Aaron Pulford of New Zealand runs in the 10,000 Metre Final on day two of the 13th IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships at the Stade Moncton 2010 Stadium.
Aaron Pulford and Lydia O'Donnell both made it three years in a row in the New Zealand 10,000m track championship on Saturday evening.
Pulford was out on his own over the second half after passing through the first 5000m in 15:11. He forged ahead in the hot conditions to win in 30:09.02. After Oska Inkster-Baynes dropped out, Jono Jackson and Caden Shields had a race of their own for the other podium placings. Shields from Otago, the 2013 champion, eventually claimed the silver medal in 30:46.13 with Jackson taking his fourth bronze medal in the event in 31:00.53.
Pulford was delighted with his win. "Three years in a row, it's great that's what I came here for, I've had a few problems the last month and a half, a few injuries so it's good to be back on the track running well again," he said.
"It took me a while to build into it as I only did my first track session last Saturday so it was good to blow out a bit of rust and now I'm really looking forward to having a good run at Porritt Classic in the 5k and then Auckland Track Challenge, so that will be good.
"Malcolm (Hicks) doing Porritt Classic and it would be good just to try and run around 13:45 hopefully and just hang on to him as long as I can, but who knows how fit I will be," he added.
Camille Buscomb led early for the national women's title before pulling out around the halfway mark. O'Donnell ran her own pace and came through with a personal best time of 34:32.80. Rowan Torckler was second in 35:20.14.
O'Donnell was using the race as part of her build up for the Nagoya International women's marathon on March 13. "I didn't expect (to win) it, I definitely thought Camille had it in the bag, she was quite far ahead but I didn't realise she was planning on pulling out.
"It was a PB but it wasn't what I wanted to run but you always set the high expectations but I think after the 3k last week my legs were pretty tired so I guess it's kind of expected," said O'Donnell.
"I'm running a marathon in about five weeks now so this was kind of prep for that so it went okay but kind of not what I expected." It will be her second marathon after competing in the Melbourne Marathon in October last year. "I'm just trying to beat my last time, so I ran 2:39 so around 2:35 would be nice," she said.
Cameron Avery of Canterbury added the junior men's 10,000m title to the 3000m title won in Hastings two weeks ago. He recorded an almost minute personal best of 31:46.91. Michael Voss of Rotorua was second with Southland's Jack Beaumont third.
"It was actually a lot of thanks to Michael (Voss) as it would have been very hard out there by myself, we were planning on taking two laps each and peeling off, I peeled off when I did my minimum share of work and he didn't so I thought that's not very good so I decided to take advantage of him which is probably not very sporting of me but I apologise to him he ran a very good race so very gutsy, it was hard out there by yourself," said Avery.
He was pleased to take his second track title. "Never had any on the track before so now I've got two in a couple of weeks, so I was pretty happy, it's a long time since my cross country one back in 2014, so I was hungry.
"The goal was for Michael and I to hit the world junior standard today and I was a good minute off it, so we'll probably go back to the drawing board with Barry (Magee) and try and plan up for another one.
"I've got the road mile in Christchurch next week so I'm looking forward to getting spanked in that and the 5000m at the nationals, I got second last year so I want to try and get in there for the win this year," he said.
Abby Goldie won the women's sprint double in 12.07 (+1.7) over 100m and 24.82 (+1.7) in the 200m, while Michael Goldie was a clear winner of the 200m in 21.96 (+1.9). Jamie Sowter third in the 100m ran a PB 12.31. Natasha Eady second in the 100m in 12.27 later recorded a PB 25.10 in the 200m.
Isaiah Priddey (15) won the 3000m in a personal best 8:34.48. Anna Bramley won the women's 800m in 2:15.89 with Esther Keown clocking a PB 2:16.06 in second. Alex Parlane won the senior 800m in 1:57.77. Celine Pearn had a PB 63.54 in the 400m hurdles won by national champion Mackenzie Keenan in 61.53. Tama Toki headed in Daniel Dyet in the 400m hurdles in 54.56. Graeme Jones defied the extreme mid-afternoon heat to record an impressive 51:27.99 for the conditions in the 10,000m track race walk. Sixty-two-year-old Mike Parker was second in 57:36.89. Promising 18-year-old Laura Langley from Hastings won the women's 10,000m track walk in 61:51.16. Aaron Booth had the javelin out to 58.85m and Stephanie Wrathall 42.30m. Booth also had a PB 2kg DT of 39.97m. Connor Bell (14) recorded a PB 1.5kg DT of 44.19m.
