#21: Sydney Classic

So today was one of the most interesting days I've experienced in a while.

I began my first day as an Athletics NSW official by getting lost. I knew that officials were meant to gather in the announcers box, but I didn't realise that there was a special room downstairs. I was soon found by Mary, the woman in charge of all officials, who gave me a purple shirt and a white hat that turned out to be too small. I was assigned to be a track umpire for both meets that were occurring on the day (which basically means I had to stand at a post on the outside of the track and make sure no one ran out of their lanes).

The group of officials is mainly comprised of men, and the average age overall would've been about, oh, 55. Some of them recognised me from all of the events I'd competed in over the years and were interested to hear about what I'd been up to, all looking after me and treating me to their hilarious sense of humour. It's a real community who strive to work with each other and look after the athletes. The first competiton was All-Comers, a weekly competition run by Athletics NSW for club members in this area. I learnt how to set up the hurdles correctly (and have now killed all the nerves in my fingers from over-use while pushing in the spring-loaded buttons that change the height), how to change the numbers on the lap board, and that the outside line of any lane is a part of the lane (therefore if an athlete runs on the inside line of their lane, they are committing an infringment).

However, the real excitement didn't begin until 6.30pm when the Sydney Track Classic commenced. This event is a spectator exhibition, where the top athletes in our country can come to compete and perhaps qualify for the Olympics. Jana Rowlinson (nee Pittman) was there judging the "Little Diva" competition, which included an excess of 100 girls from the ages of 6-10, dressed up in shiny, sparkley costumes, running the home straight with the champion herself. I've never really been much of a fan of Jana and her antics, but it's hard not to feel intimidated by someone so tall and muscular. The next star I saw was Matt Shirvington in the 2x100m relay, wearing this black and silver jumpsuit, staking his territory. There was a false start by one of the competitors, and Mr Shirvington ran through the entire 100 metres, prancing within his lane to reinstate his ego. I was under the impression that I would'nt have to report anyone as there would be no huge errors by these professional athletes, however found myself thrown in the deep end when Matt and his partner didn't exchange the baton within the change-over zone. It was weird seeing that he called out "Go" to his partner (who was also wearing a rather tight jumpsuit) to take-off, and then never was able to catch him. Shows that all greats make mistakes. But I will forever remember the day when I disqualified Matt Shirvington (well, I had to get another one of the officials to write out the report because I wasn't sure of the technicalities of the process, but I was still there).



In the 800 metres, Tamsyn Lewis was in a race full of girls in my age group. It was amazing how one of them was leading her for the first lap, and the others were less than 20 metres behind her in the end. I know 20 metres seems a lot, but these girls are all 18 and Tamsyn has competed in the Olympics already. Olivia Tauro also won the 400 metres, and seeing that she is only 17 (or maybe even 16) and was competing in an open age group division, the scrawny nerdy-looking, glases wearing, piggytailed girl I remember beating in the 100 metres when we were 10, had turned into a tremendous athlete. During warm-up, a few of these faces jogged past me and said hello; it felt good to be appreciated. And remembered.

Does anyone remember Lauren Hewitt? She has competed in the Olympics in the 200 metres before, and she was on a television commercial for Powerade (or was it Staminade?). I hadn't heard anything about her for a few years, and then suddenly, she turned up, sitting next to where I was judging. "How do you think they keep this grass so green?" came her voice from behind me. We talked about the nature of the grass at the Athletics centre, I wished her goodluck, and she was off to the starting line. She won too. Her down-to-earth personality and approachability really put my faith back into these athletes who talk the talk and walk the walk (Or run the run? Or jump the jump? Or throw the throw?). She was definately much more grateful for my help than Mr Shirvington who had just stormed off.

After seeing shot-putter Scotty Martin (He was on an ad when the 2000 Olympics was on, eating potatoes I believe) make the Olympic A qualifying distance (something ridiculous like 21 metres), my sights turned to the crowd. The stadium was packed. It was good to see so many people turn up to support the sport: athletics has never been a very successful sport for Australia mainly because there aren't the numbers of professional competitors that you may see in other sports such as soccer or netball. To see Sally McLellan, a literal unknown to the world circuit, qualify for the Olympics in both the 100 metres and the hurdles was brilliant. But the crowd reaction to her achievement really put my faith back into this sport. My sport.

Tonight showed me that the more you put into something, the more you get out of it.



Lovemeg