Celebrating our newest Life Members

At the Athletics SA AGM last night, we were delighted to announce Lisa Attenborough and Lynn Larsen as the association's newest life members.

LISA ATTENBOROUGH

Part of the South Australian athletic fraternity for more than 30 years, Lisa Attenborough has performed in every sphere of athletics - as an athlete, volunteer, scout, administrator and official.

Lisa first competed for SA in the late 1980's/early 1990's as a sprinter - preferring 200 & 400, and first represented the state as a junior athlete, but continued her journey as a sprinter up to and including as a masters athlete - also dabbling as a 400 hurdler.

Lisa then moved into coaching, co-coaching with Lynn Larsen until having to retire due to illness but also because she was - and still is - heavily involved as an athletics administrator, volunteer and official with ASA, Australian Masters and SAMA.

Lisa has had two stints working with ASA - the intervening years she honed her skills as an administrator, trouble shooter & problem solver. She returned to ASA in 2019 as a highly skilled and valuable member of the ASA staffing group – currently holding the role ofOperations and Events Manager.

She has been a member of Pembroke and SA Masters athletic clubs and has served as a committee member in both clubs - currently she volunteers as treasurer for Australian Masters Athletics.

As an official Lisa regularly volunteers at ASA, Masters and school events. She has also officiated at Athletics Australia and Masters national championships - and last Easter was part of the team that organised a successful national Masters Championships in Hobart. She is leading the team tasked with the organisation of the Australian Masters Championships in Adelaide next year.

This year was a big one as Lisa took on the role of Australian Team Manager for the World Masters Games in Europe.

Lisa has played a very significant role in developing, maintaining and growing athletics at all levels of athletics in South Australia. She is totally committed to her role, going far beyond the parameters of her official position to promote South Australian athletics at home and on the national scene.

LYNN LARSEN

Lynn Larsen has been associated with Hills Districts Athletic Club for over 20 years; she has coached numerous Hills DAC able bodied athletes over the years such as David Rose, Andrea Sparrow, Lynette Viney-Mattingly who have all had success at National level.

Lynn is a Level V certified coach and in 2012 she commenced coaching para-athletes – firstly, Sam Paech, followed by Brayden Davidson, Jack Netting & now she has a group of seven para-athletes many who have had success at National and International level, including Paralympic Gold in Rio for Brayden.

She also coaches a number of masters athletes such as Sarah Chinner and Gerry Doyle, and integrates able bodied, para and masters athletes fully into her coaching group.

Lynn has lectured in Level I & II courses for Athletics SA. She has been paramount in ensuring the continuing high quality of coaching education in South Australia and empowering coaches to better support athletes at all levels. This has resulted in improved training methods, enhanced athlete development, and ultimately, elevated performance standards within our state's athletics community.

Lynn has encouraged and enabled female athletes to achieve their goals and has been a strong advocate for South Australian para-athletes for over 12 years.

She has acted as a volunteer at Athletics SA interclub meets and state titles and as an official at school meets.

More recently she and husband Bill established the Larsen Athletics Scholarship to support young athletes who love athletics but are struggling to afford the costs associated with training and competing.