Finley Little Athletics hosted the 50th Murray Valley Little Athletics Carnival on Sunday in surprisingly good weather.
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More than 180 athletes participated in the carnival, coming from all over the Riverina and north east Victoria, as well as Melbourne, to compete.
Carnival organiser, Western Riverina zone coordinator Pat Kelly, said the carnival was a great success, with quite a few records broken on the day.
The club’s 50th anniversary since establishment was acknowledged as part of the day.
Ken Gardiner, who has been involved with the Finley Little Athletics Club since its inception, was the carnival announcer.
“Without volunteers and people stepping up on the day, events like this wouldn’t work,” Mr Kelly said.
“It’s those people stepping up that make sure we can hold carnivals like this.”
Mr Kelly said he took phone calls all week from people asking if the carnival was going to go ahead, and he assured everyone it would.
“I said two weeks ago we were holding it, and we did,” he said.
“Given the lead up to the event we had, the ground held up very well.”
Events on the day included both track and field, with races from 50m to 1500m, as well as the 60m and 80m hurdles.
Fields events included the high, long and triple jump, javelin, shot put and discus.
Home town competitors were awarded 55 gold medals, 49 silver and 35 bronze.
Finley Athletics Club members who broke records on the day were:
Under-10 high jump - Levi Jakeman.
Under-12 80m hurdles - Jordan Swann.
Open women’s 200m - Isabella Kelly.
Kaiser Atkins created new records in the multi class section, and Karla Nicholls and Brad Aylett created new records in the 18+ social athletes class.
Each of these events were new to the carnival.
The Finley Little Athletics Club has achieved increased enrolment numbers in the past two years, with nearly 80 athletes now part of the club.
This includes members in the open athletics class, for those 18 and older.
Carnival age champions:
U6: Boy - Bruce Twomey (Echuca); Girl - Isabelle Stockdale (Narrandera).
U7: Boy - Jobe Marshall (Finley); Girl - Lucille Mathews (Corowa).
U8: Boy - Xavier Hyde (Barooga); Girl - Vanessa Blumer (Lavington/Jindera).
U9: Boy - Lewis Killen (Leeton); Girl - Sophie Eddy (Deniliquin).
U10: Boy - Levi Jakeman (Finley); Girl - Sophia McPherson (Leeton);
U11: Boy - Oliver Mathews (Corowa); Girl - Ruth Hornung (Finley).
U12: Boy - Jordon Swann (Finley); Girl - Matilda Eddy (Deniliquin).
U13: Boy - Nate Smith (Echuca); Girl - Cassandra Mayne (Shepparton).
U14: Boy - Elijah McLeod (Shepparton); Girl - Lily Paton (Leeton);
U15: Boy - Xavier Day (Wagga Wagga); Girl - Abigail Pellow (Keilor).
U17: Boy - Chase Lee (Leeton); Girl - Ashley Carty (Wangaratta).
Multi Class: Boy - Kaiser Atkins (Finley) and Connor Dave’s-Sheridan (Echuca); Girl - Abigail Stanton (Leeton);
Social Athlete: Male - Brad Aylett (Finley); Female - Karla Nicholls (Finley).
Open: Male - Alistair McLeod (Shepparton); Female - Isabella Kelly (Finley).