The Newcastle Golf Club is excited to announce a special summer rate for all visiting members of Newcastle and Hunter Valley golf clubs.

It allows local golf club members to play one of Australia’s top ranked golf courses at our club member guest rate of $40 per person.

This Summer Special is only available on a Sunday or Monday and ends on the 30th March 2009. So come and play at a NSW golf course that ranks as one of the best.

Happy New Year from Newcastle Golf Club

Note: Please quote your membership number and club when booking and present membership or golflink card on arrival.

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Supporting Sponsors: Redback Solutions, Rebel Sport, Broadley Signs, Sticky Advertising, Newcastle Avanti Plus, Breeze Swimming & Fitness, Dalton Partners, Jetset at The Junction, Mizone Rapid

Source: Greater Building Society

Some of the Hunter’s best hopes to make the Australian Beijing Olympic Games team have today received some much needed financial support for their preparations with today’s announcement of the 2007-2008 Greater Building Society Sport Scholarships at South’s Leagues Club.

Ten athletes who have shown tremendous potential in their chosen Olympic sport have been awarded a $1,000 scholarship. They will also receive advice from Hunter Academy of Sport consultants in areas such as sports psychology, nutrition, physical fitness, injury prevention and injury treatment.

There are three newcomers to last year’s list of winners. Katie Ebzery, a 17 year old basketballer from Charlestown and Michael Lancey, a 26 year old sailboarder from Georgetown, have won their first Greater scholarship. Swimmer, Prue Watt, is a previous scholarship winner.

Hunter Academy of Sport chief executive Ken Clifford said there were some real standouts for Beijing including Lancey, who is already ranked number one in Australia, Watt, as well as member of the Australian Opal’s basketball team, Jenni Screen.

Nathan Outteridge, the 20 year old sailor from Wangi Wangi, has already been selected for Beijing.

Mr Clifford said not all of the scholarship winners will be bound for Beijing. Some like 13 year old gymnast and diver, Jack Rickards, have an excellent chance for the 2012 London games.

Greater Building Society chairman Ian Nelmes said with the Beijing Olympics just over eight months away it was timely to be recognising and supporting Hunter athletes with Olympic potential.

“The Greater Building Society sports scholarships are our way of helping the Hunter’s athletes to be the best that they can be at the world’s premier sporting event,” Mr Nelmes said.

The annual scholarships have been running for 15 years and are managed for the Greater by the Hunter Academy of Sport.

There are currently 28 summer Olympic sports, with seven having multiple disciplines.

2007 –2008 GREATER BULIDING SOCIETY SPORT SCHOLARSHIPS

Angie Bainbridge – 17 Years – Swimming [MEREWETHER]

Australian representative at World Titles in July 2007, and has been selected to compete at the F.I.N.A. World Cup in March 2008. Has a world ranking in the 200m freestyle and Australian rankings in the 50m, 100m, 200m, and 400m freestyle events.

Katie Rae Ebzery – 17 Years – Basketball [CHARLESTOWN]

Has represented Australia (under 19 age group) at the World Titles (where the team finished in 5^th position). Present AIS scholarship holder.

Michael Lancey – 26 Years – Sailing (sail boarding) [GEORGETOWN]

Ranked No.1 in Australia and is representing Australia at the pre-Olympics. Has had successes on the international scene in 2007.

Hugh McLeod – 22 Years – Rowing [HAMILTON]

Selected to represent Australia in the lightweight men’s quad scull at the 2007 World Championships where team finished in fourth place. Has been named in the Beijing Olympics shadow squad.

Nathan Outteridge – 20 Years – Sailing [WANGI WANGI]

Sailing in the Olympic 49er class. Finished in third place in the 2007 World Titles qualifying Australia for the 2008 Olympics and sealing his Olympic selection.

Jack Rickards – 13 Years – Gymnastics [CARDIFF]

Has been an Australian Elite Champion and National squad member since 2004. Represented Australia in an International Junior Challenge Event in Berlin, Germany earlier this year.

Jenni Screen – 27 Years – Basketball [HAMILTON SOUTH]

Member of the Australian Opals team which won the World Title in 2006. Has continued to tour with the Opals in 2007.

Brendon Sexton – 22 Years – Triathlon [LOUTH PARK]

Finished second in the Under 23 World Championship in Hamburg, Germany earlier this year. Has competed with consistent success on the international scene in 2007.

Ty Swadling – 19 Years – Trampolining [CHARLESTOWN]

Selected this year in the Australian Team to complete the World Titles in synchronized trampolining and double mini. Has again completed successfully at state and national levels in 2007.

