Robert Day
Robert was another of the group of students from the Olympic Village Primary School that had their first experience with the Club by training at Clifton Hill after a trip in the back of a crowded car or van with a number of school mates.
Not all joined up to compete, however Robert did – in the 75/76 season along with his younger brother Mark!
In those days the inter club competition was at the Heidelberg Track, so it was easy for the boys to get to the starting line on a Saturday. It’s probably fair to say that the teacher concerned with spiriting the boys to Collingwood was not on top of the Ivanhoe Harriers popularity list – as they certainly had been in prime position to get the cream from the Heidelberg Little Athletics Centre.
Robert did not compete a lot but certainly had vivid memories of the era as evident in this excerpt from “Stories of the Olympic Village – life after the games” edited by Rita Chiodo, produced in 2000 by Olympic Adult Education.
“The memories of Olympic Village Primary School are not that fond as we never had much of a playground or not much at all. I can remember that our sports teams were particularly good, such as cricket, football, netball, rounders and track and field. I think that this may have come from the fact the area we came from made us determined to do well at sport. I do not have great memories of our teachers except Mr. Griffiths, as he was a member of the Collingwood Harriers Athletic Club and he always tried to have us succeed in sport and he would have all the kids join up at the Club.”
September 2016