Marathon sees athletes emerge from Covid hiatus

The Rotorua Marathon turned out to be historic, being one of the first mass-participation events staged anywhere in the world since the outbreak of the global pandemic.

There were some great results for local athletes last Saturday, with Feilding Moa’s Nick Johnston finishing third in 2 hours 31 minutes and 52 seconds, followed across the line by Matt Parsonage, a former Palmerston North Athletic and Harrier Club member.

David Lovelock was 14th, taking 2h 37m and 04s to complete the journey. Mark Searle came 31st in 3h 11m and 45s.

Pat Stichbury was fifth in her 60-64 age category, taking 5h 16m and 51s. She was 304th overall. James Burnside took 6h 10m and 40s for 376th.

Many of us will remember Meas Muth as one of our most popular members back in the 1990s – the boy from Freyberg High School with the big smile on his face. It was great to see his name among the results. Living in Hamilton hewas the 115th finisher in 3h 52m and 15s. It brought a smile to my face seeing this.

The strong wind and rain made life difficult for athletes and officials at the final round of the Winter Track and Field series in Masterton on Sunday.

Despite these conditions good performances were recorded.

Monique Gorrie was once again in good form, winning the 100 metres in 13.28s and the 400m in 61.33s.

In the men’s sprints it was great to see there was the need for three heats in the 100m. Cody Wilson won the first heat in 10.94s and Angus Lyver the second in 11.39s, a time that would have placed him third in the A race. Dylan Calder was second in the third heat, running 12.15s.

Running his first 400m in many years Lyver showed great form to win the event in 52.87s.

He completed a busy day by winning the long jump with a best effort of 6.13m. Louis Northcott had a best jump of 5.96m, after finishing third behind Lyver in his 100m heat.

Pavinee Watson celebrated her birthday with a 4.86m jump.

Victoria Kitchen competed in the 1500m, finishing in 7m 02.93s. One of the impressive runs came from Whanganui’s George Lambert, who won the 5000m in 15m 45.45s

The Palmerston North Athletic and Harrier Club’s opening club night is on Tuesday.

On Sunday October 11 they are holding their prize giving at the Lido, starting at 1pm. This is for children who were 7-14 last season. There are loads of certificates unable to be awarded in April and this will be a great way to start the 2020-21 athletics season.

The club will cover the entry fee to the Lido. Please bring something to share for afternoon tea.

The run jump throw programme for the under 7s begins on October 13.

The Athletics New Zealand Road Relay Championships in Feilding today is the first championship since Covid-19 disrupted our season.

The best chance of seeing a local winner appear to be the host club Feilding Moa Harriers’ under-20 men’s team. In Benjamin Wall, Andre Le Pine-day, Sam Parry, Luke Scott, Samuel Phillips and Samuel Stichbury they have a strong team that will be hard to beat.

Feilding Moa are well represented and will contest the senior men’s and senior women’s events on the long course, and have two teams entered in both the under-20 men’s and under-20 women’s events on the shorter course. The Palmerston North Athletic and Harrier Club have a mixed team entered in the social-grade event.

As well as supporting the local teams followers will be able to recognise many former local athletes competing for other clubs.

In the senior men’s race Josh Baan is part of the Hill City team, from Dunedin. Niam Macdonald represents Wellington Scottish and Harrison Porritt is in the North Harbour Bays team. The Wellington Scottish 35-49 B team includes two ex-local athletes in AJ Marquet and Jim Jones. Theo Purdy will be wearing Wellington Harrier and Athletic Club colours in the under-20 events. Olivia Burne now competes for Auckland City and is sure to be one of the standout performances in her leg of the senior women’s event.

Kowhai Park is the start and finish line for the event, with a start time of 8.30am for the senior races and 9am for the under-20 races.