2016 Trans-Tasman Children's Athletics, Auckland v. NSW, Mt Smart Stadium - January 17
Athletics Auckland clinched victory over New South Wales in the 40th anniversary of the Trans-Tasman Challenge Cup. Up to 120 young athletes from across Auckland battled it out to take the cup by 300 points. Joseph Ayoade won gold in the 100m and 400m and silver in the 200m. Nadia Evans won gold in the 100m and 200m. The result brings the cup to Auckland after narrowly losing to the Australians last year.
Auckland City Athletic Cub Meeting, Mt Smart Stadium - January 27
Tama Toki 400m H 52.96. Niven Longapoa 60m 7.39 (+0.3). James Guthrie-Croft 100m 11.30 (+0.8) and 200m 22.30 (+0.9). James Uhlenberg 2000m steeplechase 6:20.34, Maiya Christini 7:42.77. Daniel Parkes 100m hurdles 840mm 14.68 (+0.9). Alex Parlane 3000m 8:42.09, Jacob Holmes 9:14.90.
Mahar Cup Meeting, Saxton Field Athletic Track, Nelson - January 30
Kai Mason 6kg SP 14.79m, 7.26kg SP 13.05m, 1.75kg DT 40.27m, 800g JT 46.28m, HJ 1.67m. Dale Pritchard senior SP 14.87m, DT 46.11m. Bailey Cotton 100m 11.34 (+2.3), 200m 22.96 (+2.0). Lucy Sheat 100m 11.90 (+2.6), 200m 24.53 (+1.4). Amanda Fitisemanu 400m 58.42. Mitchell Chandler 400m 53.90. Josh Barry 800m 1:57.23, Jared Lautenslager 1:58.99. Bridie Edwards 1500m 4:49.68.
Athletics Canterbury Meeting, Rawhiti Domain, Christchurch - January 30
Kelsey Berryman 100m 12.30 (-0.1) mx, LJ 5.90m (-0.3). Angus Bailey 3000m 9:10.30. Navajo Prentice 3000m 10:38.36. Flora Brocherie 1500m 4:39.96 mx, Lilly Trotter 4:40.36 mx. Kate Newitt 2000m RW 9:51.77. Courtney Ruske 3000m RW 13:38.62. Alex Mander 1.75kg DT 40.79m, LJ 6.54m (+0.9), PV 4.25m. Semus Mulrooney 1.75kg DT 40.41m PB. Sam Harris (17) TJ 12.53m (+0.9). Samuel King (16) 400m 54.19. Hayden Hall 800g JT 49.06m. Jarvis Hansen (17) 60m 7.31 (+0.5), 100m 11.34 (+0.9), 200m 23.42 (0.0). Caitlin Dickinson (16) 3kg HT 40.26m. Tegan Duffy (16) LJ 5.27m (+0.1) PB, 300m H 47.74.
Athletics Otago Combined Events Championships, Caledonian Ground, Dunedin - January 30-31
Senior heptathlon Danica Davies 4187 points (100mH 15.94 (-0.4), HJ 1.60m, SP 10.51m, 200m 27.14 (+2.7), LJ 5.01m (+0.6), JT 33.71m, 800m 3:00.87), 15-17 heptathlon Joccoaa Palmer 3203, U/14 heptathlon Sarah Langsbury 3222. 15-17 octathlon Cameron Miller 4078. M50 decathlon Paul Davies 4604. W50 pentathlon Claire Giles 2637, W55 Alison Newall 2580.
In the open events on the Saturday, Rory O'Neill won the 100m in 11.53 (-0.9) and the 200m in 22.66 (+1.9). Christina Ashton 100m in 12.63 (-0.9). Matthew Ogle (17) 400m in 52.64. Oliver Chignell (18)1500m in 4:02.12 and Nathan Hill (15) 4:06.91. Tori Peeters 600g JT 48.26m and Laura Overton 43.77m. Rory McSweeney 800g JT 54.13m F44 NZ masters record. Todd Bates 7.26kg HT 51.84m, Michael Scholten 41.47m. Mayce Ballantyne 4kg HT 42.55m. Storm Maole 3kg SP 10.52m PB.
Athletics Otago Meeting, Caledonian Ground - January 20
Felix McDonald (18) 100m 12.10 (-1.2), 200m 23.95 (-1.2). Robert Jopp 100m 11.58 (-1.2). Oliver Chignell (18) 1500m 4:08.46. Hannah English (19) 1500m 4:52.17. Tori Peeters 600g JT 49.52m, Laura Overton 45.74m. Todd Bates 7.26kg HT 51.49m.
