Young track stars put in impressive performances

This week I would like to highlight some of the impressive performances from the Palmerston North Athletic and Harrier Club’s younger athletes.

The standout in the girls’ 10 events has been Juliet Mckinlay, who at this week’s club meeting convincingly won the 60-metre, 100m and 400m races and was the top performer in both the discus and high jump. Certainly a most talented girl.

Julia Hutchinson also had a good night on Tuesday, winning both her races in the girls’ 7 events.

Brianna Gorrie was another to standout, in the girls’ 12 events, winning the 60m, 100m and 400m. Her older sister Monique won the girls’ 13 60m then competed in the open grade, winning the 400m and placing second in the 100m.

We have a talented group of young women competing in the girls’ 13 events. Kimberley Walsh, Jayde Rolfe, Georgie Furnell and twins Chayille and Addira Collette are just a few who come to mind.

Looking at the boys, the Kennedy family appear frequently among the top results, with Hunter winning the boys’ 11 60m and 100m races, Beau winning the boys’ 8 100m and finishing second behind Nohotu Wirihana-tawake in the 60m race, and Forbes winning the boys’ 13 60m and 100m races.

Looking at the field events, there were some good efforts in the boys’ 7 long jump. Christian Mier jumped 2.65m, Joshua Murdoch 2.53m and Jaxson Cochie 2.35m.

The winning girls’ effort of 2.3m was from Freya Drew. Chloe Goube was the best of the 8-year-old girls, with a 2.62m effort, while in a close contest in the 8-year old-boys, the win went to the 3.18m effort of Hunter Hall. He was just ahead of the 3.13m jump from Beau Kennedy. Caleb Murdoch had the longest jump of the evening, winning the boys’ 8 long jump with a 3.52m effort.

The 10- to 12-year-olds had discus and high jump. Alex Willis produced the best discus throw, winning the boys’ 12 event in 21.07m. Ben Murdoch won the boys’ 11 with his 18.98m throw.

Amber Trow had the best clearance in the high jump, winning the girls’ 12 event by clearing the bar at 1.35m, the same height as Johnny Rouxel in the boys’ 12.

Annabel Romero-gemmell and Hayley Cornwell both cleared 1.25m to tie the girls’ 11 high jump. It was the second tie of the night for Romero-gemmell, as her 60m race resulted in her dead heating with Eden Rolfe.

❚ There were big celebrations in Christchurch last weekend as the city hosted its first meeting on an all-weather track since the QEII track was destroyed in the 2011 earthquake. A new stadium has been built at the Nga Puna Wai Sports Hub. National high jump champion and former Palmerston North club member Hamish Kerr figured prominently in the sprints, winning both of the 100m and 145m races. Manawatu¯ athletes don’t know how lucky we are having a community track, which allows open usage, unlike many of the other tracks where usage is restricted and often payment is required to gain access. This is the case with the Christchurch track, where athletes need to pay more than $100 for a pass to train on the track.

❚ The first round of the Central Region Team Competition is in Hastings today, before the second round in Palmerston North the following week. Tomorrow is the first of the many ribbon days clubs host, with the Palmerston North club’s event starting at 10am. The Feilding Marathon is next Saturday, with races starting from Timona Park at 7.30am.

❚ Have watched some of the TV coverage of the Invictus Games, it has been great to see club member Matt Vangioni appearing. I witnessed a game of wheelchair rugby where Matt crossed for five tries in a game the New Zealand team won, and I also saw his three attempts in the long jump. He jumped 4.12m for his second-round jump, but unfortunately the TV coverage did not show the distance of his final jump, which appeared to be further. Certainly there’s some awe-inspiring viewing seeing the difficulties competitors have had to overcome.

❚ Don’t forget the Palmerston North Parkrun first birthday run today at 8.am from Fitzherbert Bridge.