These athletes will now have to focus on the Manawatū and North Island secondary school championships. ♦ The masters athletes were more fortunate because their national championships were last weekend in Inglewood, and only the final day needed to be adjusted to meet Covid-19 regulations. Brayden Grant performed well, winning gold medals in the M35 grade in the 60m, 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m events. His winning time in the 400m of 50.16 seconds was a national record. Andrew Matsuoka Webber was second in the 100m, 200m and 400m races. Hayden Robinson won the M40 400m and was third in the 100m and 200m races.
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There has now been 69 sub-four-minute miles completed on the track. Benjamin Wall did not go with the early pace, but led the chasing bunch home, finishing very strongly for fifth place in 4m 3.95s. This was a personal best and a good indication he could be the first Palmerston North athlete. Noah Macdermid also achieved a big personal best, coming home 11th in 4m 10.22s. The meeting got off to a good start for Palmerston North, with Chayille Collette running a personal best of 12.39s in winning the women’s 100 metres. Later in the evening she ran another personal best of 25.39s, finishing second in the 200m.
“At Colgate Games enjoy jumping the way you did at training.” Building confidence is important for these athletes so the sessions conducted will prove invaluable knowing how to get your run up right for the long jump or high jump. Knowing when to take off for a relay change and how to set up for a sprint are all things that can make a difference on the day. I loved the introduction George McConachy gave at the start of the open women’s sprint announcing each athlete from lanes one to five as being gold medallists from the New Zealand secondary school championships.
The Boys’ High senior boys’ 4x100m relay team of Aden Porritt, Caleb Evans, Dirki Botha and Angus Lyver won the senior title. The silver medallists were Angus Lyver in the senior boys’ long jump and Kimberley Walsh in the junior girls’ 400m. Bronze medals went to Lyver in the senior boys’ 200m, and in the senior girls’ events, Sam Mackinder in the javelin and Courtney Trow in the high jump. The junior girls’ 400m produced the perfect result for Tara Rolfe’s training squad, with Monique Gorrie of Girls’ High winning the title and Kimberley Walsh of St Peter’s finishing second. Both ran big personal bests. Their times would have placed them second and third in the senior race.