ELAC Athletes at SSA 2019 Nationals in Darwin

15 Oct 2019 by Carol Timmins

Representing Victoria, ELAC siblings Hope and Divine Vili recently competed against Australia’s best at the School Sport Australia 2019 National Championships. Held in oppressive conditions in Darwin, our athletes did us proud with outstanding performances; both athletes smashing their previous PB’s along the way.

Against stiff competition, Divine finished 6th in Boys U12 Discus – improving his PB by a massive four and a half metres – with a throw of 43.94m (previous PB 39.44m).
Hope was superb, winning a Silver Medal with a big PB throw of 10.28m (previous PB 9.12m) in Girls U10 Shotput; a Bronze Medal in Long Jump (new PB of 4.22m, previous 3.99m); and a Bronze Medal in the 4 × 100m Relay.

To avoid the hottest part of the day, organisers didn’t start competition until 4.00pm, with the day’s events finishing at around 8.30pm.
While the temperature had dropped by this time to a still-very-warm 27C, the humidity had increased to an energy-sapping 70%, providing little to no relief from the heat of the day.

Having earned invaluable experience that will stand them in good stead in the future, these are indeed impressive performances by two very tough Essendon competitors!
Well done Divine and Hope.