Strong turnout for championships

It was good to see a great turnout of athletes at the Athletics Manawatū-Whanganui track and field championship in Palmerston North on Tuesday night.

Nga Tawa Diocesan School and Athletics Whanganui both brought buses to the meeting.

A highlight was seeing the return to competition of Addira Collette, who had been sidelined for almost three months with a serious arm injury.

The layoff hasn’t affected her ability, as once again the battle with sister Chayille for honours in the 200m was worth seeing.

Last week I mentioned new arrival Hana Syme, a talented 13-year-old and, despite being the youngest in the field, she figured prominently in the finish.

National 400m hurdles champion Jonathan Maples won the men’s 200m title.

First heptathlon

The feedback I have heard is Juliet McKinlay enjoyed the experience of competing in her first heptathlon at the Athletics New Zealand championships in Dunedin last weekend, finishing a creditable fifth.

She finished the competition with 4074 points, a very good effort.

She was in medal contention until the final two events, which were unfortunately her two weakest.

Former club member Angus Lyver, now based in Christchurch, won the national decathlon title.

Masters championships

There were some great results from the New Zealand masters championships in Christchurch and it was good to see many of our athletes who had to battle through injury woes rewarded.

Nessa Hodge, Brady Grant, Dale McMillan, Brian Curry, Hayden Robinson and Francie Bayler all returned home with their share of championship medals.

It was interesting to see the name Peter Crawford among the results in the M80 grade. He was Palmerston North club captain in the 1960s when employed by the city council.

He was ranked amongst the top shotput and discus throwers in the country, second only to Commonwealth champion Les Mills.

In order to have any local performances nationally recognised he needed to have another competitor compete against him and this task often fell to myself. As an incentive to get me to compete, I was allowed to double my distance, but even with this handicap I cannot recall having bettered Peter’s efforts.

Children’s championships

The Athletics Manawatū-Whanganui children’s championships will now be held at Palmerton North on Sunday, March 24 – because the original date clashed with the final day of the New Zealand championships, which would have resulted in some key officials being unavailable.