Manawatu athletes break new ground
Palmerston North Club athletes were among those grabbing the headlines at the Porritt Classic in Hamilton last Saturday.
Ben Langton-burnell broke the 80m barrier for the first time with his 80.38m javelin throw.
It’s not only a personal best for Ben, but the first step towards representing New Zealand at next year’s Commonwealth Games.
His throw exceeds the B qualifying selection standard, but with quotas being applied to team sizes and Athletics New Zealand being advised their quota is 19 athletes, selection cannot be guaranteed.
Hamish Kerr became only the third New Zealander to clear 2.17m in winning the high jump, a height which is a B qualifying standard for the World University Games in Taiwan in August.
After winning his heat of the 100m in 11.01s, Zac Topping had to be satisfied with fourth in the final, clocking 10.71s. He finished third behind former Palmerston North club athlete William Smart in the 200m.
Smart ran 21.58s and Topping 21.68s.
Quin Hartley was second in the 400m, running 49.43s, after running 11.35s in his 100m heat, but he failed to qualify for the final.
Aidan Smith was another to fail to qualify in the 100m, finishing sixth in the heat won by Topping.
Smith was fourth in the javelin with a best throw of 52.23m.
Vanessa Story had a busy day contesting the 100m, 200m and 400m. She finished sixth in the 100m heat, running 13.11s, not qualifying for the final, and was fifth in the second division 200m race in 27.15m.
Unfortunately she missed the start of the women’s 400m due to a starting error, but ended up running against the men and she ran 61.91s.
Hannah Tichbon finished third in the 400m in 60.59s.
Pavinee Watson was another not to reach the 100m final, finishing sixth in her heat in 13.16s. In her more favoured long jump her best leap was 5.15m for seventh.
The event being won by former Palmerston North club member Ashleigh Sando.
Jordan Peters was down on form in the long jump, having to be satisfied with a best effort of 6.75m, placing him fourth.
Lea Muetzel cleared 1.60m in the high jump for sixth.
In the throwing events, athletes are allowed to throw their age-grade implements.
Jack Lewer is a Para athlete competing in open competition and he threw 10.39m with the 6kg shot and 27.58m with the 1.75kg discus.
Liam Woolford, using the 2kg discus, tossed 29.75m, with Callum Mcconachy competing in the hammer and throwing 44.39m.
David Lovelock contested the 500m and finished ninth in 15m 41.27s.
Last week I covered the success of Braden Grant and Lisa Trow at the New Zealand Masters Games and promised to cover more successes once official results became available.
I was surprised to discover how poor the entries were, with many age-grade events only having one or two competitors.
However, one should not take away the successes of those that did compete.
Gold medals were won by Dale Mcmillan, Jen Fee, Laurie Malcolmson, Brian Curry, Leanne Porritt, Robert Dabb, Vicky Whiteman, Malcolm Chamberlain, Juanita Paterson, Jill Evans, Narelle Cribb, David Cushing and Mike Shepherd.
This listing included a couple of the names I recognise as parents of our club members and I am told there are a couple more parents, both former national age-group titleholders, who are now regulars at club training sessions.
This week is the first night of the Athletics Manawatuwanganui championships on Tuesday, during the Palmerston North club night .
The long hurdles, javelin, pole vault and hammer will be contested.
The second night of the championships will also be in Palmerston North the following Tuesday, with the final night in Wanganui on February 28.
The Nitro Athletics series in Melbourne has concluded and has introduced some new concepts that could make our sport more appealing.
Joseph Millar made a big impression after winning the sprint events in the first two meetings.
This meantthe Bolt All Stars felt the need bring out their guns, with Usain Bolt contesting the 150m race and Asafa Powell the 60m in the final meet.
Bolt was all class, cruising to the line, but Millar was well clear of the rest in second place.
I think the concept could take off with a lot more of our leading athletes keen to take part.