MORNINGTON NEWS scoreboard
Karate students kick it at Nationals PETER Hollowood Martial Arts, in Mornington, had an astounding 21 athletes represent Victoria at the Australian National Karate Championships over the weekend of Friday 3 August. The representatives had trained all year for the national championships in Caloundra, QLD and their hard-work was duly repaid with five of them claiming individual gold medals in Kumite, a form of point sparring. On top of their individual performances, the Mornington dojo athletes claimed a further five team gold medals and a silver team medal across the competition. Sensei Peter Hollowood, who is also a state coach, said the “fantastic results” came as no surprise with the amount of training his students put in throughout the year. “My athletes train at the highest level and deserve all the recognition for their hard work,” he said. “They all went up as a team and competed as a team. It was a good tournament up there and they were all very excited about their results as they’ve been training for such a long time.” Sensei Peter’s son, Dean Hollowood, 23, was one of the five athletes to claim an individual gold medal. Dean claimed gold in the Senior Men’s (67kg) competition as well as a team gold medal for his performance at the nationals, and has been selected to compete at the World Championships in Madrid, Spain in November. Dean will be travelling to Chile in September
for a competition and then off to Noumea for a National training camp prior to the World Championships. “He’s missed out on four World Championships but he’s stuck with it and finally broken through,” Sensei Peter said. “It’s great to see the hard work payed off.” The Mornington dojo claimed a further four gold medals. Aaliyah Zuniga won the Female Cadet (14-15 years) and earned a Team Gold medal; Ally Lourensz won the Female 12-13 years and a Team Gold medal; Mason Riley won the Junior Male (16-17 years) and a Team Silver medal; and Alex Steer won the Cadet Male (14-15 years) and a Team Gold medal. Athletes from the dojo won another 11 bronze and silver individual medals, with some of them having their first attempt at the national competition. Alex Hutchison won a Team Gold medal and two individual silver medals; Zac Dean won two silver medals and a bronze medal; Mathew Riley won a silver medal; Lily White won a silver medal; Ceara Taylor won a bronze medal; Ignatius Stow won a bronze medal; Nathan Pool won a bronze medal; and Erin Walsh won a bronze medal. Sensei Peter said it was a great achievement for all involved, with the dojo’s representatives already talking about next year’s national championships. Ben Triandafillou
Dojo of champions: Peter Hollowood Martial Arts had 21 athletes compete at Nationals. Pictures: Gary Sissons
Noonan welcomes training track upgrade VICTORIAN Racing Minister Martin Pakula announced on Thursday 16 August that $1.38 million of funding will be granted to the Mornington Racecourse to upgrade their sandbased training track. The upgrade, which is currently underway, will see a move to a synthetic surface after 12 years of having a sand track to help allow for consistent training year-round. Mornington-based racehorse trainer Tony Noonan said the transition to a synthetic track has had mixed reactions from the trainers, but the general consensus was positive. “It’s a radical change to what we’re used to,” Noonan said. “That always makes it tough, but I think the majority of trainers are in favour of it.” The synthetic track has been a tried and proven surface at racecourses across Australia, with most notably Pakenham also using it for racing as well as jump outs and trials. Noonan views the move from the sand to the synthetic track as a modernised version of when training tracks moved from the grass to the sand, and believes that it’s another step in the right direction. “Grass is very expensive, so that’s when sand was bought in to offset
that, but this is a modernisation of the sand track and environmentally it’s a better answer I would think,” Noonan said. “In the winter we got consistent rain and [the sand track] worked very well but when we got heavy rain it turned very quickly. In the summer it can get very dry and hard unless you apply a large amount of water to it, but of course that then becomes a real environmental issue. “We just can’t afford to be spending a lot of water on those sorts of facilities when we’ve got an alternative.” Noonan believes the sand track has “done its job” and only sees the move to the synthetic as a positive. “It’s great for us,” he said. “Not every track and training centre in Victoria has one, so the fact that we race on a polytrack (synthetic) at Pakenham, it’s got to be at our advantage as our horses become accustomed to working on it and then racing on it.” “Over a long period of time, [Mornington] has been a very successful training centre and this is only going to compliment it even further.” Getting the message out: Racing Minister Martin Pakula speaks to media after announcing the funding for Mornington Racing Club. Picture: Yanni Mornington News
21 August 2018
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