MEDIA RELEASE
Kody Steers His Way Into History Books
22 December 2018

Kody Steers equalled the feat of woodchopping legend David Foster today, winning his sixth straight Tasmanian 400mm Underhand Championship.

Foster jokingly threatened to come out of retirement after Steers smashed his 30-year-old state record in the process.  The Gowrie Park powerhouse cut through the biggest block on the state championship circuit in 38.63seconds, to smash Fosters longstanding mark of 40.04 set in 1988.  

Former world champion Stephen Foster, of Devonport, with Queensland’s Jake Dingle third.

Steers was delighted with the victory and record, but said it was one of his toughest state titles to date.

“Definitely one of the best line-ups we’ve had for a while, so I feel I earned this one,” Steers said.

“I’m pretty happy to get a win in a field like that,” he said.

“This is the biggest log we cut and I had to find a bit in the back (side of the log) and I was starting to tire a little bit, but I just had enough in the tank to get me over the line.”

Steers’ focus now shifts to the several world titles to be decided at Latrobe and Burnie over the next 10 days, as well as the Eric Reece Memorial Tasmanian Government Thousands 300mm Standing Handicap, to be staged in his home town at Gowrie Park on December 30.

In contrast, sprinter Callum James got his maiden victory in the Tasmanian Christmas Carnival series, taking line honours in the mixed Rosebery Gift.

“I’ve always wanted to get a Christmas Carnivals gift win and came close before, I’m really pleased to get one finally,” the Melbourne based Engineer said.

Growing up in Launceston, James has lived and breathed the series like many Tasmanian athletes and had targeted a series win for months now.

“I’ve been working on putting all the parts of my race together and it’s working well,” James added.

On the cycling track, Launceston’s Josh Duffy took out the men’s 2000m wheelrace.  The TIS Racing Team member powered home at 5^thfrom the back off his 40m mark to take the title.

The title comes just a week after the 22-year-old finished in the top 10 at the National Omnium Championships, showing he’ll be one of the locals to put the pressure on the big names in the remainder of the series.  

While the women’s wheelrace saw a victory to Amalia Lahngham off 20m who stormed home after starting second from the back.

Paralympic world record holder Deon Kenzie showed his recent move to the AIS as a training base hasn’t slowed him down, taking the win in the mile for his third time. 

After 24 years of trying, Adrian Williams won his first Tasmanian Rockdrilling Championships last year and only had to wait 12 months to win his second. 

It was the first time a driller had won back to back crowns, as he held off the highly fancied Western Australian Michael Briggs.  

Back in the chopping arena, Penguin veteran Henry Maine won the RJ Howard Memorial 300mm Standing Handicap.  Maine had his own fairytale win in the event he last won 46 years ago as an up and coming 16-year-old axeman.

Originally from the West Coast, Maine used his middle mark of 20 seconds well, to cut a perfect block to win easily from his uncle, Michael Maine, of Burnie.

As with the Tasmanian underhand title, a quality field also contested the Rosebery Carnival 300mm Standing Championship on the same programme, with Queenslander Jake Dingle taking a hard-fought win ahead of Kody Steers and Stephen Foster.

Dingle, who Steers described as one of the most in-form axemen in Australia at the moment, qualified for every handicap final on the day, despite starting most of his heats as the backmarker.

The powerful Queenslander will be one to watch in the upcoming world championship events.

MEDIA RELEASE
Worlds Fittest Teenager Set for Carnivals Debut
17 December 2018

Not many can lay claim to being the worlds fittest teenager, but Ash Moloney sure can. 

With the Decathlon widely considered the event that measures an athlete’s all round ability, Ash Moloney is the best junior in the world.  Now he has his sights on the Fulton Hogan Tasmanian Christmas Carnival series.

The 18-year-old Queenslander dominated the Decathlon at the World Junior Championships in Finland this year, setting a new championship record, Oceania U’20 record and in the process set seven personal best in the 10-event competition.

“I managed to be so consistent because I trust my coaches programming. I didn’t expect to come away with so many personal bests at world juniors. He did,” Moloney said.