Prue Watt – 20 Years – Swimming [MEREWETHER]

Prue is already a multi-medallist at the Paralympic Games (Athens 2004) and also had success at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. She has continued to do well at the international level following these successes.

Feeling "dizzy" in the steaming heat, world MotoGP champion Casey Stoner clung on to snare his 10th win of the season in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Stoner led from flag to flag on Sunday but nevertheless said he found it difficult to focus at times and made several unforced errors – one which almost spelt the end of his race.

The 22-year-old, starting from second on the grid at Sepang, smoked away at the start to head the pack into the sweeping right-hand turn and was never headed.

He was hounded early by Honda’s Dani Pedrosa but effortlessly controlled the tempo of the race to claim his second straight win after the Australian GP a week earlier.

The Ducati ace crossed the line 1.701 seconds ahead of Italian Marco Melandri’s Honda with Pedrosa third.

Five-time world champion Valentino Rossi, who started from a lowly ninth on the grid, picked his way through the field to finish fifth behind Frenchman Randy De Puniet.

Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen was seventh while fellow Queenslander Anthony West, who had qualified fifth, again undid the good work with his second jump start in three races and a ride-through penalty left him in 15th.

The victory completed a hat-trick of wins at Sepang for Stoner as he became the first rider to win all three classes at the track: 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP.

He also equalled the record of 17 points-scoring finishes in a single season set by American Colin Edwards in 2005.

"The biggest battle I had was being out front by myself and not having anything to focus on," Stoner said. "I’ve been finding that all year but this track seems to take that bit out of you a little more.

"Until halfway through the race, it was going really well, and then I had a couple of front-end loses – in one I was very close to coming off. I just tried to back off and keep a similar pace but with some different lines and different riding techniques.

"I managed to do it but I made a few mistakes in the process. Some laps … I backed off too much and gave them a bit of an advantage so I had to increase the pace again.

"As I crossed the line I started to feel a bit dizzy, so it was definitely a hard race."

AAP

Hull KR are set to sign Melbourne Storm enforcer Clint Newton after he was forced out of the Australian club by a salary-cap squeeze.

Newton, a key member of the Storm’s 2007 NRL team, has announced he will join the mass of Australian stars playing in England after agreeing to a two-year deal with the engage Super League club.

The move will complete a rollercoaster six months for the 26-year-old back-rower, who joined the Storm mid-season following a public spat with Newcastle Knights coach Brian Smith.

Newton is disappointed to be leaving the Storm but is excited by his next challenge.

"I’ve had a great time at the Storm and I’ll always be grateful they gave me the chance to continue playing in the NRL when I left Newcastle," Newton said.

"I can’t speak highly enough of the club and if there’s a chance of playing for them again in the future, I’d definitely be interested."

Newton has been released after fellow Melbourne back-rower Jeremy Smith rejected a lucrative three-year offer from the St George-Illawarra Dragons.

A calf muscle strain, a slight bit of misdirection and the death of a friend last week was not enough to keep Boyd Conrick down.

The Redhead athlete overcame adversity and shot to the lead with a strong bike leg to win the middle distance event at the 14th annual Maitland triathlon at Morpeth yesterday.

Conrick, who knocked off work at Cardiff Fire Station an hour before racing, said he thought his shot at winning the race was over about 2km into the 8km run leg when his calf muscle tightened up.

“I thought I was gone,” Conrick said.

But Conrick battled on despite the injury, which he first sustained in San Diego about 15 months ago, and didn’t allow his competitors see his pain.

“About 3km into the run I stopped around the corner so Timmy (second placed Tim Porter) could not see me and I rubbed it out,” Conrick said.

“It (calf muscle) did not tear but I had the feeling it was going.

The prodigal son of the Hunter athletics’ scene, Josh Ross will return to the stable of renowned Gillieston Heights’ trainer Tony Fairweather.

Australia’s fastest man Josh Ross will return to the Hunter Valley after a heart-to-heart with former coach Tony Fairweather this week, has seen the pair reunited 10 months out from the Beijing Olympics.

Ross, 26, has returned to the Gillieston Heights-based coach 12 months after leaving Fairweather "heartbroken" when the sprinter left suddenly last October to join Sydney-based coach Emil Rizk.

There were several things Fairweather needed to hear from Ross when they met on Wednesday, 12 months to the day since they parted ways, to discuss rekindling the partnership that ended so abruptly after five years.

