Hawke's Bay runner Geordie Beamish at the Commonwealth Games, sixth in the 5000 metres. Photo / Alisha Lovrich
Hawke's Bay runner Geordie Beamish at the Commonwealth Games, sixth in the 5000 metres. Photo / Alisha Lovrich
Hawke's Bay runner Geordie Beamish has wrapped up a big few months' introduction to top international competition by finishing sixth in the Commonwealth Games 5000 metres in Birmingham.
Having run a New Zealand indoor 5000m record of 13min 12.53sec in the US last December, the 25-year-old son of Simon andJosi Beamish, of Havelock North, then represented New Zealand in the 3000m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Belgrade on March 20, and the 5000m at the outdoor championships in Eugene, Oregon, on July 21, where he ran a disappointing 13min 36.86sec.
The first Hawke's Bay runner in Commonwealth Games track and field events since Napier's Jason Stewart ran the 800m in Melbourne in 2006, Beamish described conditions in Birmingham on Saturday (Sunday morning NZT) as ideal.
He ran midfield in the 20-man event, and picked up the placings on the last bend and in straight to finish in 13min 21.71sec, close to two seconds outside his outdoor best of 13min 19.9sec run in France on June 18.
An accomplished runner before heading to Whanganui Collegiate and then a scholarship in the US, Beamish was not particularly disappointed in the Games run, accepting he could not have beaten winner Jacob Kiplimo (13min 8.08sec) or the second-and-third Kenyan speedsters who also made the podium - the three separated by just 0.4sec.
But he told media afterwards if he'd chosen his moment better be thought he could have taken fourth place ahead of Englishman Marc Scott, who clocked 13min 19.64sec.
"It was a step in the right direction to be a part of the New Zealand team and to compete here in this incredible stadium," he said.
A young Geordie Beamish in a New Zealand singlet after an Under 20 race win at the Potts Classic in Hastings in 2015. Photo / NZME
"I was feeling pretty good for the majority, pretty comfortable, but then the Kenyans really turned it on the last mile, and I lost a bit of contact with the second group. The top three are probably in a different league, but I thought I probably could have got fourth. I should have hung on to those next couple of athletes (the fourth and fifth place finishers).
"I got stuck in no man's land (in the last four laps) with a bit of wind for a while, but I had a good last lap, so I'm not too disappointed," he said.
The performance was part of a continuing signal of a golden era in New Zealand track athletes, highlighted by Papamoa runner Sam Tanner who described himself as "the happiest sixth-placegetter" after becoming New Zealand's second-fastest runner over 1500 metres – better even than past Olympic Games heroes Peter Snell and John Walker.
The winner of a second New Zealand 1500m title when he ran 3min 41.97sec in Hastings in March, his 3min 31.34sec in Birmingham was a personal best by about three seconds.
Hawke's Bay's only other games competitor in individual events was weightlifter Junior Tasi, who was unsuccessful in his 109kg division midweek.
