2024/25 Things to look forward to

Well now that the flooding rains have drained from Central Park, we've welcomed a new CEO into the VAL, the website is getting revamped, there are new meets on the calendar, and the first cab off the rank is just around the corner... I thought it would be great to be positive and discuss some things we are looking forward to for this season!

To kick us off with 3 thoughts:

- Lancefield 400's! As much as the 120m gifts are often the poster kids for a meet, for mine I love a good meet where a different distance reigns supreme. Add's a different flavour and being able to say "Frankston is the 70m meet" or "Essendon is the 200m meet", seeing Lancefield choose the 400m as the gift and getting up $6,000 for both is awesome to see. Looking forward to this one and who goes for it, especially when its so much earlier than Castlemaine and Bendigo!

- Efforts to re-do the website. This is no easy task, especially with all the data they had and trying to present the right information and manage entries. It might take some time but I for one am glad that they are trying to improve it as this is something every athlete interacts with regardless of age, event, gender, or how long you've been running pros.

- Seeing some of the athletes back out there and what they can produce. I'm thinking the likes of Jackson Bennett (can he finally get a win? and where will it be? It's felt like a story spanning seasons!) Bella Pasquali (Huge performances overseas...what's the next target?) Jake Ireland (does he start the re-build for another Stawell tilt or turn his attention to another distance/meet?) Harrison Kerr dropped at 47.03 ammo 400m... could there be more here? Does Ruby Crisp go around all the distances again or focus on something specific? Who's Robbo and Fiedler got next on their cards?

What are others looking forward to? Who's your pick? Who's your roughie? What do we expect to see this season? And what a season it will be!

Bring on the 2024/25 VAL and Australian pro circuit!

Didn’t see any AV pro runners put any times on the board in round 1, all systems go come Cobden/Mortlake - Cheeky suspicion an interstate athlete coming to take the weekend by suprise. Won’t drop names