Our next round this Saturday 25. February is one of the highlights of the season: The Relayathon. Read below for more information.

We are going to run an enhanced Program 3.

• Under 6-8 families: Please arrive by 8:15 am for an 8:30 am start.
• Under 9-17 families: Please arrive at 9:45 am for a 10:00 am start. An exception are the U12 families! We will run your 800m race already at 9:45. If you wish to participate, please be ready to start at this time.

U8 families: Set-up duty. Please arrive at 7:30 am and sign in to have your duty recorded.
U9 families: Pack-up duty. Please remember to sign out when we are finished packing up. 

For all mid-session duties: Please sign up for the duty at the start of the session, grab a vest and ensure you have your name recorded at the Duty Board so we can count it for Duty Bond refunds. 

Only 3 regular rounds remain until the end of the season, this Saturday included. If you would like to confirm how many counting duties you have performed, please verify it with Sophie on Saturday or send us an email. If you still need to complete duties: we are always short on help during the session and are often short on set-up.

Fingers crossed for the weather - please remember to bring hats, sunscreen, drink bottles and chest patches.

As usual, drinks, snacks and BBQ will be available for purchase. 

Relayathon: 
The Relayathon is a fundraising event for the Royal Children's Hospital, endorsed by LAVic. It is a continuous relay using a single baton, where the overall aim is to work together to run as many laps as possible within a three hour period. At Mentone we add an additional element where age-group teams compete to see who can run the most laps in a set period of time. 

The basic rules are as follows:

• Relayathon will start at 9am and finish at 12 noon.
• Girls and boys from the same age group will run as an age-group team.
• Age-group teams will have 20 minute time periods to run as many laps as possible.
• Athletes must run relay legs of at least 100m.
• Only completed laps are counted toward the age-group team tally.
• Family and friends may also run in the gaps between age-group teams or help if their child's age-group team gets tired, although at least one Athlete from the age-group team must run a leg of each lap during their timeslot.
• Change-over stations will be at the middle of each straight and the middle of each bend.
• Additional Parent Helpers are needed to oversee the change-over stations.

Cash and EFT donations can be made on the day and will go to the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal.  The Centre will match these donations up to a limit of $500.  If you make an online donation directly to the Good Friday Appeal, send your receipt to mentone@lavic.com.au before the 15th March and we will also match these donations up to our limit.

Athletes are also encouraged to generate sponsorship money - for example they could ask for sponsors for their age-group team on a per lap basis. As a guide, teams do 10-15 laps.

Mentone LAC will also donate a base amount of $250 to the Monash Children's Hospital, AND an additional $3 per lap to Monash. We feel this is important as our kids are more likely to go to Monash in an emergency.