Triple jump record smashed
Astadium record for the triple jump was the highlight of the first Arthur Eustace Memorial Meeting last weekend.
Hosted by the Palmerston North Athletic and Harrier Club at the Manawatu¯ Community Athletic Track on Saturday, there was a disappointing turnout, but a high standard of competition.
Unfortunately, the gusting winds meant many of the horizontal jumps recorded wind assistance in excess of the allowable 2 metres per second (mps), preventing them being recognised for ranking purposes.
In the triple jump, Anna Thomson took out the competition with her final round leap of 12.67m, with a following of wind of 2.4mps. However, her third round leap of 12.62m was achieved with a legal wind reading of 1.7m and bettered the existing stadium record of 12.44m, which she set at the Jumps in Paradise meeting last March. Her brother Scott took out the men’s triple jump, with a windassisted best of 14.64m.
The long jump was a good battle between the second and thirdplaced jumpers at last season’s national championships. Corinna Minco took out the competition with a season’s best 6.08m. Ashleigh Bennett, in her first competition back from injury, was happy with her 5.64m best. Jordan Peters would be pleased with his legal 7.22m in winning the men’s long jump.
The women’s 400m produced one of the best performances on the track, with 13-year-old Monique Gorrie coming through over the concluding stages to run down Pavinee Watson. Her winning time of 60.72s is only one hundredth of a second short of Stephanie Dickins’ record for 13 year olds. Watson recorded 61.64s for second. Thirdplace getter Kimberley Walsh recorded a personal best 62.52s.
There were two heats in the women’s 100m, with Minko taking out the sprint in 12.81s from Bennett, 13.37s. Chayille Collette won the B-grade heat in 13.94s, the third fastest over the 100m sprint. Watson took out the 200m in 27.08s from Walsh, 27.81s, and Gorrie, 28.02s.
Brayden Grant was the top male sprinter, taking out the 100m in 11.77s, the 200m in 23.96, and the 400m in 50.93s. Joseph Chamberlain set a personal best of 52.38s in finishing second in the 400m.
Sam Mackinder ran a solo 17.79s to win the 100m hurdles, while Emma Leader took 13.21s to complete the 80m hurdles. Leader was excited at last Tuesday’s club night when she discovered she was clocked at 12.91s after a polished display over the hurdles. This was a big personal bestand her first sub13s run. The hard work is certainly paying off for her.
❚ Some great news out of Christchurch, with former club athlete Hamish Kerr becoming the country’s second best ever high jumper, clearing 2.25m.
He will no doubt be looking at that No 1 spot, which is 2.60m. Also, in the national round up of performances, it was great to see Stacey Gunn winning the triple jump in Dunedin, with a 10.85m best.
❚ Several talented Whanganui athletes were part of the New Zealand Secondary School team that competed in the Australian All Schools Championships in Cairns.
One of the top results was the run from Emma Osborne, who finished third in the 400m in a personal best of 55.58s, which is an Athletics Manawatu Wanganui open record for all grades from 15 to 20-year-olds. She also recorded a personal best in the 800m.
❚ I was interested to see a Facebook posting photo of Ashleigh Gunn with a couple of the trophies she was presented with at the Freyberg High School prizegiving.
One was the Howell Manning Cup, which would have been presented by two of the school’s top sprinters of the late 1960s, Pauline Howell and Glenys Manning.
Pauline is probably familiar to many as Pauline Tonner, a longserving teacher at Palmerston North Girls’ High School.
The other trophy was the S Oxenham Cup. This cup would have been donated by Sylvia Oxenham, the school’s head girl in 1961. She is possibly better remembered as Sylvia Potts, one of the country’s finest.
These are great trophies to have one’s name on and it is impressive to learn they are still around after more than 50 years.
Many significant trophies appear to have disappeared. I can recall many years ago attending a function in Levin where the attendees donated the Molly Dorne Trophy, to be awarded to the Athletics Manawatu Wanganui athlete of the year.
The last time I recall this trophy being presented was during the 1990s, when we held our championships on the Hastings allweather track.
Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a record of who was it was presented to and this valued trophy sits somewhere where it doesn’t belong. It would be lovely to get it back.
I know this isn’t the only centre trophy that has gone walkabout, as there was a BNZ Cup for the mostimproved athlete. I think this one may have disappeared at the same time as the Molly Dorne Trophy.
❚ This weekend, Peters, Minko and Watson are travelling to Hamilton to compete in the North Island Championships.
Tuesday will be the final club night for this year. With Christmas Day and New Year’s Day both being Tuesdays, the next club meeting will be January 8.