Manawatu¯ athletes get the jump on their rivals
Manawatu¯ athletes have dominated the Jumps in Paradise meeting held to celebrate the resurfacing of the Manawatu¯ Community Athletic Track.
Despite the bad weather on Saturday, the meeting was an outstanding success.
Our leading athletes put out the challenge to the country’s other top performers: ‘‘Can you beat me on my home patch?’’
The answer proved to be no, with Hamish Kerr, Corinna Minko and Jorden Peters all winning their events.
Stadium records to Hamish Kerr and Matt Walsh were the meeting’s highlights – quite outstanding efforts in the conditions.
Having to contend with a wet surface after some heavy showers during the competition, Hamish Kerr was successful in clearing 2.16 metres, bettering the stadium record of 2.12m set by Australian Brandon Starc in 2011.
In a repeat of the placings at the national championships two weeks ago, Billy Crayford cleared 1.99m for second and Marcus Walton was third, clearing 1.96m.
Local junior Mark Seumanu finished fifth, with his 1.75m.
Kerr, who is now based in Christchurch, and Crayford were both impressed with the new surface and were keen to try it out when the surface is dry.
National champion Keeley O’hagen was just short of the stadium record record of 1.82m when she won the women’s high jump, with a 1.81m clearance. She finished well clear of runner-up Emma Sutherland, who jumped 1.74m.
Local high jumpers Ranae Savill and Lea Muetzel both went out of the competition at 1.60m, with Savill being awarded the third placing on countback. Courtney Trow finished fifth, with 1.55m.
Matt Walsh, from Christchurch, bettered the stadium record for a 19-year-old on three occasions in winning the open triple jump, with a best of 14.55m. Scott Thomson finished second, with a best of 14.26m.
Anna Thomson jumped 12.44m to win the women’s triple jump.
The men’s long jump went down to the wire, with Jordan Peters and Matt Wyatt swapping the lead throughout the competition.
Wyatt took the lead with his second-round leap of 6.72m, but after having fouled his first two attempts, Peters responded to the pressure to take the lead with a 6.8m leap in the next round.
Wyatt grabbed the lead back in round five, with a 6.89m leap, which Peters just failed to match, leaping 6.88m. But it was Peters who responded best in the final round of the competition, jumping back into first place with a competition-best leap of 7.15m.
Corrina Minko proved to be the best of the women’s long jumpers, leading throughout the competition. Her best leap was 5.89m, comfortably ahead of Ashleigh Bennett, whose best was 5.65m.
Anna Thomson followed up her triple jump title, taking third place with a best of 5.37m, just ahead of Whanganui athlete Genna Maple’s 5.24m effort.
It was great to see many of our younger athletes take advantage of competing against the best, with Emma Leader finishing ninth with 4.74m, and Kyra Tikitike 12th, with 4.38m.
Pavinee Watson was battling injury and withdrew from the competition after her first-round leap of 4.97m. She placed sixth.
The meeting also had a competition for the 12-and-under boys and it was great to see the senior competitors lining up beside the runway, giving these athletes support. I think it would be the first time any of them have competed with clapping as they ran down the runway.
Forbes Kennedy took out this event, jumping 4.72m ahead of brother Hunter, who jumped 4.21m. Christian Falloon was third with 3.87m and Beau Kennedy fourth with 3.09m.
The feedback from the athletes was positive and I am certain this will become a permanent feature on the calendar.
■ Last week’s club night featured an outstanding race over 1500m, with Benjamin Wall running 3m 55.81 seconds, which bettered the Athletics Manawatu¯ Whanganui centre record and centre open records for both 16-yearolds and 17-year-olds. It was also a centre record for 18-year-olds. Centre open records are for performances anywhere in the world, whereas a centre record can only be set on a location within the centre. Andre Le Pine-day finished second in 4m 1.8s and Noah Macdermid third in 4m 5.63s, both big personal bests.
Wall and Le Pine-day both travelled to Auckland on Sunday, representing Athletics Manawatu¯ Whanganui in the Sir John Walker mile. Wall finished third, running 4m 20.06s.