were on fire this season! 🔥

Over 10 sashes between the six of them, who do you think scored the most points to take first place?

Over half of our tickets are already sold, don't miss out!
Get your ticket here >> https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1213790

Our Junior athletes put on a show this season, growing in depth every week!

The final points came down to the wire, who do you think took first place honours?

The Les Williams Masters Athlete of the Year Award came down to the final round of points!

Here are the top 7 point scorers for the season, can you pick the winner and the athletes who collected equal points? 🏆

🎟 Tickets are selling fast, don't miss out on what is set to be an awesome night recapping the season with Ollie Wurm and Fixon Media!

Get your ticket today >> https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1213790

If you added them all together, how many kilometers do you think these superstars ran?

Some superb performances from our male distance athletes this year, here are the top seven point scorers! Who do you think took first place? 🏆

The long-distance ladies turned it up this season 🔥

Here are the top 6-point scorers in no particular order, who is your winner?

The future of Pro running looks bright 🤩

Some incredible performances from the VRTA 'Emerging Talent Award' nominees 🏆

We saw Miriam take out the 120m Womens Castlemaine Gift in the red, after placing a close 2nd at Keilor and Maryborough in the Womens Gifts!

Grace Crowe lit up the track off the 6m novice mark, running a close 2nd in the Womens Beachside Gift and the Womens Ballarat Gift!

Kidus flew home in the Bendigo U18 120m, taking first place honours in the red, he also made the Open 200m final at Stawell and the Mens 70m final at Ballarat!

Mandessah lit up the circle track, winning the Open 1600m at Shepparton and the Womens 800m at Bendigo, she also placed 2nd and 3rd in multiple other Open age distance races across the season!

Many thanks to everyone who completed the VRTA Voted Awards survey to help the committee determine this year's award nominees. Your feedback was greatly appreciated and it certainly helped confirm many of this seasons nominations.

With 23 exceptional Meetings to choose from in the 23-24 season, narrowing it down to the top 4 took much consideration, who is your winner?

Congratulations on your nominations Beachside Gift, , Bendigo International Madison and Castlemaine Gift!

Can you work out how many sashes between them this season!?

Our registered Trainers are truly the MVP's of our sport! 🤩

You could say a masterclass of performances.. 😏

With entries continuing to grow in our Masters events this one’s getting harder and harder to determine, who do you think laid down the most impressive run?

🏆Arron Downes - 120m Masters winner, Ballarat Gift off 12.25 in 13.26
🏆Cam Dunbar - 300m Masters winner, Bendigo Madison off 17m in 35.525
🏆Justin Murphy - 800m Masters 45+ 2nd, Stawell Gift off scratch in 2:10.730
🏆Natalie Densley - 800m Open, Frankston Gift off 186 in 1:54.110

With more ladies racing than ever before, narrowing it down to just four nominees was a challenge!

Who will take home the 'VRTA Female Performance of the Year'? 🏆

Who's your pick? ⬇️👀

Blink and you'll miss them! 🧯🧯

Stacked with some quality backmarkers, who do think produced the stand-out 'Male Performance of the Year' from the nominees?

Let us know in the comments ⬇️⬇️