Mazenod have produced two Olympians in the past decade in club legend Dale Grant and Australian 1500m champion Jeff Risely, both are pursuing achievements away from the football club and both may one day return.
Dale Grant is surely one of the most remarkable athletes to have played Amateur football. Despite missing half of his right arm, he has played nearly 200 games with Mazenod, represented Australia as a swimmer at the 2004 paralympics and was recently selected in the Australian para-triathlon squad which will contest the Triathlon World Cup Final in October.
Dale commenced with Mazenod in 1997, playing two seasons with the under 19s before moving into the senior ranks. In 2001, Dale was promoted to the senior team, which was in A-grade at the time, but quit football at the end of the season to focus on swimming.
He was selected to represent Australia at the Athens games in 2004. Never one for early mornings, Dale retired from swimming in 2005 and returned to playing football.
In 2011, he starred in Mazenod’s Club XVIII premiership team and at the start of the 2012 season, needed to play just eight games to reach 200. However, he was selected to represent Australia in a second sport, this time triathlon, and will travel to Auckland in October for the triathlon world cup final.
Dale is a hugely popular member of the club and has vowed to play again in 2013 in order to reach te 200 game milestone.
One Australian who we are all hoping does well this week is Jeff Risely in the 1500m on Saturday and the 800m on Monday at the Olympic Stadium in London.
Jeff played one year of Under 19s at Mazenod in 2004 and was considered to be a bright prospect for the club.
However, he soon realised that his phenomenal endurance ability would be better utilsed on an athletics track and decided to focus on athletics at the end of the season (much to the relief of everyone who trailled behind him on the many pre-season runs).
He represented Australia in the 1500m at the 2008 Beijing Games before doubling up in London this week with two events.
Despite his very laid back appearance, Jeff would have to be one of the hardest working athletes in Australia, running an average of 160km every week.
His hard work has paid dividends with two Olympics and two Australian championships in the 1500m under his belt.
Good luck this week Jeff!
Thanks to Steve Paloucci for the input here!
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