They parted on good terms but it was never going to be a straight-forward decision for Fairweather, who 12 months ago described the Athens Olympian’s decision to leave as "gut wrenching".

The experienced coach had been helping Ross find a permanent home in the Hunter when Ross dropped the bombshell.

"The grass isn’t always greener on the other side and sometimes you
don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone," Fairweather said.

"I said to him ‘you started all of this and now you have to finish it’.

"There were some personal things he (also) said that meant a lot."

Fairweather was given the verbal commitment from Ross that he needed to
hear but did not stop short of drawing up a contract to avoid a repeat
walkout in future.

He was confident Ross had learned from his mistakes and Fairweather
said there were lessons there to be learned by other athletes.

"He broke my heart and for a while I thought about giving it (coaching) away myself," he said.

"I came very close to it but my wife (Alison) said I had other athletes and that I couldn’t leave them.

"I gave Josh a lot and if I had walked away (back then) where would he be now? I wouldn’t be his coach."

Fairweather and his wife Alison had become a second family to Ross over
the years, which made the "pain" of Ross’ departure all the harder to
take.

A year is a long time in any sport and Fairweather knows that better
than anyone, forced to watch Ross struggle at the this year’s world
championships.

Fairweather said while Ross clinched his third national title in March
he felt much of it was done on the five-year training base he had
created.

Thereafter things appeared to go down hill, with Ross joining fellow
Australian sprinter Patrick Johnson in missing the 100m finals at the
world championships in Osaka. Ross also chose to abandon his 200m and
4x100m relay commitments and returned home burnt out.

"The first thing I want him to do is go to a gym, because he didn’t go to one for the past 12 months," he said.

"His old coach didn’t believe in gym work. He has lost a lot of his
size and the power and strength that previously set him apart."

And while time is ticking for both coach and athlete ahead of the 2008
Olympics in Beijing and aside from sending Ross to a gym this week,
Fairweather was upbeat about the job ahead.

THEY didn’t want him in May. Now, the Knights are set to meet with Clint Newton about the stunning possibility of bringing the premiership winner back home.

Yesterday, Newton stepped off a plane from Thailand, where he was celebrating with Storm teammates, to learn that Newcastle chief executive Steve Burraston wants to talk to him – possibly as soon as Monday.

The development provides a glimmer of hope that the back-rower will return to his former club just five months after coach Brian Smith told him he wasn’t considered a "valuable asset".

Newton declined to discuss the prospect of returning to the Knights when contacted yesterday and said he wanted to stay at the Storm.

But that is becoming less likely by the day, with the premiers scrambling to find enough money to fit him into their groaning salary cap.

"My preference is to remain in Melbourne," Newton told the Herald.
"There are still a few things I’d like to achieve in the NRL. I’d like
to play more representative footy. At Melbourne, I can do that under
Craig Bellamy and the regime they have down there.

"If I don’t stay in the NRL, the other option is to go to England with
a big smile on my face and knowing I’ve shared something special with
some good mates."

It was not clear last night if Smith will attend the meeting, but
Burraston confirmed that any possible move for Newton was contingent on
the coach.

"Brian Smith returns from annual leave on Monday and I’ll be discussing the situation with him then," Burraston said.

"If he is interested, we’ll talk to [Knights development officer]
Warren Smiles to see if there are available funds in our cap. Our
problem will be finding room under the cap."

Newton and Smith would have to put a truckload of animosity behind them
if the player was to rejoin the Knights. After winning the grand final,
Newton said: "Loyalty is what got me to Melbourne. I played under Craig
Bellamy in the Country side and obviously he saw something in me that
the other bloke [Smith] didn’t, and that’s all you’re after as a
player."

Newton has a better relationship with Burraston, who coached him at Jersey Flegg level and for Australia and NSW under-19s.

"I’m becoming fairly frustrated at the situation," Newton said of not
knowing where he would be playing next year. "I would like to know what
my future holds. I don’t have an option anywhere [in the NRL] as it
stands now."

His best bet still remains the Super League, and he is considering a
two-year deal with Hull KR. Any deal to join the Knights would be
contingent on what happens with forward Kirk Reynoldson, who this week
took his case to the NRL appeals committee over the club’s decision not
to activate a clause in his contract giving him another year.

Any deal to remain at the Storm would depend on whether fellow
back-rower Jeremy Smith accepts a three-year deal to join St George
Illawarra.

HAVING gone over the handlebars during qualifying on Saturday, Casey Stoner needed a couple of painkillers for his aching back before launching his Ducati across the starting line yesterday.