The towering teenager has some impressive personal bests, including 10.51 for the 100m and 46.86 for the 400m.  Given his broad range, Moloney plans to test himself and will do the same program as Jack Hale at the carnivals; 120m at Latrobe, 400m at Devonport and 120m at Burnie.

Unlike Hale however, Moloney is a fan of the full lap experience.

“As much as I love the 100m there’s nothing more satisfying than running a fast 400m because of all the hard work and pain you have endure to achieve a fast time,” he declared.

With the fastest personal best over 400m, he likely to be the backmarker at Devonport and with a short turnaround from heats to finals, he has a message for his rivals.

“I know that it’ll be competitive and I’m expecting to put everything on the line,” he added.

While he may be a world champion, he’s a total rookie when it comes to professional footrunning on grass.

“To he honest I haven’t heard much of it but I’m excited to give this competition a red hot crack.”

Scrolling through Athletics Australia’s ranking lists for 2018 makes for interesting research on Moloney, to show just how good an all-round athlete he is.  He makes the list in a total of nine different disciplines, against athletes who specialise in each one. 

No wonder the Brisbane based athlete has big goals.

“I’m targeting world champs and Tokyo 2020. It’s going to be a big few years for me to kick start my career.

But for now, he is being sure to not rest on his world junior title and rather see it as a stepping stone, not a milestone.

“My life hasn’t changed too much since winning in Finland.  I still train hard but I have been given so many more opportunities and pathways in my sporting career,” Moloney said.

MEDIA RELEASE
Burnie Brings In The New Year
30 December  2019

The 133rd Heritage Burnie New Year’s Eve Carnival arrives in 2019 with improved facilities, an exciting festival element and Tasmania’s very best athletes. The Carnival will be run in conjunction with part of the Bite & Brew Festivities, with foreshore music and fireworks planned to celebrate New Year’s Eve in style.

The event will be live streamed across a variety of platforms, with partnerships involving Cycling Australia and Athletics Australia.

With a $9000 first place prize on offer for both Men’s and Women’s Gift races, an impressive collection of sprint talent will spend New Year’s Eve in Burnie. The Men’s Gift pits acceleration against top speed, as Tasmania’s fastest man Jack Hale lines up against five-time Australian 200m champion Alex Hartmann. Burnie will be the only opportunity to see the pair race, heats allowing, with Hale second at Latrobe, passing on Devonport. Names to watch closely include Ismail Kamara (2.50m), Abdoulie Asim (3.50m), Jordan Sarmento (3.50m) and Latrobe Gift winner Lawson Power (5.50m).

The Burnie Athletic Club have provided equal prize money for the first time, bolstering the Women’s Gift field with Tasmania’s recent 100m state record breaker, Morgan Gaffney (2.25m). Australian Under 15 100m record holder Hilal Durmaz will race off 0.75m, the 11.75sec 100m runner will face pressure from Nigerian sprinter Isoken Igbinosun (scr).   

Of the 400 competitors drawn to Burnie from six nations, the feature gift events will feature World Championship finalist and Oceania record holder Stewart McSweyn (scr), Rio Paralympian Deon Kenzie (130m) and Olympic semi-finalist Jenny Blundell (140m) in the Open Mile. McSweyn will face familiar foes, with Australian Mile Champion James Hansen racing off 30m a sub-four minute miler in his own right. A Devonport rematch brews for the first, second and fifth fastest Tasmanian’s over 1500m, as Doug Hamerlok races from the 65m mark. 

The lure of Burnie’s staggering prize purses continues in the Men’s and Women’s wheel races, as respective winners are set to collect $7000. Australian teammates Macey Stewart and Kristina Clonan will continue a developing back and forth battle from scratch, trading wins in Launceston and Latrobe. New Zealand Olympian Zac Williams will launch himself from scratch alongside Germany’s Moritz Augenstein (scr), in pursuit of Japan’s Eiya Hashimoto (scr), Stephen Hall (scr), Joshua Harrison (scr), and talented youngster Joshua Duffy (60m). 

An extensive wood chop program features from 11:30am onward, with a series of standing championship chops available, including the 400mm Tasmanian State Standing Championship.

Programs below or download here.

Rights free imagery of the event available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1vxqiyxa3nwfqhq/AACL7APqir4RFclQNfaqfYMQa?dl=0