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 and Josi 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.