Port Chalmers to Dunedin 12km Road Race - January 31
Former national junior 10,000m champion Jonah Smith in a desperate finish in a sprint up Butts Road won in 43:02 from Jason Palmer 43:04. Neale McLanachan was third in 47:02. Shireen Crumpton, in fifth overall, was the first woman in 51:15, with Kerry Rowley second in 59:01 and Julie Edmunds third in 59:16. The race was first held in 1902. Alan Moir holds the race record of 37:40 set in 1974.
University of the Sunshine Coast Meeting, Australia January 28
Nick Southgate PV 5.15m (1). Eliza McCartney PV 4.61m (2), won by Alana Boyd in a fresh Australian record of 4.77m.
Zone v. Zone at Albert Park, Melbourne, January 16
Nneka Okpala LJ 5.63m (-0.1) (1).
VMC Melbourne, January 19
Joshua Baan 1500m 3:57.56 (4rB). Ellen Schaef 800m 2:14.76 (8). Kara Macdermid 1500m 4:32.24 (7).
Strive Meeting, Perth January 22
Michael Cochrane 400m H 51.44 (1).
Hunter Classic, Newcastle, January 30
Rosa Flanagan 3000m steeplechase 9:49.05 (2). Hamish Gill 100m 11.09 (-2.8) (7) and LJ 6.79m (+1.7) (8). Brad Mathas 800m 1:56.16 (10). Matthew Wyatt LJ 7.42m (+2.0) (1). Hamish Gill and Matthew Wyatt 2 x 100m relay 20.90 (3).
Standard Charters Half Marathon, Taipei January 24
Ruth Croft 77:46 (2).
Terre Haute Dual Meet, Terre-Haut, USA January 15
Aidan Askin mile 4:13.02 (4).
UW Invitational, Seattle, USA January 30
Greer Alsop TJ 12.67m PB.
Obituaries
New Zealand long jump record holder Bob Thomas of Kawakawa died at Waipu's Ranburn Rest Home Hospital and Village on Tuesday 26 January 2016 aged 76.
At Whangarei's Okara Park on 20 January 1968 Thomas became the only New Zealander to clear eight metres in the long jump. Jumping off his favoured hard-rolled bouncy, buffalo-grass run up Thomas soared out to 26ft 5in (8.05m) with a following wind of 1.6mps. The New Zealand record has stood the test of time, the only athlete to come close with a legal jump is Aaron Langdon with 7.99m +1.7 in February 1998 on the North Shore.
Thomas' series on the night was: F, F, 7.72m, 8.05m, 7.70m, F. Dave Norris was second with 7.81m, his series was: 7.49m, 7.51m, 7.74m, 7.76m, 7.79m, 7.81m. The wind for all jumps was within the allowable limit.
Described as possibly the slowest man who ever long jumped eight metres Thomas depended almost entirely on the tremendous lift he got from the take-off board. The quiet and shy former freezing worker in Moerewa and then a barber in Kawakawa started out as a high jumper collecting two national titles in 1959 and 1960 and had a best of 1.94m. His adviser at the time Frank Sharpley became aware Thomas' potential in the high jump was restricted and switched him to the triple and long jumps. His best triple was 15.19m in 1960 but it was the long jump that he excelled at. Thomas won three national long jump titles, 1965 in Palmerston North 7.30m, 1967 in Lower Hutt 7.54m and 1969 in Hamilton 7.77m.
Prominent athletic coach and manager and Police youth aid worker in Putaruru and Te Awamutu Neal Webb died on the Gold Coast on Monday 18 January 2016 aged 55. Webb coached 1996 world junior championship 200m representative Cory Chase, Mark Comer and more recently Katherine Marshall (nee Camp) among a large number of others. He was coach or manager of the New Zealand teams to the Commonwealth Youth Championships in Bendigo in 2004, the World Youth Championships in Morocco in 2005, the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in 2007 and the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010. Webb also managed teams from the Te Awamutu College to the New Zealand secondary schools championships. He received an Athletics New Zealand long service award and a long service medal for more than 20 years in the Police Force. He was coach of the year in the 2010 Sport Waikato Waipa sports awards. He moved to the Gold Coast in 2012.
Para Athlete Robert Courtney died at Middlemore Hospital on Thursday 28 January 2016 aged 56, after battling kidney problems for more than two decades. He was known as the fastest man on wheels during the early 1980's. Courtney, a pioneer of Paralympic wheelchair racing, won 21 gold, 14 silver and five bronze medals at national and international competitions throughout the 1980's and he represented New Zealand at the 1984 Summer Paralympic Games winning gold in the 100m. He competed in the Boston Marathon recording a time of 1:58.45. He was the first disabled person in New Zealand to be honoured with being a Sports and Cultural Ambassador to New Zealand. In 2009 he received a Paralympics New Zealand Order of Merit.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen referred to his father as 'the accused' throughout the trial.