It was a great night for the MattyB DEPT. crew in Brisbane at the track classic which focused mainly on relay events plus some individual events like the rarely run 300m.

Melissa Breen ran the second leg in the Women’s 4 x100m team which took victory in 44.01. Lauren Boden ran the second leg in the Women’s 4 x 400m that ran 3.34.12 while Chloe Jamieson ran the third leg for an Australian Junior in the same race (3.48.37). To round out the relay involvement Brendan Cole ran a superb leg (45.7) of the Men’s 4 x 400m team that finished in a time of 3.05.84.

In individual events Melissa Breen ran a solid 11.51 to finish second behind Sally Pearson (11.25). Part time member Daniel Batman, currently living in Sydney,  ran 10.95 in the “B” 100m.

The highlight for the squad, however, came in the second last event of the evening with Lauren Boden running 38.20 in the 300m to take a special victory over Jana Pittman. Boden running in the lane outside Jana set the race up in a positive fashion and with 100m to go was 5 metres in front and this margin didn’t change down the straight with Boden strong right to the finish.

Overall an extremely satisfying night for the squad.

Video Footage

21 year old Melissa Breen has finished off a busy 2 week competition stimulus period with an impressive 100m in 11.44 (1.7w) at Blacktown in Sydney.

“It was a long day after getting up at 615am and driving up from Canberra and then running at 11am” Breen explained. “I actually didn’t feel super quick today after so many races recently, the early start and 3 hour travel on the day so I know there is improvement to be had from the run.”

Breen has now had 13 races in 11 days with 11 in Tasmania in 3 gifts, a 60m (7.33) in Canberra on the 5th Jan and the 100m today at Blacktown.

“I will now get back into a training block to fit around the Brisbane and Adelaide meets in January” said Breen when asked what was coming up. She will compete in a 4 x 100m relay as well as an individual 100m in Brisbane and then do the 100m and 200m in Adelaide.

“I am only 0.15 off the ‘A’ standard for the Olympics with that run so that gives me great confidence that I can get under 11.29seconds during the domestic season and be selected for the 100m in London.”

In other squad results at Blacktown Ollie Wurm ran 54.67 in the 400m Hurdles. When asked about the race Wurm said “It wasn’t that pretty but it was just good to get one under the belt.” Technically he made a few errors which shows great room for improvement and he is sure to improve on his personal best in the next few months.

Chloe Jamieson (62.06) and Rachael Carnegie (67.48) also ran in the 400m Hurdles. It was Chloe’s first race since World Youth and Rachael’s first completed 400m Hurdles race in a couple of years. Both will improve massively from this competition.

Daniel Batman (10.86) and Brandan Galic (11.06) with a 0.5w rounded out the results for the MattyB DEPT. Both are on the comeback trail and will continue their rapid improvements in the coming weeks.

Video Footage of today

In a solo run at AACT interclub Lauren Boden has opened up with her first 400m Hurdles of the season in a blistering time of 56.62 which is an Olympic Games “B” qualifier.

“I have never broken 57 in my first run for the season so to do it tonight is awesome” Boden explained. The fact she has opened up with her first run slightly earlier due to the earlier Olympic trials is even better.

Boden will next run at the Brisbane track classic on the 14th January in the 4 x 400m relay and will then run over the 400m Hurdles again at the Hunter track classic on the 21st January.

In other results Melissa Breen carried her great form from the Tasmanian gift carnival running a quick 7.33 in the 60m (1.5w). Tom Burbidge after a slow start finished home too strongly in the 400m running 48.45 with training partners Jesse Matthews (50.08) and Luke Storta (50.33) wnd and 3rd. Finally after making some errors in the 400m Hurdles Rachael Carnegie competed in the 200m running strongly in a mixed race to clock 25.47 (2.4w)

Footage available here