Forty-one minutes and 12 seconds later, he was feeling no pain, having won the Australian MotoGP for the first time.

As he took the chequered flag, wife Adriana clambered in her high heels onto the concrete pit wall, joining the red throng of Ducati mechanics and officials who pumped their fists and hollered a dominant victory.

It was the first time she had celebrated in such a manner, a spontaneous gesture in recognition of the significance of this win to her husband.

Adriana said later that they would join about a dozen friends for a low-key dinner on the island, and "have a pretty early night — that’s just Casey".

Stoner would celebrate his 22nd birthday tomorrow by catching a flight to Malaysia for the penultimate leg of the MotoGP series, in Sepang on Sunday.

Stoner became the first Australian to win the event since Mick Doohan in 1998, and as he returned to pit straight, a huge section of the 50,425 poured over the fences and milled under the podium balcony.

Many would remain there for almost two hours, hopefully holding pens
and posters, settling for a glimpse of the champ if an autograph was
not possible.

Stoner described it as "by far the biggest crowd I’ve seen in
Australia", and agreed that the reason his face lit up when he stepped
onto the balcony minutes after the race was because "there was not one
millimetre between the faces in the crowd".

"This season has been magical for us, and to step on top of the podium this afternoon, I have never known anything like it."

It was that sort of day for Stoner. Ten minutes before the race, he
looked blissfully calm as he took his position on the front row of the
grid.

A swarm of mechanics, officials, photographers, sponsors and television
heads buzzed around him. Stoner sat placidly on his machine, the
ubiquitous and mini-skirted grid girl shading him under an umbrella.

Stoner explained that this serenity was because the world title was
already tucked away in his leathers, and he came to his home race under
no pressure, free to enjoy.

By the first corner it became even more enjoyable, after he overtook
Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa to snatch a lead he would never
surrender throughout the 120-kilometre, 27-lap race.

By the end of the first lap he led by four bike lengths. Midway through
the race he had settled into a rhythm and he extended the lead to the
length of the straight by lap 18.

In the garage his mechanics were relaxed and grinning, not once having to change the "P1" on his pit board. The most animated they became was when teammate Loris Capirossi leapt from fourth to second place during the 19th lap. Now Ducati sensed its first quinella of the season, and the Italian rider became the focus of team cheering.

Stoner looked untouchable throughout, and team boss Livio Suppo suggested he was now racing with the same belief and aura that stamped Rossi’s five-year dominance. "The more they win, the more they get the confidence and the more they are unbeatable, a winning machine," Suppo said.

In the post-race news conference, Stoner could not stop grinning. While Capirossi answered questions, he shared a joke with Rossi, belying the impression that their rivalry has a nasty edge.

But when asked, for the fourth consecutive day, a question about how his tyres gave him an edge, Stoner rolled his eyes, before again answering it with a rote reply. "I’m starting to get really used to it," he said.

But nothing could wipe away the joy.

Asked if he was aware of his responsibility to the next generation of motorcyclists, Stoner said that at 21 he had not given it deep thought. But he hoped his success and profile would stimulate the sport.

Sunday’s Maitland triathlon will now boast added importance to some competitors, with the event to kick off a new ‘Hunter Triathlon Series’ in an attempt to encourage triathletes from around the region to race locally.
H Events’ race director Paul Humphreys was recently given confirmation that the Maitland event would kickstart a new four-race series called the Hunter Triathlon Series.

The four races will be Maitland triathlon, Newcastle Olympic-distance triathlon in November, Newcastle Foreshore sprint event in February and Sparke Helmore/NBN triathlon at Newcastle in March.

Humphreys said the performance of Newcastle-based competitor Nathan Stewart to win three of the Hunter’s main races last season was the “catalyst” for him to introduce the concept, which has been popular in Sydney.

To be eligible for the series, competitors must race in three of the four events and individuals across each age group earn points from each race.

Clubs in the region will also earn points towards an overall club award, with Hunter clubs including Maitland, Tomaree, Singleton, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.

“The point system rewards people on their performance not just their place,” Humphreys said.

He said while most attention in the sport was often on the elite competitors, a series such as this helped cater for the non-elite competitors and encouraged them to race locally.

The Maitland event was given further good news this week with Louth Park’s Brendan Sexton confirmed to race in his hometown event on Sunday.

Sexton has enjoyed a solid international racing season, highlighted by a silver medal at the world triathlon championships in the under-23s at Germany in August.