Stadium record throw for Palmer in shot put
Nick Palmer claimed a stadium record as he threw 18.01m in the shot put in the opening round of the winter track and field series at the Manawatu Community Athletic Track on Sunday.
It was the record for a 17-year-old using a 5kg shot put.
Jack Lewer got the 6kg shot put out to 11.13m to take second place.
The high jumpers were again in good form with Jacob Aomarere-poole clearing 1.80m to take the men’s event with Gerald Hickey’s 1.75m clearance giving him second.
Ranae Savill took out the women’s event with 1.60m from Imogen Skelton and Courtney Trow, who both cleared 1.55m.
One of the country’s top long jumpers, Corinna Minko, was consistent in her attempts with 5.61m being her best effort on the day and good enough for the win.
Ariana Blackwood only had two jumps before heading off to compete in the 400m and would be pleased with her efforts of 4.85m and 4.87m to give her second. She won the 400m in a very good 61.91s and looks in great shape to do well in the Oceania Championships on Fiji next week.
Laura Hamilton took third with a 4.66m leap just ahead of Pavinee Watson’s 4.51m.
The men’s long jump proved to be an interesting battle with Brendon Barnett’s best of 6.42m giving him victory over Jordan Peters (6.38m) and Vikas Nautiyal third with 5.11m.
Callum Mcconachy has shown that competition in the Strongmen’s competition had not affected his throwing ability winning the masters hammer throw with a 37.6m.
Gillian Evans had a good series of throws winning the discus (18.33m), shot put (7.74m) and hammer (24.71m).
Another masters athlete, Mike Shephard, had a busy day in the high jump clearing 1.10m, throwing the discus 23.81m and long jumping 2.84m. Not bad efforts for a 78-year-old.
Zac Topping popped down to the track in his lunch hour to run the 100m in 10.97s, taking victory from Jordan Peters and Brayden Grant.
The middle distance races saw the 1000m, 3000m and 5000m race being run as a combined race.
Grant was impressive taking 2m 55.64s to cut out 1000m with Liam Back finishing too strongly to take out the 3000m from Benjamin Wall in 9m 00.87s.
Back, who is a student at Wanganui Collegiate, won the
New Zealand Secondary School Junior Cross Country title in Christchurch last week.
Theo Purdy continued on to take out the 5000m running 16m44.41s.
Braydn Popow, competing as a walker, completed his 3000m walk in 17m 29.65s.
The 1500m race was taken out by Max Spencer in 4m17.36s. Benjamin Wall was next home followed by Max Erkes, Andre Le Pine-day and Liam Wall.
Sam Merson, a member of the Athletics Manawatu Wanganui 4x400 relay team which took out the national title, was a comfortable winner in the 400m in 53.77, finishing ahead of Scott Thomson, better known for his triple jumping ability.
One of the benefits of this outof-season competition is the lowkey nature of event and is a great opportunity for some of our younger athletes to gain some valuable experience competing against older athletes.
Thirteen-year-old Monique Gorrie was be one to benefit. She proved very competitive in the long jump, producing her best effort of 4.11m in the final round.
I would suspect this meeting may have been the first where she has competed in where the top jumpers get six attempts.
She finished fourth in the 100m (14.45s) and second in the 400m (68.21s).
Another youngster to impress was Kylah Gunn who ran the 3000m in 11m54.95s.
It was a very successful meeting with most athletes looking forward to the next round of the series in Masterton on July 16.
As I mentioned last week, we have a number of overseas results to follow in the coming week or two.
Matt Field is in Spain to compete in the World Transplant Games.
Chris Sanson runs the Gold Coast Airport Marathon which is also the Oceania Marathon Championships, while Ariana Blackwood, Tessa Webb and Ben Langton-burnell compete in the Oceania Championships in Fiji.
On the local scene, Taupo hosts the North Island Cross Country Championships, always one of the highlight meetings during the harrier season.