TriState Winners for 2011

December 16, 2011

A very excited team of athletes left Mildura on Sunday November 6th heading for a week of sporting and social activities at the 2011 Tri State Games in Mount Barker, South Australia.  The team headed down to Murrayville to pick up Luke Heintze from his farm before making their way into the Adelaide Hills. The team were staying at the lovely little town of Macclesfield in a two story house. After settling into our accommodation we headed down to the cosy little pub for a delicious meal then an early night to make sure we were ready for the following day’s activities.
Monday morning was the annual street parade through the town of Mt Barker and after an official opening ceremony it was off to the sporting field to try our luck at Bocce’. Everyone did quite well in the team sport and at that evening’s dinner dance, our team captain Luke Hudson was called forward to present each of his team members with a participation medal.
Tuesday was the Athletics day and we had perfect weather for it! We had set up our shade sail on the edge of the College oval and all was fine until the wind started to blow.  Luke, Luke, Mandy and Sheridan had to tie the tent down using the fluro bollards nearby. Everyone did extremely well during the day participating in various field and track events. The 3 Lukes all blitzed the field at the footy distance kick and the ladies all tried their expertise at the Bean Bag accuracy throw with Daniel. That night at the medal presentation and Country and Western night, we found out just how brilliant Mandy O’Neil had been as she took home a Gold medal for every event she was in! Well Done Mandy!
Everyone else collected themselves a swag of medals and we enjoyed the rest of the night with some toe tapping, dancing and singing along to the great country tunes.
Wednesday was our free day and Kim Beasy’s birthday as well.  We had a great relaxing day, with a sleep in, a drive through the hills and a stop over at Hahndorf and Stirling for some locally made ice creams –Yummy!
Thursday was the swimming competition at Murray Bridge and we were very excited to have Luke Heintze’s parents there to cheer on our team.  Swimming is such a long day, but everyone was very patient and took turns cheering on the rest of their teams and new friends at the edge of the pool.  Amy Cetenich and Luke Richards were both stars in the pool, giving it their best and being very sportsman-like, congratulating their opponents.
Thursday night’s entertainment was a “PINK” themed night, and the Mildura Magic team looked fantastic in their outfits. Once again it was nice to catch up with old and new friends, have a dance and enjoy a nice meal with the other 400 people at the games.
On Friday morning we had indoor sports at the Mt Barker Primary School and after some pretty tough competition we collected another bunch of medals for some terrific performances by our athletes.
After marking our respect with a minutes silence at 11:00 am on the 11/11/11 we headed off for an early lunch and a relaxing afternoon at home. Mildura Magic was quite excited to get ready for the final Gala Dinner and presentation night. Little did we know just how exciting the night would turn out! When the final presentations started, Mildura Magic were sitting patiently at their table, applauding for the individual winners of sportsman trophies, and then the most amazing thing happened…
They announced that Mildura Magic had come equal 3rd for the best overall team in the Athletics   competition! Everyone was so excited, especially Norelle who has been supporting the Games for 19 years and our team has never even come close to winning such a competition. Next thing we know we are equal first winners of the swimming day and before we can even contemplate our excitement, we are announced as equal 2nd for Indoor sports!
Too much excitement for many of us and our whole team can’t believe how we have managed to get a placing in all three days. Just when we started to compose ourselves, it was announced that Mildura Magic were the overall outright winners of the 2011 Tri State Games! Not a dry eye to be seen amongst staff and lots of screaming and cheering from our athletes and all our friends from other teams. What an unbelievable experience for everyone involved and one month after the fact, we are still so very proud of the effort that everyone put in and are looking for somewhere to displaying all of our trophies.
Congratulations to Luke Hudson, Luke Heintze, Luke Richards, Daniel Wilson, Mandy O’Neil, Leah Harris, Amy Cetenich and Kim Beasy on your amazing efforts at Tri State Games 2011!

Report by Sheridan Marr.