2025 Victorian Track & Field Championships
Over the past two weekends, our athletes have battled against Victoria’s best at the 2025 South Melbourne Physio Victorian Track & Field Championships. Lakeside Stadium once again played host to the annual event, this time with a slight update, featuring Masters athletes for the first time in the competition’s history.
Our Championship campaign began on Saturday afternoon with Jasman Mann (coached by Gurpreet Rai), competing in the U17 long jump. With the rain descending on Lakeside for the majority of the morning, it was a welcome sight to see the sun come out in the early afternoon to bring near perfect jumping conditions. On his first jump, at his very first State Championships, Jasman recorded a PB of 5.19m. Not long after the conclusion of competition, Jasman was out on the track, featuring in the opening race of the men’s 200m, finishing in a speedy time of 26.34. Jasman concluded his competition with three excellent jumps, in the U17 triple jump on Sunday afternoon, with his first jump of 11.41m being his best result.
This year featured the introduction of Masters competition in the Championships. Not one to miss out, our very own Donna-Marie Elms entered the 3000m walk. With Lakeside having just received a drenching, the walkers lined up on the starting line in extremely cold, wet and blistering conditions. With an acceptable tailwind along the backstraight, Donna-Marie was met with extremely strong winds across both bends and the front straight. Despite the difficult and uncomfortable conditions, Donna-Marie defeated the difficult 3000m walk in 20:17.79 to finish 2nd in the 60+ women’s category and securing the club’s first medal of the championships.
In true Melbourne fashion, weekend 2 of the Championships featured completely different conditions to weekend 1, with hot humid conditions rolling in. On what was an extremely hot Friday night, Arnavjot Aulakh (Gurpreet Rai), competed at his first Victorian Track & Field Championships, entering the Open Men’s long jump. In what turned out to be the most competitive event of the night, Arnavjot finished 15th, having jumped 6.05m twice.
Saturday was a sprinters paradise with hot weather making it ideal sprint conditions. Ansh Chauhan (Gurpreet Rai) had an extremely busy day at his first Championships competing in the final of the 100m, shot put and javelin. For the first time in a number of years, Preston had two athletes entered in the 200m. Despite the wild windy conditions, Anwita Prasanth (Gurpreet Rai) and Jordan Samson (Adrian Bertoli) both ran well in their 200m heats and progressed to the final and semi final respectively. With the finals taking place on Sunday Anwita and Jordan faced hot muggy conditions in their finals thanks to a lighting storm that delayed the day’s events.
Sunday afternoon was extremely busy for the club with Arnavjot Aulakh (400m hurdles), Anwita Prasanth (triple jump) and Frank Brisevac (triple jump) all competing back-to-back. Arnavjot Aulakh enjoyed his run on the track featuring in the Open 400m Hurdle final. Arnavjot finished his race strongly to finish in 61.47 in a race that featured two interstate athletes.
Having completed her 200m final, Anwita was escorted directly to the U15 triple jump, where she jumped 4 fantastic jumps over 10 metres. Anwita jumped 10.30m on her fourth jump to finish 4th in what turned after an intense final round. The Open Men’s triple jump featured our very own Frank Brisevac (John Boas). In what was an extremely competitive and at times dramatic event, Frank jumped well, ultimately finishing with a season best of 14.06m.
A big thank you goes out to the coaches of all our athletes; Gurpreet Rai, Adrian Bertoli, Jeff Hawkins and John Boas for their hard work throughout the season. Thank you to Jeff and Shirley Hawkins for taking the time to assist and support our athletes across all 6 days of the Championships and to all the other friends and family that attended to show their support.
A big thank you to Joanna Margiolis for photographing the Championships. The full albums can be viewed on our Facebook page
Championship Results
60+ Women
Donna-Marie Elms: 3000m Walk 20:17.79 [F] (2nd)
Female U14
Anwita Prasanth: 200m (27.64) [P], 200m (28.49) [F]; Triple Jump (10.30m) [F]
Men U14
Ansh Chauhan: 100m (14.91) [F], Shot Put (7.98m) [F], Javelin (6.66m) [F]
Men U17
Jasman Mann: Long Jump (5.19m PB), 200m (26.34), Triple Jump 11.41m
Open Men
Arnavjot Aulakh: Long Jump (6.05m), 400m Hurdles (61.47) [F]
Frank Brisevac: Triple Jump (14.06m SB) [F]
Jordan Samson: 200m 22.00 [P], 22.13 [S], 22.52 [F]
Full results from the Championships can be viewed on ResultsHub.
Note: [P] = Preliminary Final, [S] = Semi Final, [F] = Final