Lack of support mars regional athletics competition
What a contrast.
After officiating to capacity fields at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships in Hastings one week, there were almost non-existent fields at the Central Regional Championships held in Inglewood last Saturday.
It was disappointing for the athletes to see the lack of support this meeting received.
Despite this, we saw some good performances. Corinna Minko, after a convincing win in the 100 metres in 12.72 seconds, produced a season’s best to win the long jump, leaping 5.96m.
Kyla Gunn, 11, is the central region 1500m senior champion, winning the race in a personal best 5m 19.19s. She also finished second in the 800m, recording 2m 34.72s, behind her older sister Ashleigh, who took out the title with a winning time of 2m 23.94s.
Both the men’s 800m and 1500m titles went to the New Zealand Schools 3000m champion Liam Back, winning the 800m in 1m 58.40s and the 1500m in 4m 20.56s.
Theo Purdy decided to get value for his entry fee, competing in eight events. Purdy was third in the 400m, running a personal best 64.99s, fourth in the 800m in 2m 21.89s, second in the 1500m in 4m 41.64s.
He then heard David Lovelock was the only entrant in the 5000m and offered to join him, finishing in 18m 7.19s, someway behind Lovelock, who cut out the 5k journey in 16m35.08. Purdy also competed in a couple of field events.
Hunter Chambers-ngata was the youngest in the men’s sprints, finishing fourth in the 100m in 13.94s, third in the 200m in 28.68s and second in the 400m in 60.51s.
Mark Seumanu had a good meeting, taking out three titles. He won the long jump, with a best of 5.34m, and the triple jump, with an 11.46m best. He then cleared 1.8m to win the high jump, before failing at three attempts at 1.88m, which would have been a school record.
Courtney Trow cleared 1.48m for second place in the women’s high jump, an event won by Keeley O’hagan, a former national representative with a 1.79m clearance.
We had two athletes competing in the Australian Aoll Schools Championships in Adelaide last week.
I’m told that to Lea Meutzal’s horror after clearing all heights up to 1.6m in the high jump, as she went to attempt the next height, she discovered her take-off check markers had been kicked away. This, unfortunately, upset her preparation and she failed her next three attempts, going out of the competition in eighth place – another good learning experience.
Bradyn Popow found the standard of walking in Australia considerably higher than in this country, finishing his 3-kilometre walk in 14th place taking 17m 49.4s to complete the race.
The much-awaited resurfacing of the Manawatu¯ Community Athletic Track is getting very close, but unfortunately is going to bring considerable disruption to the next couple of months for local athletes.
It was hoped that during the resurfacing, the area of the track that was not being worked on would be available for supervised use.
However, this is not possible, as Massey University’s health and safety policy requires all access to the track be closed from January 3 until February 23, or an earlier date if the resurfacing is completed sooner.
Local coaches are still looking at the alternatives, so watch this space.
What’s on:
December 12: Palmerston North Athletics programme B
December 12: Ashhurst Athletic Club final night
December 13: Feilding Athletic Club final night December 17: Levin ribbon day December 19: Palmerston North Athletics programme C final night.
The Manawatu¯ Community Athletic Track is in for a makeover.