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A Taradale schoolboy could be an unofficial world record holder after running a 5km road race in just 17m 20s in Rotorua over the weekend.
After the race in Rotorua, Jack Coombe (left) and fellow Napier runner Flynn Dobson (right) meet up with teenaged Tauranga running sensation Sam Ruthe. Photo / Supplied
Jack Coombe, an 11-year-old at Hereworth School in Havelock North and a member of Napier Harrier Club, ran the time in the all-ages People’s Runway5run in association with the Rotorua Marathon at the weekend.
There are no official records for the age group at the distance, mainly because there are few official 5km races for his age group.
But reports claim the previous fastest time by an 11-year-old on the road was 17m 28s – run by a girl.
A possible world-best 5000 metres time for an 11-year-old - Taradale schoolboy Jack Coombe finishing his race in Rotorua on Saturday. Photo / Supplied
The time is credited to Canadian prodigy Sawyer Nicholson, in a race linked to the Niagara Falls International Marathon in October 2023.
In his first “night” race – it was after 6pm – he was second to Tauranga teenager Daniel Addidle, who ran 16m 17s.
Coombe’s time was 1m 22s better than his previous best, of 18m 42s.
The race was also a big success for 10-year-old Napier runner Flynn Dobson, who was eighth, running a personal best of 18m 10s, while his sister, 15-year-old Paige Dobson, was fourth in the Under 18 age group of the national women’s championship race and eighth overall.
A list for best times on the track records American Daniel Skandera as running times on the track of 16m 42.6s at the age of nine and 15m 49.8s at the age of 10, but does not have any comparable times on the road.
Jack Coombe running on the track at the North Island Colgate Games in Hastings in January. He likes the road better, though, and in Rotorua on Saturday he may have set a world-best time for an 11-year-old over 5km. Photo / Athletics NZ
Jack Coombe also runs on the track in summer, but prefers longer distances, and the 5000m is not on the programme for the age group.
Nicholson, from Ontario, started running with her parents, but Andrew Coombe, the dad of Hawke’s Bay likely lad, says neither he nor wife Anne can claim any particular input, and if their son‘s ability stems anyone it would be from his granddad, who did a lot of running.
Jack Coombe at harriers cross-country in Hawke's Bay. "He just loves to run," says his dad. Photo / Supplied
“He just loves to run,” he said, as did coach Tony Snell, and both say it is the willpower and determination that stands out.
He trains three days a week but also plays football and other sports.
The parents were equally proud of their boy’s immediate post-race desire to shake hands with the winner before what was perhaps an even bigger moment.
He spotted already-celebrated and world-best age-group runner Sam Ruthe in the crowd and got to meet and shake hands with the teenaged star he had watched winning at 3000m on the track in Hastings in February aged 15, becoming the youngest-ever New Zealand senior track and field champion.
Ruthe later became the youngest athlete ever to run a mile in under four minutes.
Coombe’s time at the weekend would have been good enough to sneak into the top 40 in the national men’s 5km championship run on the same course, won by 24-year-old Wellington runner Toby Gualter in 14m 12s.
The women’s championship race was won by Auckland runner in 16m 25s, while second, in 16m 37s, was defending champion and Auckland-based Laura Nagel, also from Taradale.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.
